CRYSTAL-INIT(1)

📦
version 1.22.2 · 3 versions
, in arch rolling

🎀 CRYSTAL-INIT(1) 🎀

okay bestie, welcome to CRYSTAL-INIT(1) from the Crystal Compiler Command Line Reference Guide 💖 this is the little command that creates a whole new Crystal project, and honestly? iconic.

💖 NAME 💖

crystal-init — Create a a new Crystal project ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

crystal init TYPE [DIR | NAME DIR]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so TYPE is one of these two, and you gotta pick:

  • lib — Creates a library skeleton 🧚
  • app — Creates an application skeleton 🚀

Then crystal-init initializes the lib/app project folder as a git repository — slay — with a license file, a README file, a shard.yml for use with shards (the Crystal dependency manager), a .gitignore file, and src and spec folders. it's giving “full starter pack” 💅

Now the path bits:

  • DIR — directory where project will be generated 📁
  • NAME — name of project to be generated (default: basename of DIR) 🏷️

🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

  • -f, --force — Force overwrite existing files. yes ma'am, it will absolutely overwrite them 💥
  • -s, --skip-existing — Skip existing files. the low-drama option: leave what’s already there alone 🍓

sign-off time, bestie: this page is from crystal 1.22.2, dated 2026-10-30 🫶💜

📦 where this page comes from