Preset Templates

Preset templates are pre-configured combinations of registries for quickly initializing specific types of projects.

What Are Templates?

Preset templates package a set of commonly used registries together to form complete project templates. Using templates allows you to install all required registries at once without adding them individually.

# Without template - bootstrap from a single registry, then add the rest
rk init -t runtimes/node -n my-project
cd my-project
rk add quality/eslint
rk add quality/prettier
rk add testing/vitest
rk add build/typescript

# With template - done in one step
rk init -t @presets/node -n my-project

Using Templates

Initialize Project

rk init -t @presets/node

Specify Project Name

rk init -t @presets/node -n my-project

CI Mode

Skip interactive prompts in CI environments (--ci requires an explicit -n).

rk init -t @presets/node -n my-project --ci

Creating Templates

1. Create preset.json

{
  "$schema": "https://registry.rackjs.com/schemas/preset.json",
  "name": "my-preset",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "My custom preset",
  "author": "Your Name",
  "tags": ["custom", "preset"],
  "registries": [
    "runtimes/node",
    "quality/eslint",
    "testing/vitest",
    "build/typescript"
  ]
}

2. Directory Structure

my-presets/
└── my-preset/
    └── preset.json

3. Deploy Template

The CLI fetches presets at {host}/presets/{name} (single-segment name, no /preset.json suffix, no namespace segment).

Recommended: @rack/registry-server

Use Registry Server directly — it has a built-in /presets/... route and uploads land at the correct path automatically.

Self-hosted static file server

Place preset.json at the matching path and configure a rewrite so /presets/my-preset returns the preset.json JSON content.

# Static server root layout
https://registry.company.com/
└── presets/
    └── my-preset/
        └── preset.json    # Served at URL: /presets/my-preset

Actual URL the CLI requests

https://registry.company.com/presets/my-preset

4. Configure and Use

# Configure private source
rk config set @mypresets --url https://registry.company.com

# Use custom template
rk init -t @mypresets/my-preset