rookery

A GitHub template for small two-binary daemon/CLI apps in Go, built on perch. Scaffold a new local service in one command: a daemon (appd), a CLI client (appctl), an optional embedded Svelte web UI, loopback token auth, launchd integration, and an agent-ready toolchain.

What you get

• cmd/appd — the daemon. Loads ~/.config/<app>/config.toml, serves an HTTP API and (optionally) an embedded Svelte SPA, and shuts down gracefully via perch's signal/serve helpers.
• cmd/appctl — the CLI client over perch: auth login, auth logout, whoami, talking to the daemon with a loopback-minted bearer token.
• internal/auth — loopback-only token mint + SHA-256 hash validate. Starter code; customize per app.
• internal/api — routes: /healthz, POST /api/auth/mint (loopback only), bearer-gated GET /api/whoami, and the embedded SPA at /.
• web/ — a minimal Vite + Svelte 5 SPA. Drop it entirely with --no-web.
• launchd — make install-launchd / redeploy / service-restart to run the daemon as a background service on macOS.
• agent-ready — CLAUDE.md (symlinked to AGENTS.md), a make check gate, bd issue tracking, and CI that mirrors make check + make test.

Create a new app

1. Click Use this template on GitHub (or clone this repo).
2. Rename the scaffold to your app:

   scripts/init.sh <name> [--no-web]
   

   <name> is a lowercase identifier (^[a-z][a-z0-9]*$). init.sh:
   • rewrites the module path to github.com/guygrigsby/<name>,
   • renames the binaries to <name>d / <name>ctl,
   • retargets the launchd label (dev.grigsby.<name>d) and the ~/.config/<name> + ~/.logs/<name> paths,
   • re-initializes a fresh bd tracker,
   • replaces this README with the app's own (README.app.md),
   • and, with --no-web, deletes web/ and swaps in a headless embed stub.
3. Build and verify:

   go mod tidy
   make build
   make test
   

make test runs the Go tests, the web vitest, and an init smoke test that renames a throwaway copy and confirms it builds — both with and without web.

Make targets

make help lists everything. The ones you'll reach for:

Conventions

• Config: ~/.config/<app>/config.toml; token: ~/.config/<app>/cli.token (0600).
• Logs: ~/.logs/<app>/. Default listen :8080 (override via config, env <APP>_LISTEN, or the -addr flag).
• Depends on the public module github.com/guygrigsby/perch.

Layout

cmd/appd/            # daemon entrypoint
cmd/appctl/          # CLI client entrypoint
internal/api/        # HTTP routes
internal/auth/       # loopback token mint + validate
web/                 # Vite + Svelte SPA (optional)
embed.go             # //go:embed web/dist
deploy/              # launchd plist template
scripts/init.sh      # the renamer
scripts/dev-watch.sh # rebuild + bounce the daemon on change
README.app.md        # becomes the app's README after init.sh