tango-create

tango-create scaffolds a new instrument project with everything you need — manifest, frontend, optional backend, build scripts, and types.

Installation

No installation required. Run directly with bunx:

bunx github:MartinGonzalez/tango-create

Interactive mode

When run without flags, tango-create walks you through each option:

$ bunx github:MartinGonzalez/tango-create

  tango-create — Scaffold a new Tango instrument

  Instrument directory name (my-instrument): pr-reviewer
  Display name (Pr Reviewer): PR Reviewer
  Sidebar label (PR Reviewer):
  Sidebar icon:
    1. branch
    2. play
    ...
    4. puzzle (default)
  Choose [1-15]: 1
  Category:
    1. developer-tools
    ...
  Choose [1-6]: 1
  Include backend? [Y/n]: y

  Cloning template...
  Applying template variables...
  Initializing git repository...
  Installing dependencies...

  ✓ Instrument created!

  Next steps:
    cd pr-reviewer
    bun run dev

Non-interactive mode

Pass all options as flags to skip prompts. This is useful for AI agents (like Claude) or CI scripts:

bunx github:MartinGonzalez/tango-create \
  --name pr-reviewer \
  --display-name "PR Reviewer" \
  --label "PR Reviewer" \
  --icon branch \
  --category developer-tools \
  --backend

If some flags are provided but not all, the CLI prompts only for the missing values.

Flags

Flag	Description	Default
--name	Directory name for the instrument (kebab-case)	my-instrument
--display-name	Human-readable name shown in Tango	Derived from --name
--label	Text shown in the sidebar shortcut	Same as --display-name
--icon	Sidebar icon (see options below)	puzzle
--category	Marketplace category (see options below)	utilities
--backend	Include a backend entry point	Enabled by default
--no-backend	Skip the backend entry point	—

Available icons

branch  play      post      puzzle  star
gear    chat      code      folder  search
terminal lightning globe     lock    heart

Available categories

Category	Description
developer-tools	Tools for software development workflows
productivity	Task management, notes, time tracking
media	Music, video, image tools
communication	Chat, email, messaging
finance	Budgets, invoices, crypto
utilities	General-purpose tools

Generated project structure

my-instrument/
├── src/
│   ├── index.tsx        # Frontend — React + Tango UI components
│   └── backend.ts       # Backend — actions, lifecycle hooks (if selected)
├── package.json         # Dependencies + tango.instrument manifest
├── tsconfig.json        # TypeScript config
├── tango-env.d.ts       # Generated types for instrument settings
├── tango.json           # Source manifest for marketplace discovery
└── .gitignore

After scaffolding

Start development:

cd my-instrument
bun run dev

This builds your instrument, connects to a running Tango app (port 4243), and watches src/ for changes with hot-reload.

Other commands available in the scaffolded project:

Command	Description
bun run dev	Build + watch + hot-reload
bun run build	One-off production build
bun run validate	Check manifest and project structure
bun run sync	Regenerate tango-env.d.ts from settings schema

How it works

Under the hood, tango-create:

1. Clones the tango-instrument-template repository
2. Removes .git from the clone
3. Replaces {{PLACEHOLDER}} variables in all files with your choices
4. Strips {{#IF_BACKEND}}...{{/IF_BACKEND}} conditional blocks if backend was not selected
5. Deletes src/backend.ts and removes backendEntrypoint from the manifest if no backend
6. Runs git init to start a fresh repository
7. Runs bun install to install dependencies