Changelog for Template-NEXT: Version 0.5.0

Template-NEXT v0.5.0 is the biggest release since the starter took shape. It focuses on three things: making scaffolding noticeably faster, letting you pick your package manager and features, and giving the setup flow a cleaner, more interactive feel.

Version 0.5.0 - What's New

1) Faster scaffolding with a single install pass

Earlier versions ran the package manager's install step several times: once for the Next.js app, again for next-themes, again for Prettier, and once more at the end. Each pass re-resolves the whole dependency tree, even when nothing new needs downloading.

0.5.0 collapses that into one install. Optional dependencies are written into package.json up front, a single install resolves everything, and shadcn/ui then adds its own packages as a fast incremental step.

In practice that is around 10 seconds faster per scaffold, and closer to 30% faster on a warm cache when you're spinning up projects back to back.

2) Choose your package manager: npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun

Template-NEXT is no longer npm-only. You can pick a package manager with --pm, and it threads through the whole flow (install, shadcn, scripts):

npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app --pm pnpm

If you don't pass --pm, the CLI auto-detects the manager you launched it with and pre-selects it, so running it through pnpm, yarn, or bun just works:

pnpm dlx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app
bunx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app

3) A new interactive setup experience

The interactive prompts have been rebuilt with a cleaner, grouped flow: a title, step-by-step questions, a configuration summary before anything is created, and a graceful exit if you cancel partway through.

You're prompted for the package manager, the components to add, and whether to include next-themes and Prettier, with sensible defaults at every step.

4) Pick your components and features

New flags let you shape the output without touching any prompts:

• --components to choose which shadcn/ui components to add
• --no-themes to skip next-themes
• --no-prettier to skip Prettier
• --yes to accept defaults and skip all prompts (handy for scripts and CI)

npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app --components button,card,input --no-prettier --yes

The generated files adapt to your choices: theme files are only added with next-themes, Prettier config and scripts only appear when Prettier is enabled, and the landing page falls back gracefully when the button component isn't selected.

5) Upgraded starter page with a working theme toggle

The generated landing page now ships a real light/dark theme toggle in the top bar, so the next-themes support you already get is wired up and visible from the first run instead of being something you add later.

"use client";

import { Moon, Sun } from "lucide-react";
import { useTheme } from "next-themes";
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";

export function ThemeToggle() {
  const { setTheme, resolvedTheme } = useTheme();

  return (
    <Button
      variant="outline"
      size="icon"
      aria-label="Toggle theme"
      onClick={()=> setTheme(resolvedTheme= "dark" ? "light" : "dark")}
    >
      <Sun className="size-4 scale-100 rotate-0 transition-all dark:scale-0 dark:-rotate-90" />
      <Moon className="absolute size-4 scale-0 rotate-90 transition-all dark:scale-100 dark:rotate-0" />
      <span className="sr-only">Toggle theme</span>
    </Button>
  );
}

The page also gets a tidier layout with a top bar and a pinned footer, while keeping the script list that helps you get going.

6) Under the hood

A few changes that don't change the workflow but make the tool more reliable:

• a test suite, including an end-to-end check that scaffolds a real project and type-checks it
• more robust handling of the generated globals.css font variables
• shadcn pinned to a major version for predictable behavior
• fewer dependencies (the prompt library was swapped, dropping inquirer)
• documentation and cleanup across the codebase

Usage

# Standard starter
npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app

# Initialize in the current directory
npx @edward-hyde/template-next .

# Pick a package manager
npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app --pm pnpm

# Choose components and skip features
npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app --components button,card --no-themes

# Non-interactive with defaults
npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app --yes

# Use latest instead of pins
npx @edward-hyde/template-next my-app --latest

# Inspect pinned versions
npx @edward-hyde/template-next versions

Current Pin Set (0.5.0)

System Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 20.9.0
• one of npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun installed

Summary

Template-NEXT 0.5.0 makes the starter faster and far more flexible. A single install pass speeds up scaffolding, support for npm, pnpm, yarn, and bun lets you stay in your preferred toolchain, and the new prompts plus component and feature flags let you generate exactly the project you want.

On top of that, the upgraded landing page finally shows off the theme support that ships by default. If Template-NEXT is your go-to starting point, 0.5.0 keeps the workflow familiar while making it quicker and more configurable.