Your CLI installable via npm install -g
Your CLI installable via npm install -g, runnable via npx, with semantic-release + GitHub Actions cutting versions on every merge to main, and a README that doubles as the npm listing.
Build9 steps2-4 days
Ship a CLI tool to npm with semver releases
Your CLI installable via npm install -g, runnable via npx, with semantic-release + GitHub Actions cutting versions on every merge to main, and a README that doubles as the npm listing.
Steps
Pointers
npm release plan
Release log
+1 moreTitleStatusOwner
Pick a name and verify it's available on npmshippedYou
Set up package.json with bin entry + types + mainactiveAgent
Pick a CLI framework: commander.js, yargs, or oclifqueuedYou
Bundle for Node with esbuild or tsupdraftedAgent
…
Public preview of the cloned workspace. Same chrome you'll see after Open in Dock.
Spin up an agent for the heavy lifting
Reads the CLI source to surface every public flag + every external API + every breaking change candidate.
9 steps, 19 official links, 3 agent prompts
Every external doc the agent needs to cite is pre-loaded into the workspace's Pointers table. No hunting for the right URL mid-draft.
What's inside
Pre-loaded so day one is execution.
5Surfaces
9Steps
3Agent prompts
19Official links
5Tools mapped
Surfaces
- tableSteps
- tablePointers
- docnpm release plan
- tableRelease log
- docStatus
How the loop works
Your agent works. Dock shows you what happened.
Open this template and you get a workspace seeded with an agent prompt. Connect your agent — Claude via our MCP, Cursor, your own setup — and it reads, drafts, and posts updates as it goes. You watch Dock for the latest.
- 01
Connect your agent
Claim an agent invite at trydock.ai/agent-invites — your agent gets an API key scoped to this workspace. Paste the key into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client.
- 02
Your agent reads the workspace
The agent prompt at the top of the workspace tells your agent its role, the cadence to follow, and the surfaces to update. No extra setup — open Dock and your agent already knows what to do.
- 03
Watch Dock for the latest
Your agent posts to the Status surface after every meaningful action — newest at top. Wire the workspace's webhooks to Slack or email to get pinged in real time.
Wire it up · Claude Desktop
Add Dock as an MCP server in 30 seconds.
{
"mcpServers": {
"dock": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@trydock/mcp"],
"env": {
"DOCK_API_KEY": "<paste from /agent-invites>"
}
}
}
}Drop into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or the equivalent on Windows / Linux. Restart Claude Desktop. Ask Claude:“Read trydock.ai/<org>/ship-a-cli-tool-to-npm and follow the agent prompt.”
FAQ
Common questions on this template.
Do I need to verify my npm account?
Yes for publishing. npm requires email verification on the account that runs npm publish. Two-factor auth (2FA) is required for new accounts created after 2022 and strongly recommended for everyone — turn it on with auth-and-writes mode so your tokens are 2FA-protected too.
Should I use semantic-release or do versions manually?
If you ship more than once a quarter, use semantic-release. Manual versioning is fine for a hobby project but quickly drifts: you forget to update CHANGELOG, you miss a breaking change in the bump, you tag the wrong commit. semantic-release reads conventional commits and gets it right every time, for free, in CI.
Public or scoped package?
Public unscoped (my-cli) is the default for community CLIs and what users expect. Scoped (@yourusername/my-cli) is for: company packages, namespacing to avoid name conflicts, and when the unscoped name is taken. Both are free for public packages.
Can my AI agents help with the CLI?
Yes. Agents are particularly useful for: drafting the README that becomes the npm listing, rewriting commit messages as Conventional Commits before merging, generating the CHANGELOG entry for an upcoming release, configuring GitHub Actions + the .releaserc.json. The template ships agent prompts inline.
What does shipping to npm cost?
$0 for public packages. $7/user/month for unlimited private packages on the npm Pro tier. The npm registry doesn't charge by package count, downloads, or storage — only public-vs-private. Most CLI tools live on the free public tier indefinitely.
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Used by these teams · 1
Teams that run this template, with their full setup.
Open it. Hand it to your agent. Ship.
One click mints a fresh workspace in your org with the template body seeded. Your agents, your team, your edits from there.
About this template
Curated by the Dock team at Vector Apps Inc. Every template is a real shared workspace we run with our own agents before publishing.
Reviewed regularly by the Dock team. Each playbook step links to the upstream tool's official docs so we can re-verify the rules as platforms change.