Scaffold Rust CLI

Generate the full boilerplate for a new Rust CLI project.

Workflow

1. Gather Project Information

If the user provided a project name in their request, use it as the project name and skip asking for it. Still ask for the remaining parameters unless already provided in the user's initial request.

Ask the user for these parameters:

• Project name -- kebab-case, used as the crate name, binary name, and directory name (e.g., my-tool)
• Short description -- one sentence, used in Cargo.toml and README
• Include clap? -- whether to add clap for CLI argument parsing (adds clap dependency with derive feature and generates a skeleton with argument structs)
• macOS-only project? -- whether this project targets only macOS (affects CI runner selection and release workflow targets). Default: no (cross-platform).

If the user already provided some or all of these in their initial request, do not re-ask. Derive what you can from context.

2. Detect User Identity

Detect the user's GitHub username and full name for use in templates:

# GitHub username (for repository URLs, Homebrew tap)
gh api user -q .login

# Full name (for LICENSE copyright, Cargo.toml authors)
git config user.name

If either command fails or produces no output, ask the user to provide the value. Use the GitHub username wherever templates reference GITHUB-USERNAME and the full name wherever they reference COPYRIGHT-HOLDER.

3. Verify the Target Directory

The project should be scaffolded in a directory named after the project. If the current directory is already named after the project and is empty (or nearly empty), use it. Otherwise, create a subdirectory.

If the directory already contains Rust files (Cargo.toml, src/), warn the user before proceeding.

4. Initialize Git

Skip if already inside a git repository.

git init

5. Generate Cargo.toml

Read ./references/cargo-toml.md for the Cargo.toml template and create Cargo.toml from it.

• Replace PROJECT-NAME with the project name
• Replace PROJECT-DESCRIPTION with the short description
• Replace GITHUB-USERNAME with the detected GitHub username
• Replace COPYRIGHT-HOLDER with the detected full name

If clap was selected, add clap = { version = "4", features = ["derive"] } to the [dependencies] section.

6. Generate src/main.rs

Choose the template based on the clap parameter:

• Without clap: read ./references/main-rs.md
• With clap: read ./references/main-rs-with-clap.md

Replace in the with-clap template:

• PROJECT-NAME with the project name
• PROJECT-DESCRIPTION with the short description

7. Generate rust-toolchain.toml

Read ./references/rust-toolchain.md for the template and create rust-toolchain.toml from it.

No replacements needed.

8. Generate rustfmt.toml

Read ./references/rustfmt.md for the template and create rustfmt.toml from it.

No replacements needed.

9. Generate deny.toml

Read ./references/deny.md for the template and create deny.toml from it.

No replacements needed.

10. Generate typos.toml

Read ./references/typos.md for the template and create typos.toml from it.

• Replace PROJECT-NAME with the project name

11. Generate cliff.toml

Read ./references/cliff.md for the template and create cliff.toml from it.

No replacements needed.

12. Generate Makefile

Read ./references/makefile.md for the template and create Makefile from it.

No replacements needed.

13. Generate .gitignore

Read ./references/gitignore.md for the template and create .gitignore from it.

No replacements needed.

If a .gitignore already exists, merge the template entries into it rather than overwriting.

14. Generate CI Workflow

Choose the appropriate CI template:

• Cross-platform (default): read ./references/ci-workflow.md
• macOS-only: read ./references/ci-workflow-macos-only.md

Create .github/workflows/ci.yml from the chosen template. No replacements needed (the workflow is project-name-independent).

15. Generate Release Workflow

Choose the appropriate release template:

• Cross-platform (default): read ./references/release-workflow.md
• macOS-only: read ./references/release-workflow-macos-only.md

Create .github/workflows/release.yml from the chosen template.

• Replace PROJECT-NAME with the project name

16. Generate LICENSE

Read ./references/license.md for the LICENSE template and create LICENSE from it.

• Replace YEAR with the current year (run date +%Y to get it)
• Replace COPYRIGHT-HOLDER with the detected full name

17. Generate README.md

Read ./references/readme.md for the README template and create README.md from it.

• Replace PROJECT-NAME with the project name (kebab-case)
• Replace PROJECT-DESCRIPTION with the short description
• Replace GITHUB-USERNAME with the detected GitHub username

18. Generate CHANGELOG.md

Create CHANGELOG.md with the initial changelog template:

# Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).

## [Unreleased]

No replacements needed. The release skill will populate version sections and comparison links on the first release.

19. Create Directory Stubs

Create stub directories for the standard project layout:

# plans directory
mkdir -p docs/plans/todo docs/plans/done
touch docs/plans/todo/.gitkeep docs/plans/done/.gitkeep

# tests directory
mkdir -p tests
touch tests/.gitkeep

20. Verify the Build

Run a quick build to confirm everything compiles:

cargo build

If the build fails, diagnose and fix the issue before continuing.

21. Create Initial Commit

Stage all generated files and create the initial commit:

git add -A
git commit -S -m "feat: scaffold Rust CLI project"

22. Update Copilot Instructions

If .github/copilot-instructions.md exists (created by the scaffold-new-repo skill when running in the bootstrap flow, or already present in an existing repo), append the following entries to the PR review section. Before appending each entry, check whether the bold key text already exists in the file; skip entries that are already present.

To locate the PR review section: look for an existing heading whose text includes "PR Review" or "Code Review" (e.g., ## PR Review, ## Code Review, ## PR Review Checklist (CRITICAL)). If no matching heading exists, append a new ## PR Review section at the end of the file and place the entries there.

• Rust edition 2024 is intentional: This project uses Rust edition 2024 in both Cargo.toml and rustfmt.toml. Do not suggest downgrading to edition 2021.
• cargo-deny and typos are CI-verified: The CI workflow includes cargo deny check and typos jobs. Do not suggest removing these checks or marking them as optional.

If .github/copilot-instructions.md does not exist, skip this step.

23. Summary

Print a summary of what was created:

• List every file and directory generated
• Note which optional features were included (clap, macOS-only)
• Remind the user to:
  • Run make help to see available Makefile targets
  • Run the add-community-files skill to add CONTRIBUTING.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, .github/SECURITY.md, and .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
  • Run the set-up-installers skill when ready to set up a Homebrew formula and shell install script
  • Tag a release with git tag v0.1.0 && git push origin v0.1.0 to trigger the release workflow
  • Use make changelog (requires git-cliff) to generate the changelog from conventional commits

Error Handling

• If cargo build fails, check that Rust is installed and on the PATH. Verify the edition is supported by the installed toolchain.
• If cargo build fails for clap, check that the dependency specification is correct in Cargo.toml
• If the target directory already contains Rust files (Cargo.toml, src/), ask the user before overwriting
• If git init fails, continue generating files but warn the user
• If the build verification fails, show the error and attempt to fix it before continuing

Reference Templates

• ./references/cargo-toml.md -- Cargo.toml template
• ./references/main-rs.md -- src/main.rs without clap
• ./references/main-rs-with-clap.md -- src/main.rs with clap
• ./references/rust-toolchain.md -- rust-toolchain.toml
• ./references/rustfmt.md -- rustfmt.toml
• ./references/deny.md -- deny.toml
• ./references/typos.md -- typos.toml
• ./references/cliff.md -- cliff.toml
• ./references/makefile.md -- Makefile template
• ./references/gitignore.md -- .gitignore template
• ./references/ci-workflow.md -- cross-platform CI workflow
• ./references/ci-workflow-macos-only.md -- macOS-only CI workflow
• ./references/release-workflow.md -- cross-platform release workflow
• ./references/release-workflow-macos-only.md -- macOS-only release workflow
• ./references/license.md -- MIT license template
• ./references/readme.md -- README template

Refresh cboone/gh-actions SHAs before scaffolding

The cboone/gh-actions reusable-workflow refs in this skill's templates are SHA-pinned with a # vX.Y.Z comment that was current when the template was authored. New releases of cboone/gh-actions rot those SHAs. Before emitting a workflow into a user's repo, refresh both the SHA and the comment to current latest:

TAG="$(gh release view --repo cboone/gh-actions --json tagName --jq '.tagName')"
SHA="$(gh api "repos/cboone/gh-actions/commits/${TAG}" --jq '.sha')"
echo "${SHA} # ${TAG}"

Replace each cboone/gh-actions/.../<workflow>.yml@<old-sha> # <old-tag> in the emitted workflow with the new SHA and tag. Dependabot in the user's repo keeps them in sync afterwards.

Source: cboone/agent-harness-plugins — distributed by TomeVault.