Introduction
Quick Start
Koko CLI Philosophy
✓ Millisecond Cold-Start: Built with Go as a standalone native binary that launches instantly with zero runtime configuration overhead.
✓ Premium Interactive TUI: Gorgeous terminal interface powered by Bubble Tea and Lipgloss featuring real-time spinner benchmarks and visual step indicators.
✓ Monorepo Workspaces Out-of-the-Box: Automatically scaffolds Turborepo pipelines, pnpm workspaces, unified TypeScript configs, and ESLint/Prettier.
✓ Smart Cross-Validation Engine: Active compatibility rules prevent creating broken or conflicting tech combinations in real-time.
✓ Master Dependency Catalog: Centrally pinned package versions to guarantee reproducible builds and zero configuration drift.
Prerequisites & Installation
You can run Koko CLI directly via Node.js/NPX or download the native Go binary for your operating system:
- Node.js (LTS v18 or newer) - Recommended to run and build the generated JavaScript/TypeScript codebases.
- Docker & Docker Compose - Optional but recommended for local relational and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL).
- Go 1.21+ / Python 3.11+ - Required only if you scaffold pure Go Chi or Python FastAPI backends.
# Option 1: Run directly with NPX (No installation required)
npx koko-app init
# Option 2: Global installation via npm/pnpm
npm install -g koko-app
koko init Native Binaries (GitHub Releases)
If you prefer not to depend on global Node.js, download the pre-compiled binary matching your platform from our GitHub Releases page:
Initialization Modes
Koko CLI features two distinct interactive modes tailored for maximum developer agility:
✓ Quick Setup (Production Recipes): Pick a pre-configured production blueprint (SaaS Starter, Java Spring Boot, Enterprise NestJS, MERN, PERN, or FastAPI + React) and start building in under 2 seconds.
✓ Manual Configuration (Step-by-Step): Customize your architecture layer by layer selecting Frontend, Backend, Database, ORM, Addons, and Git with live validation checks.
Web Stack Builder Integration
✓ You can also use our interactive web builder at /en/builder to visually mix and match technologies via interactive cards.
✓ The builder compiles your selections into the exact CLI command with all corresponding flags for 1-click terminal execution.
Command Shortcuts & Quick Flags
Headless one-liners to bootstrap applications immediately skipping interactive terminal questions:
# Bootstrap default production recipe (SaaS Starter with Next.js + Drizzle + Better-Auth)
koko init my-saas -d
# Bootstrap specific blueprint recipe
koko init my-app -r pern
# Bootstrap custom manual stack with flags
koko init my-api -f none -b express --database postgres --orm drizzle -p pnpm --git yes