primate init

Scaffolds a primate.toml in the current working directory. Walks you through the source directory, which target languages to generate, the output path for each, and any external plugins.

primate init

primate is meant to drop into existing repos, so init only creates the config — no constants/ directory, no starter .prim, no AGENTS.md, no .gitignore munging.

What the wizard asks

1. Where do your .prim source files live? A directory under the project root (e.g. constants/, shared/constants/). Path autocomplete suggests existing directories. If the directory doesn’t exist yet, init tells you so on the spot — you’ll create it and drop your first .prim file in before the next primate build.
2. Which languages should primate generate? Multiselect across TypeScript, Rust, and Python. None checked by default — pick the ones you actually want.
3. For each picked language: where should the output go? Path autocomplete on every prompt. No preset value, since the right path depends on your repo layout — the help line shows an example for shape (e.g. web/src/generated/constants/).
4. Use an external generator plugin? If yes, loops through name / command / path until you say no. See Plugins.

The wizard uses inquire for prompts. Press Esc to cancel at any point; nothing is written until the wizard completes.

What the result looks like

The generated primate.toml is heavily commented and lists every option each picked generator accepts at its default value. Picking TypeScript writes the full set of TypeScript options inline:

[[output]]
generator = "typescript"
# A directory. primate emits one `.ts` per namespace plus
# an `index.ts` that re-exports each one.
path      = "web/src/generated/constants/"

# Generator options. Defaults shown — change as needed.
options.naming      = "camelCase"               # or "SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE"
options.duration    = "number"                  # or "temporal" for Temporal.Duration
options.u64         = "number"                  # or "bigint" for u64-typed constants
options.enumStyle   = "literal"                 # or "const" or "enum" — see docs

Same idea for Rust and Python; only the targets you pick land in the file (no commented-out scaffolding for skipped ones).

Flags

• --force / -f — overwrite an existing primate.toml. Default is to refuse so an existing config doesn’t get clobbered.

After primate init

The wizard prints a small “next steps” block — create the source directory, drop in a .prim file, run primate build. There’s also a recommendation to commit the generated files alongside source: consumers don’t need primate installed to use them, and CI can gate on git diff --exit-code after primate build to catch drift.

See also

• primate build — the generator pipeline init configures.
• primate fmt — formatter; run after every .prim edit.
• Plugin protocol — what external generators need to implement.