Development Environment Architect (aka devArch)

Setting up a new project is tedious. Same folders, same files, same git init — every single time. devArch fixes that.

What it does

Pick your stack, set your options, hit create. That's it. Your project is scaffolded, dependencies installed, git initialized, and if you want — pushed to GitHub. All from inside VS Code.

Install

Search devArch in the VS Code extension marketplace and install. That's it — no CLI, no setup.

How to use it

Open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows, Cmd+Shift+P on Mac), type dev-arch: Create Project and hit enter.

A panel opens inside VS Code. Fill in:

Project Name — no spaces or special characters
Project Type — pick your stack
Language — JavaScript or TypeScript (React and Fullstack only)
Options — Tailwind, Full Boilerplate, Git, GitHub (mix and match)
Visibility — Public or Private (shows up when GitHub is checked)

Hit Create Project, pick a folder, done.

Supported stacks

Type	What you get
React + Vite	Full Vite scaffold, optional Tailwind, JS or TS
Fullstack	React frontend + Node backend in one repo
Node.js Backend	Express + MongoDB structure, optional boilerplate
Python	src/, tests/, main.py, requirements.txt
Web	HTML, CSS, JS with proper boilerplate

Options explained

Tailwind CSS Installs Tailwind, patches vite.config.js, and adds the import to index.css. Available for React and Fullstack only.

Full Boilerplate For Node and Fullstack projects — generates working code instead of empty files. Includes a connected Express app, MongoDB connection, routes, controllers, middleware, and more. Without this, you just get the folder structure.

Initialize Git Runs git init, creates a .gitignore tailored to your stack, and makes the initial commit.

Create GitHub Repo Creates a repo on your GitHub account and pushes the initial commit. No GitHub CLI needed — devArch uses the GitHub API directly. First time you check this, you'll be asked for a Personal Access Token. It's a one-time setup, stored securely in your OS keychain.

How to get a GitHub Personal Access Token

Go to github.com → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
Click Generate new token
Give it a name like devArch
Check the repo scope
Click Generate token and copy it
Paste it in the devArch panel

Or just click the Open GitHub Token Page button inside the extension — it opens the right page with the scope pre-selected.

Requirements

Feature	Requirement
React, Node, Fullstack	Node.js + npm — https://nodejs.org
Git integration	Git — https://git-scm.com
GitHub integration	Git + a GitHub Personal Access Token
Python, Web	Nothing extra

Project name rules

No spaces
No special characters (< > : " / \ | ? *)
Max 100 characters

What's coming

This is just the start. The plan is to keep expanding devArch to cover more stacks and workflows — Django, Go, Docker setup, and more. If there's something you want supported, open an issue on GitHub.

License

MIT

dev-arch

Dev Parmar