Generating a New Project

You now have a working Buffalo installation. In this section, you will learn how to create a brand new web application, using the buffalo command.

Create a new project

Buffalo aims to make building new web applications in Go as quick and simple as possible. What could be more simple than a new application generator?

Start by going to your $GOPATH and create your new application!

$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/$USER/

Make sure $GOPATH/bin is in your $PATH, then:

$ buffalo new coke

That will generate a whole new Buffalo application called coke, all ready to go:

  • the Buffalo framework layout and default configuration (pop/soda with PostgreSQL support),
  • all necessary Go dependencies needed to run the current application,
  • frontend dependencies and working setup with webpack
  • and an initial Git repository.

$ buffalo new coke
Buffalo version 0.14.10

      create  .buffalo.dev.yml
      create  assets/images/logo.svg
      create  assets/css/application.scss
      create  assets/images/favicon.ico
      create  assets/js/application.js
      create  .babelrc
      create  package.json
      create  public/assets/.keep
      create  webpack.config.js
         run  yarn install --no-progress --save
yarn install v0.27.5
info No lockfile found.
[1/4] Resolving packages...
[2/4] Fetching packages...
[3/4] Linking dependencies...
[4/4] Building fresh packages...
success Saved lockfile.
Done in 11.71s.
      create  models/models.go
      create  models/models_test.go
      create  grifts/db.go
         run  go get github.com/gobuffalo/pop/...
      create  ./database.yml
         run  goimports -w coke/grifts/db.go coke/models/models.go coke/models/models_test.go
      create  Dockerfile
      create  .dockerignore
         run  go get -u golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports
      create  README.md
      create  actions/actions_test.go
      create  actions/app.go
      create  actions/home.go
      create  actions/home_test.go
      create  actions/render.go
      create  .codeclimate.yml
      create  .env
      create  grifts/init.go
      create  inflections.json
      create  locales/all.en-us.yaml
      create  main.go
      create  public/robots.txt
      create  templates/_flash.html
      create  templates/application.html
      create  templates/index.html
         run  go get -t ./...
         run  goimports -w actions/actions_test.go actions/app.go actions/home.go actions/home_test.go actions/render.go grifts/db.go grifts/init.go main.go models/models.go models/models_test.go
      create  .gitignore
         run  git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/markbates/Dropbox/development/gocode/src/github.com/markbates/coke/.git/
         run  git add .
         run  git commit -q -m Initial Commit
INFO[0055] Congratulations! Your application, coke, has been successfully built!

 
INFO[0055] You can find your new application at:
/Users/markbates/Dropbox/development/gocode/src/github.com/markbates/coke 
INFO[0055] 
Please read the README.md file in your new application for next steps on running your application.

Create a customized app

The default setup is great, but maybe it doesn't fit you. Buffalo provides several options as flags for the new command.

You can get the available flags list using the help command:

$ buffalo help new
Creates a new Buffalo application

Usage:
  buffalo new [name] [flags]

Flags:
      --api                  skip all front-end code and configure for an API server
      --bootstrap int        specify version for Bootstrap [3, 4] (default 4)
      --ci-provider string   specify the type of ci file you would like buffalo to generate [none, travis, gitlab-ci] (default "none")
      --config string        config file (default is $HOME/.buffalo.yaml)
      --db-type string       specify the type of database you want to use [cockroach, mysql, postgres, sqlite3] (default "postgres")
      --docker string        specify the type of Docker file to generate [none, multi, standard] (default "multi")
  -f, --force                delete and remake if the app already exists
  -h, --help                 help for new
      --skip-config          skips using the config file
      --skip-pop             skips adding pop/soda to your app
      --skip-webpack         skips adding Webpack to your app
      --skip-yarn            use npm instead of yarn for frontend dependencies management
      --vcs string           specify the Version control system you would like to use [none, git, bzr] (default "git")
  -v, --verbose              verbosely print out the go get commands
      --with-dep             adds github.com/golang/dep to your app

You can choose to generate an API application, skipping the frontend stuff. Maybe you want to setup a CI to build your app on your favorite system? Or even use your own package to handle the database? Just use the flags!

Override Default Config

By default buffalo new command will look for a configuration file at $HOME/.buffalo.yml and if it exists will try to load it. You can override the flags found in that file by passing the right ones in the command line or use the --config flag to specify a different YAML file. If the --skip-config flag is used buffalo new command will not load any config file and will use only the flags passed by the command line.

An example of a .buffalo.yml config file can be:

skip-yarn: true
db-type: postgres
bootstrap: 4
with-dep: true

Running Your Application in Development

Before starting Buffalo for the first time, please head over to the Database docs and read a little bit about setting up your databases.

One of the downsides to Go development is the lack of code “reloading”. This means as you change your code you need to manually stop your application, rebuild it, then restart it. Buffalo finds this annoying, and wants to make life better for you.

$ buffalo dev

The dev command will watch your .go and .html files and the asset folder by default. It will rebuild and restart your binary for you automatically, so you don't have to worry about such things.

Just run the buffalo dev command and go to localhost:3000/ to see all changes live!

The brand new Coke app.

Run the dev server on a custom port

Sometimes you will already have an app working on the 3000 port. You can configure the dev server port by providing the PORT environment variable:

$ PORT=3001 buffalo dev

You can also take a look at the Env Variables chapter for further information on Buffalo configuration.

Next Steps