Atheneum Forge

This project is a boiler-plate generator. In contrast to a static template, the main ideas of the project are to:

• not only be able to generate a "scaffolding" for a new (or existing) project
• but ALSO be able to keep that "scaffolding" up-to-date based on an authoratative source
• and also automate several project-level tasks such as:
  • version updating
  • checking submodules (fmt, google test, courier) to see if there are newer versions and automating their update
  • adding copyright headers
  • automating the addition of "include guards" (for C++)

Usage

From Github

Atheneum-forge can be run as an executable directly from Github, with the uv dependency manager:

> uvx --from git+https://github.com/bigladder/atheneum-forge.git forge-cli init . <project_name> --type <cpp | python>

or

> uvx --from git+https://github.com/bigladder/atheneum-forge.git forge

From a clone

The atheneum-forge tool can be used directly from the repository directory, or built into a package.The project is managed with the uv depenency manager; to build, simply use command "uv build" from the atheneum-forge top directory.

Installing the atheneum-forge package will provide two command-line tools: a TUI (text user interface) and a command-line-app.

• forge-cli allows the user to view all project-generation functionality at a glance;

• forge can be called with arguments to implement one piece of functionality at a time (forge --help).

Project generation consists of two steps, which may be combined. First, a configuration file is generated (forge.toml), which contains default settings such as the project name and type. If more detailed defaults are desired, the forge.toml file contains project-relevant settings that can be activated by removing the comment character. The project-generation step will automatically import these settings to populate project files (primarily support and build files).

Note

On some Windows PCs, the forge TUI may render with unexpected characters. For a cleaner experience, download and install a Nerd Font (such as FiraCode).

As a Python package

atheneum-forge may be imported as a package dependency directly from git. Include atheneum-forge in your pyproject.toml dependencies list, and set the source as below:

[tool.uv.sources]
atheneum-forge = { git = "https://github.com/bigladder/atheneum-forge" }

In your code,

from atheneum_forge import forge, project_factory

to use the public interface.

For developers

For each language to be supported by a project template, the languages directory contains a <language_name> entry. Currently C++ and Python are supported. Each language pack consists of three conceptual pieces:

Project directory tree

The canonical folder structure for open-source projects, with any standard, non-customizable files that are simply copied into a new project.

Templates:

Files within the folder structure that must be customized (e.g. with the project name) are stored as Jinja templates with a .j2 extension. These are rendered using default parameter values before being copied into a new project.

manifest.toml: provides parameters and indications of how files in the template repository should be used

The manifest is a complete description of every file that comprises a project scaffold. Its sections are:

• static: a list of files or directories to be copied directly
• template: a list of files that will be modified before copying
• template-parameters: a list of substitution parameters for the templates
• deps: a set of dictionaries describing submodule dependencies

TODO: Format of manifest, to/from options, extra keywords

Reference

Poetry and Helix -- how to bring the Helix editor into context with a Python app being developed https://blog.jorisl.nl/helix_python_lsp/