starter-dashboard

Alpaca Starter Dashboard

Create a local Next.js dashboard for Alpaca paper trading and market data demos. The generated app uses the published @alpacahq/alpaca-trade-api package and calls the Trading API and Market Data API directly through the SDK.

Workflow

1. Confirm the target directory and app name.
2. Create the app locally with scripts/scaffold.ts.
3. Default to paper trading (APCA_PAPER="true"). Do not configure live trading.
4. Report the target path and give next commands. Do not print secrets from .env.local.

Run The Scaffolder

From this skill directory:

npx tsx scripts/scaffold.ts \
  --target-directory /path/to/my-alpaca-dashboard \
  --app-name my-alpaca-dashboard

If the local runtime supports it, node scripts/scaffold.ts or bun scripts/scaffold.ts are also acceptable. Prefer npx tsx for Node 20 compatibility.

The script reads these credential environment variables when flags are omitted:

• APCA_API_KEY_ID
• APCA_API_SECRET_KEY

If credentials are not locally available, pass --allow-placeholder-credentials; the generated .env.local will contain placeholders the user must fill before running the app.

Useful flags:

• --create-subdirectory: treat --target-directory as the parent and create target/app-name.
• --key-id / --secret: write explicit paper credentials without reading environment variables.
• --paper: set the generated APCA_PAPER value. Defaults to true; keep this enabled for demos.

The target directory may already contain unrelated files. The scaffolder merges the template into the target, but refuses to overwrite any existing generated path, including .env.local.

Common failures:

• TypeScript runner unavailable: use npx tsx, node with native TypeScript support, or bun.
• Missing credentials: set APCA_API_KEY_ID and APCA_API_SECRET_KEY, pass --key-id / --secret, or use --allow-placeholder-credentials.
• Invalid app name: use a lowercase npm package name with no spaces, uppercase letters, leading dot, or leading underscore.
• Unsafe target: the target must not be a file or symlink, and generated paths must not already exist.