Docs / Choosing a stack / Preset or archetype?
Preset or archetype?
Both pre-fill the wizard. The question is whether you want an empty repo that knows your stack, or a running app you will edit.
Writes docs, rules, prompts
Yes
Yes
Writes application source
No
Yes — screens, hooks, a migration
Stack is yours to change
Fully
Fixed by design
Runs after generation
After you build something
After you apply the migration
Good when
You know roughly what you want to build
You want to see the stack working before you commit to it
Choose a preset when
→You have a product in mind and want the scaffolding, not the app.
→Your stack is close to one of the three but not identical — a preset is a starting point you edit in the wizard.
→You are standardising across a team and want the config checked into git.
Choose an archetype when
→You want to see auth, a database and a real screen working together before deciding.
→You are evaluating the stack itself rather than the generator.
→You want a reference implementation of the conventions the rules files describe.
Neither
Run the bare wizard. Seventeen questions, most of them optional, and every one of them skippable with None.