install

Mantle Install

Route by the working directory:

• If it already contains .mantle/launch-state.json or depends on @aotter/mantle, continue the existing project.
• Otherwise create a new local project from a deterministic provision bundle. Do not use the Mantle SDK checkout as the application.

Mantle landing uses the same bundles but continues through GitHub, Cloudflare, and optional paid hosted auth. Use landing only when the user wants that hosted provider flow.

Create a Local Project

1. Infer the closest starter from the user's request. Ask only when two choices would materially change the result.

Intent	Type
API/MCP backend or empty base	blank
Small public or company site	presence
Form, application, or submission flow	intake
Blog, docs, posts, or editorial site	publication
Catalog or order intent	transaction
Booking or request intent	reservation

Community and membership types are not released; create refuses them. Build those on blank or the closest released type.

1. Choose a target directory outside both Mantle repositories; its name becomes the project slug. Derive a brand, one-sentence description, and locales from the user's prompt. Require Node 22+ and pnpm 9+; check node --version and pnpm --version before creating.

2. Create the project with the Core CLI. It resolves the official immutable starter tag for its own version, so no starters checkout is involved:

npx -y @aotter/mantle@alpha create <type> <target-dir> \
  --brand "<brand>" \
  --description "<one sentence>" \
  --locales <comma-separated-locales>

Pin an exact version (@aotter/mantle@<version>) when the user asked for one. create writes files and stops: it installs nothing, initializes no repository, configures no auth, and deploys nothing. It refuses to write into a path that already exists, and there is no force flag — choose a new directory instead.

Do not clone the starters repository, copy blank/, merge overlays, or edit a provision bundle by hand. The CLI renders the same immutable bundle Mantle landing uses.