Scaffolding

init --scaffold copies every feature module, with stubs and routes, into an AdonisJS app you already have.

Use incremental add when you only want one slice. Use --scaffold when you want the whole catalog on a new app.

npx adonia init --scaffold

Incremental add versus scaffold

Incremental install is the path in getting started: init --wire, then add one name at a time, with only the --with-* flags you want.

--scaffold does all of the following in one command:

1. Turn on --wire if you omitted it (and print that it did).
2. Copy api, types, constants, and contracts unless you pass --skip-core.
3. add every feature name in the registry index with --with-stubs, --with-routes, and --wire-routes.

The bundled feature list is auth, account, notification, creem, and subscription. --with-tests stays off; module unit tests are not copied.

Use incremental add when you only want billing, or only auth domain without HTTP stubs. Use --scaffold when you want models, adapters, example controllers, and mounted route files for the whole catalog.

What scaffold copies

Besides core under modules/, scaffold copies each feature's stub set (where that module has files):

• Lucid models and migrations (auth users and password resets, notification inbox rows, subscription rows)
• Controllers and Vine validators for auth and account
• Adapters under app/adapters/ (Lucid, Drive avatar, Mail, creem_io)
• providers/vine_provider.ts and start/limiter.ts
• start/routes/auth.ts and start/routes/account.ts, imported from start/routes.ts

Modules without route stubs (notification, creem, subscription) still get their domain slice and adapters; they do not get a start/routes/<name>.ts file.

Auth middleware and limiter .use(…) calls on those example routes stay commented out until you enable them.

Adonis packages

Scaffold does not run node ace add for you. Copied stubs import these packages:

Package	Typical stub
@adonisjs/limiter	start/limiter.ts (auth and account routes)
@adonisjs/drive	app/adapters/drive_avatar_storage.ts
@adonisjs/mail	app/adapters/adonis_mail_transport.ts

add (and therefore scaffold) prints node ace add @adonisjs/<pkg> when the stub is present and the package is missing. check warns the same way.

creem also installs npm dependency creem_io when it isn't in the host package.json. Put CREEM_* values in env yourself; the CLI only prints missing names.

New starter-kit app

The AdonisJS API starter kit ships its own app/models/user.ts and 1761885935168_create_users_table.ts migration. The auth stubs replace both, so a plain scaffold reports them as conflicts and exits 1 without recording auth as installed.

On a new app, pass --overwrite:

npx adonia init --scaffold --overwrite

The kit's sample auth files target the kit's own User model and stop compiling after that. Scaffold lists the ones it finds; remove them and their routes in start/routes.ts:

• app/controllers/new_account_controller.ts
• app/controllers/access_tokens_controller.ts
• app/controllers/profile_controller.ts
• app/validators/user.ts
• app/transformers/user_transformer.ts

On an app with your own user model, skip --overwrite and merge the two files by hand.

Migration stubs keep a fixed timestamp prefix, so users is created before the tables that reference it.

Already installed

If every feature module is already in adonia.json installed and you omit --overwrite, scaffold prints that they are already installed and returns without recopying stubs or wiring routes. Pass --overwrite to recopy from the registry.

--dry-run prints the plan (Would write, Would wire, would-copy) and changes nothing.

Command-level flags and edge cases: init.

Next steps

After scaffold, finish host HTTP and packages:

1. Run node ace add for each printed Adonis package.
2. Run node ace migration:run.
3. Register providers/vine_provider.ts in adonisrc.ts if it isn't already.
4. Read host wiring and the modules overview.