Rapidcraft

Rapidcraft

Intent-first scaffolding for MCP-aware AI app materialization.

Use Rapidcraft to scaffold an AI-ready project blueprint that MCP-aware tooling can turn into a production React application.

What The CLI Generates

rapidcraft init creates a project folder with a contract-aligned JSON manifest.

It does not generate React source files directly.

The generated rapidkit.template.json is the source of intent used by AI agents together with RapidKit MCP contracts.

Quick Start

Run from any folder, including an empty folder.

No npm init or yarn init is required before running the CLI.

npx rapidcraft@latest init my-product --preset enterprise-dashboard

Alternative package manager launchers:

pnpm dlx rapidcraft@latest init my-product --preset operations-console
yarn dlx rapidcraft@latest init my-product --preset enterprise-dashboard

Global install is optional:

npm install -g rapidcraft
rapidcraft init my-product --preset enterprise-dashboard

Presets

Current official presets:

• enterprise-dashboard
• operations-console

List available presets:

rapidcraft list-presets

Generated Output

Expected scaffold output:

my-product/
package.json
rapidkit.template.json

The generated project includes:

• package.json with dependencies for @rapidset/rapidkit and @rapidset/rapidmcp
• root scripts mcp:start and mcp:help
• post-scaffold dependency installation (unless --skip-install is passed)

The manifest includes:

• routes and page intent
• required RapidKit component surfaces
• integration boundaries (auth, API style, validation)
• generation constraints for AI workflows

VS Code Developer Workflow

For teams using VS Code, the typical flow is:

1. Run rapidcraft init to generate rapidkit.template.json, package.json, and install dependencies.
2. Open the generated folder in VS Code.
3. Start MCP from project root using npm run mcp:start (or your package manager equivalent).
4. Ask AI to materialize the app from the manifest and contracts.
5. Run standard quality gates (lint, typecheck, test, build) in the generated app repository.

CLI vs Traditional Bootstrap

When teams compare Rapidcraft with classic code-first scaffolding (for example direct Vite or Next bootstrap), the key difference is where architecture decisions are enforced.

Practical interpretation for VS Code teams:

• if you prioritize immediate runnable code, traditional bootstrap feels faster initially
• if you prioritize repeatable enterprise structure and policy alignment, Rapidcraft reduces long-term drift

MCP Integration

Start the RapidKit MCP server from the repository root:

pnpm --dir ../rapidmcp mcp:start -- --root "$PWD"

Then configure your MCP-capable client to use stdio with:

• command: pnpm
• args: --dir /absolute/path/to/rapidmcp mcp:start -- --root /absolute/path/to/rapidkit

See /MCP-SERVER for complete setup examples.

Vite And Runtime Materialization

The current CLI model is intent-first.

That means rapidcraft init does not directly run Vite scaffolding.

Vite (or another runtime choice) is selected when AI materializes the application from rapidkit.template.json using RapidKit MCP context.

Recommended Team Policy

To keep generation predictable in enterprise environments:

• treat rapidkit.template.json as the project intent contract
• avoid manual drift between manifest intent and generated code
• use MCP contract tools as the source of truth during generation
• enforce runtime quality gates in the generated application repository

Troubleshooting

Unknown preset

Run:

rapidcraft list-presets

Then retry with a valid --preset value.

Target directory is not empty

Choose a new output name or an empty target directory.

Need runnable code immediately

Use your AI materialization step right after scaffold generation. rapidcraft init is designed to produce the blueprint, not final app code.