CLI
Use domstack (or its shorter alias, dom) to build a site, watch for changes, or preview production output.
Use domstack eject to extract the bundled defaults for customization.
domstack is a devtool.
It’s primarily a unix bin written for the Node.js runtime that is intended to be installed from npm as a devDependency inside a package.json committed to a git repository.
It can be used outside of this context, but it works best within it.
Usage
| Command | Behavior |
|---|---|
domstack or domstack build |
Build once and exit. |
domstack watch |
Build, watch for changes, and serve with live reload. |
domstack serve |
Build once, then serve production output without watching or live reload. |
domstack eject |
Extract the default layout, global styles, and client files into the source directory and update dependencies in package.json. |
domstack help [command] |
Show root or command-specific help. |
When using an explicit command, put the command before its options, as in domstack watch --src site, not domstack --src site watch.
domstack build
Build the site once and exit.
Running domstack without a command performs the same build, with src as the source directory and public as the destination by default.
domstack
domstack build --src website --dest public
domstack build --copy images --copy downloads
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--src <path>, -s <path> |
Source directory (default: src). |
--dest <path>, -d <path> |
Build destination directory (default: public). |
--ignore <patterns>, -i <patterns> |
Comma-separated gitignore-style ignore patterns. |
--drafts |
Include draft pages with the .draft.{md,js,ts,html} page suffix. |
--noEsbuildMeta |
Skip writing the esbuild metafile to disk. |
--domstackManifest |
Write the DOMStack manifest to disk. |
--copy <path> |
Copy an additional directory into the destination; repeat for multiple directories. |
--verbose |
Show debug logs, including individual copy operations. |
--help, -h |
Show build help; on bare domstack, show the command list and default build options. |
--version, -v |
Show the installed version. |
Normal output includes the build tree and a build summary.
Use --verbose to include debug logs and individual copy operations.
Build failures retain their full diagnostics at either verbosity level.
domstack watch
Build the site, watch for changes, and serve with live reload using @domstack/sync.
Use --no-serve when another process serves the output.
Watch mode uses stable bundle filenames rather than production hashes.
domstack watch
domstack watch --src site --dest public
domstack watch --no-serve
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--src <path>, -s <path> |
Source directory (default: src). |
--dest <path>, -d <path> |
Build destination directory (default: public). |
--ignore <patterns>, -i <patterns> |
Comma-separated gitignore-style ignore patterns. |
--drafts |
Include draft pages with the .draft.{md,js,ts,html} page suffix. |
--noEsbuildMeta |
Skip writing the esbuild metafile to disk. |
--domstackManifest |
Accepted, but has no effect: watch mode does not finalize or write the DOMStack manifest. |
--copy <path> |
Copy and watch an additional directory in the destination; repeat for multiple directories. |
--verbose |
Show debug logs, including individual copy operations. |
--no-serve |
Watch and rebuild without starting a server. |
--help, -h |
Show watch help. |
--version, -v |
Show the installed version. |
Normal output includes the initial build tree, rebuild summaries, static asset startup, and server URLs.
Build failures retain their full diagnostics at either verbosity level.
--port is not available on this command.
domstack serve
Build the site once, then serve production output without watching or live reload. Use this command to preview the production build, including manifest-driven service-worker caching. It always builds first; it is not a server-only command for an existing destination.
domstack serve
domstack serve --src website --dest public --port 8080
domstack serve --domstackManifest
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--src <path>, -s <path> |
Source directory (default: src). |
--dest <path>, -d <path> |
Build destination directory (default: public). |
--ignore <patterns>, -i <patterns> |
Comma-separated gitignore-style ignore patterns. |
--drafts |
Include draft pages with the .draft.{md,js,ts,html} page suffix. |
--noEsbuildMeta |
Skip writing the esbuild metafile to disk. |
--domstackManifest |
Write the DOMStack manifest to disk. |
--copy <path> |
Copy an additional directory into the destination; repeat for multiple directories. |
--verbose |
Show debug logs, including individual copy operations. |
--port <number> |
Server port, an integer from 1 to 65535 (default: 3000). |
--help, -h |
Show serve help. |
--version, -v |
Show the installed version. |
Normal output includes the build tree, a build summary, and server URLs. Build failures retain their full diagnostics at either verbosity level.
domstack eject
Extract DOMStack’s default layout, global CSS, and client-side JavaScript into your source directory and add their dependencies to package.json.
This allows you to fully customize these files while maintaining the same functionality.
domstack eject
domstack eject --language ts
domstack eject --language ts --yes --src src
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--src <path>, -s <path> |
Source directory to receive the defaults (default: src). |
--language <language> |
Eject js (default) or ts files. |
--yes |
Skip confirmation before writing files and updating dependencies. |
--help, -h |
Show eject help. |
--version, -v |
Show the installed version. |
Without --yes, eject asks for confirmation before writing files or updating dependencies.
Eject overwrites its target files, so review or back up existing customizations before proceeding.
Ejecting the defaults
When you run domstack eject, it will:
Create a default root layout file at layouts/root.layout.js (or .mjs depending on your package.json type)
2.
Create a default global CSS file at globals/global.css
3.
Create a default client-side JavaScript file at globals/global.client.js (or .mjs depending on your package.json type)
4.
Add the necessary dependencies to your package.json:
- mine.css
- fragtml
- highlight.js
Use domstack eject --language ts to write layouts/root.layout.ts and globals/global.client.ts instead.
For packages without "type": "module", the TypeScript layout uses .mts so Node loads it as ESM without changing your package type.
The CSS and added dependencies are the same for both languages.
JavaScript remains the default (--language js), with .js files in module packages and .mjs files otherwise.
Only ts and js are accepted language values.
DOMStack maintains one canonical TypeScript root layout and generates its JavaScript counterpart at build and release time.
Both files are published; the runtime loads JavaScript directly without a custom loader, and eject copies the selected language rather than compiling it.
The TypeScript output uses the public type-only @domstack/static/types.js entry instead of DOMStack’s private #types alias.
Keep @domstack/static installed for those types; no runtime type import or separate TypeScript compilation step is needed.
The client is currently comment-only, but receives a .ts extension when TypeScript is selected.
It is recommended to eject early in your project so that you can customize the root layout as you see fit, and decouple yourself from potential unwanted changes in the default layout as new versions of DOMStack are released.
domstack help
Show the command list and default build options, or pass a command name to show its full help. This command takes an optional command name and no flags.
domstack help
domstack help build
domstack help watch
domstack help serve
domstack help eject
domstack help is equivalent to domstack --help.
domstack help <command> is equivalent to domstack <command> --help, for example domstack help watch and domstack watch --help.
Legacy shortcuts
Root-level mode flags remain supported for existing scripts, but prefer commands for new usage.
| Legacy shortcut | Preferred command |
|---|---|
domstack --watch or domstack -w |
domstack watch |
domstack --watch-only |
domstack watch --no-serve |
domstack --serve |
domstack serve |
domstack --eject or domstack -e |
domstack eject |
Legacy shortcuts use the same strict option validation as their target commands.
For example, domstack --serve --port 4000 is valid, but domstack --watch --port 4000 and domstack --eject --dest public are rejected.
Mode flags are mutually exclusive, including --watch together with --watch-only.
Legacy mode flags are not accepted on explicit commands, so use domstack watch, not domstack build --watch.