Create a new application

Install Node.js 20.19 or newer, then run:

npx @nessframework/cli@latest new my-app
cd my-app
npm run dev

The installed command is also available globally:

npm install --global @nessframework/cli@latest
ness new my-app

That gives you the TypeScript starter: strict mode on, and route types generated into .react-router/types.

ness new also has the shorter ness n alias. See the ness new reference for every option.

JavaScript

ness new my-app --template javascript

The same application without the types. js and default are accepted as well — default is what --template fell back to before TypeScript became the default, and it still scaffolds this starter.

All official starters include a NestJS backend under app/server. Controllers are mounted at /api while React Router handles pages and SSR. Choose among the TypeScript, JavaScript, minimal, API-first, and dashboard templates.

Local template

ness new my-app --template ./path/to/template

The directory can contain the application files directly or expose them from a template/ subdirectory. See Custom and local templates for package metadata, dependency merging, and copy-safety rules.

React Server Components

RSC is the default rendering mode — ness new my-app already gets it. It supports Server Components, 'use client', and 'use server' functions, and every production feature classic mode has: NestJS controllers, the ness-manifest.json build manifest, standalone bundling, and router.prerender / SSG. See React Server Components for the authoring model and its one current caveat (hydrating a route whose page component is itself async).

It still sits on two upstream APIs that are themselves pre-stable — @vitejs/plugin-rsc (0.x) and React Router's unstable_reactRouterRSC — and can change between minor versions as a result. Pass --no-rsc to scaffold the classic SSR mode instead, which avoids that dependency entirely:

ness new my-app --no-rsc

Next steps

npm run dev          # development server and HMR
npm run check        # route type generation and TypeScript check
npm run build        # production client/server build
npm run start:prod   # Ness production server

Continue with the CLI command overview or generate the first route with ness g page products.