Overview

This package includes the global command for Create Decent App.

You will get the following:

• Static-content, single-page web app with Vite-built bundles.
• Typescript/React codebase.
• Jest-based test runner for unit tests.
• Use local LLMs via WebLLM (post-deployment) or Ollama (during development)
• Common look and feel via widgets and design system from shared libraries.
• A working web app with UI to pleasantly handle local LLM access in development and production.

The code created by create-decent-app follows the Decent Sensibilities (described below).

Usage

npx create-decent-app YOUR-PROJECT-NAME

But...

Did You Know NPX is Kinda Dangerous?

npx literally just downloads a package and executes whatever is in it on your personal device. I promise I put nothing malicious or unsafe into create-decent-app, but why should you trust me?

Here are some ways to protect yourself from me (and worse people) providing NPX-ecutables:

• Read through the install script at the Create Decent App git repo before running the npx command. I wrote the script to be free of any dependencies other than Node.js built-in packages, and to have all the code that executes be easy to understand. You can spend 5 minutes checking, and you'll see I'm not doing anything sneaky.
• OR... you could manually clone the template yourself and rename it to match your project. The template is right over here. No execution of scripts via npx need happen if you decide to clone the template yourself.
• OR... you could run npx inside of Docker or some other virtualization.

Decent Sensibilities

Decent apps seek to do right by their users by keeping their data off of the cloud. This template is based on certain "decent" sensibilities:

• THINK LOCAL - the project template is designed to avoid use of services and give you enough to do things without them, including local LLM and persistent storage.
• ASK BEFORE CALLING - if you do call services, ask the user for permission and never call services beyond those for which you have permission.
• LOW-DEPENDENCY - packages should be imported with reluctance as they increase risk of supply chain attacks and other problems. There's an article I wrote about this sensibility called "Write More, Reuse Less".
• NO SNEAKINESS - "Sneaky" means unexpected by the user. An example would be creating a link to a website that sends user data in the querystring.

Decent apps allow users to trust certain kinds of use cases in web apps that they might not otherwise. Some examples:

• Track your medical history and ask an LLM questions about it.
• Record meetings and generate notes for them.
• Keep a travelogue of all the places you've been in your life.
• Talk to an LLM about how much you hate your boss.
• Create web apps that can process company data without worrying about the data leaving a company-issued device.

Users can do these kinds of things without fear of insurance companies, government agencies, marketeers, research harvesters, doxxers, hackers, scammers, and spammers exploiting them.

Licensing

My code and other files in this repository are licensed under the MIT open source license.

But if you see a LICENSE file in a sub-directory of the repository, that license will apply to all files found in that directory.

Contributing

The project isn't open to contributions at this point. But that could change. Contact me if you'd like to collaborate.

Contacting

You can reach me via my LinkedIn profile. I'll accept connections if you will just mention "decent apps" or some other shared interest in your connection request.