Bootwitch CLI Scaffold
Local project scaffolding, shell templates, and a recorded CLI demonstration.
A little structure. A little shell magic. A more consistent place to start.
Jennifer Naomi Nguyen · developer tooling · In development · August 2025 · refactor in progress · built with Claude Code and Codex
README · ARCHITECTURE · TECHNICAL · source
What I built
View source on GitHub · v0.2.1 release
Bootwitch is my project starter for small scripting projects. It puts folders, scripts, tests, and documentation in place so there's a clear starting point for the work that comes next.
It began with a very small annoyance: I wanted to save the ten seconds it took to copy a project template, so naturally I spent considerably longer automating it. That turned into a place to learn how paths, wrappers, permissions, tests, and documentation fit together.
You can create a project with a single command or use summon for a guided setup. The shell template includes friendly wrappers for common tasks, including a little hello to help you find your footing.
The witchy names are part of the fun. Underneath them, the job is practical: make setup repeatable and keep the pieces understandable as a project grows.
See it working
Watch the 46-second demo · Read the guided walkthrough transcript · Try the walkthrough
The demo follows a real local run: create a project, add a script, see its documentation appear, then run the workflow and tests. The video is silent, with captions and edited pacing.
Guided spellbook walkthrough
Watch the 97-second walkthrough
This captioned replay uses real command output from Bootwitch help, environment
inspection, project discovery, and the guided summon flow. It is silent and
tightens the pauses between steps.
The part I like most
A new script gets a header describing what it does, what it takes in, and what it produces. Bootwitch reads those comments and adds the script to the project's README reference.
That keeps useful information close to the thing it describes. The introduction and other human-written notes stay outside the generated section, so there's still room to explain a project in your own words.
If creating the script works but refreshing the README doesn't, Bootwitch keeps the script and gives you a command to retry the documentation step. Small details like that make the workflow easier to pick back up.
How the pieces fit
| Piece | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Base template | The shared starting structure and project information |
| Shell template | Scripts, reusable modules, wrappers, and tests for Bash projects |
| Guided setup | A conversational way through the same setup as the direct command |
| Script generator | A starting script with its own annotated header |
| README builder | A readable reference assembled from the project's metadata and comments |
The architecture page follows the toolkit into a generated project. The technical page gets into template composition, metadata, and how the documentation refresh works.
What it taught me
Bootwitch taught me why relative paths mysteriously stop working when a folder moves, that you can make a wrapper for basically anything, and that Bash takes typos personally. It also confirmed that I will spend an unreasonable amount of time automating a tiny repeated task. The upside is that I see systems everywhere.
The current version focuses on base and shell projects. Source, setup instructions, and selected excerpts are collected under source.
Elsewhere in the portfolio
Bootwitch Portfolio: UI Evolution tells the story of the website interface. Context and Memory Workspace is my private AI workspace. This page is about the CLI you run locally.