glacier init

Synopsis. Scaffold a new Glacier project with signals, banner, version, completions, and optional OTEL wired from day one.

Other commands: vibe version generate lint test new completions explain

Flags

Flag	Short	Default	Description
[dir]		. (current directory)	Target directory for the new project. Created if it does not exist.
--name		(prompted or directory name)	Go module path, e.g. github.com/acme/myapp.
--template		cli-app	Project layout. Values: library-only, cli-app, both.
--license		Apache-2.0	SPDX license identifier. Values: Apache-2.0, MIT, BSD-3-Clause, none.
--mascot		polar_bear	Project mascot. Values: polar_bear, penguin, owl, fox, otter, raccoon.
--no-git		false	Skip git init.
--yes	-y	false	Accept all defaults; non-interactive. Required for CI or scripted setup.
--force		false	Overwrite existing files. Without --yes, prompts for confirmation first.

Examples

Interactive scaffold in a new directory:

glacier init my-app

Non-interactive with all defaults (good for CI):

glacier init my-app --yes

Library-only project with a specific module path:

glacier init my-lib --name=github.com/acme/my-lib --template=library-only --yes

Scaffold a project with a penguin mascot and MIT license:

glacier init my-app --mascot=penguin --license=MIT --yes

Force over an existing directory:

glacier init . --name=github.com/acme/myapp --yes --force

What it does under the hood

init collects parameters either interactively (module path via term.Prompt, mascot via term.Select) or from flags when --yes is set. It renders templates from an embedded embed.FS (cmd/glacier/templates/) using text/template, writing each file atomically through internal/safefile. The project banner is rendered by cmd/glacier/internal/figgen using the app name derived from the module path. The chosen mascot is sourced from cmd/glacier/internal/mascots. Without --force, any pre-existing output file aborts with exit 67. With --force and without --yes, a term.Confirm prompt guards the overwrite. If no .git/ exists and --no-git is not set, git init is run as a subprocess. On success a term.Box shows the next steps.

The scaffolded main.go is six lines:

package main

import "github.com/nathanbrophy/glacier/cli"

func main() {
    cli.Default.Main()
}

All wiring (signals, banner, version subcommand, completions subcommand, OTEL no-op when unset, httpc tracing, cli metrics) lives in the glaciergen-emitted zz_generated_cli.go.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Project scaffolded successfully
67	Scaffolding failed (collision without --force, bad name, template error, write failure)
130	SIGINT during an interactive prompt

See also

• glacier new - add packages or commands to an existing project
• glacier generate - regenerate after editing annotations
• glacier explain 67 - exit code 67 details