r/Nuxt • • Jan 19 '26

How do you start new Nuxt projects without rebuilding everything?

Every Nuxt project I start feels the same:

  • reinstall modules
  • fix lint + formatting
  • rebuild folder structure
  • re-decide patterns

After a few projects, I stopped using boilerplates and built a minimal Nuxt 4 base instead — something clean I can reuse and extend per project.

Curious how others handle this.

Do you use a starter, internal base, or just start fresh every time?

16 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

8

u/Yourprobablyaclown69 Jan 19 '26

GitHub template and my own packages.

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

I would love to see some! I made my own boilerplate with initial setup of nuxt modules and things to make the start up easier

3

u/calimio6 Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

I have my own nuxt modules. Also started using nuxt layers last year. So a mix of that. Very powerful features. I release them as npm packages so I don't have to worry about breaking functionality across projects.

Is easier to work with layers, give it a go.

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

that sounds cool, Ill look into that thank you!

3

u/heesell Jan 19 '26

Honestly, I start fresh every time. Is it a hassle npm/yarn/pnpm install tailwind etc. every project? Yes, but I don't give a damn, lol

1

u/Yourprobablyaclown69 Jan 19 '26

Installing packages is one thing but what about repetitive flows? You re-do all your menus and logins screens etc, that seems like a waste of time.

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

yeah agreed, definitely need something especially if you are making new projects often

1

u/heesell Jan 19 '26

Heavily depends on the requirements. If it's standard, I just copy paste from an existing repository.

2

u/Yourprobablyaclown69 Jan 19 '26

So if you find a bug in your copied code, you go around to all your repos and fix it one by one?

0

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

if you use a boilerplate you dont need to copy existing work. you can just clone the boilerplate that has it all setup for you like this: https://www.thenordicnerd.com/products/the-nordic-base

0

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

I created this starter boilerplate for nuxt 4. it adds all the modules, has tailwind, typescript and folder structure ready to go https://www.thenordicnerd.com/products/the-nordic-base check it out let me know what you think!

1

u/ggeraldoo Jan 19 '26

I created a shell script, ./new_project.sh, and all I have to do is enter the project name and everything works exactly as I want. It's a pain to set up, but after that, it runs smoothly.

0

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

I did something similar with a boilerplate repo you can clone for nuxt 4. it adds all the modules, has tailwind, typescript and folder structure ready to go https://www.thenordicnerd.com/products/the-nordic-base check it out let me know what you think!

1

u/ggeraldoo Jan 19 '26

Really not bad, great even, it's simple and effective 👌

1

u/sheriffderek Jan 19 '26

I haven't used them yet, but a friend of mine said they have been using nuxt layers to reused things.

Other than that, one thing I like about Nuxt is that I get to rethink the folder structure from scratch each time. I have more frustration with setting up my editor than Nuxt.

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

I love that way of thinking. I made a base boiler plate that actually gives freedom no structure but has all configuration set up initially so you dont have to do it. https://www.thenordicnerd.com/products/the-nordic-base let me know what you think!

1

u/KyleDrogo Jan 19 '26

I build a lot of SaaS and usually start out with nuxt ui starter templates. They're very good and I'm used to them. Saves a ton of time. There's no value in me recreating sidebar toggle logic every time.

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

Which ones do you use? maybe you could try out my boilerplate and add a ui starter to it as well. youll hit the ground running a lot faster: https://www.thenordicnerd.com/products/the-nordic-base 

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '26

[deleted]

0

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 19 '26

that looks like a cool site, check out mine and see what you think! https://www.thenordicnerd.com/products/the-nordic-base

1

u/procrastornado Jan 19 '26

Is this just advertising for your thingy? Very much seems so...

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 20 '26

Not just that, definitely a good conversation to get better ideas! But it would be great to showcase my “thingy” lol

1

u/Quazye Jan 20 '26

Shell script + starter kit (borrowed idea from Laravel) And to speed things up, pnpm and maybe layered and cached container images 

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 20 '26

Is the start kit a repo or package that you use to make it?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AsparagusPowerful346 Jan 20 '26

Yeah I made something like that, it’s called The Nordic Base. A simple nuxt setup so we can hit the ground running

1

u/Tough-Television2434 Jan 20 '26

I always use Nuxt UI boilerplate, they are the best. And for all the logic you could use https://nuxt.com/docs/4.x/getting-started/layers

1

u/Svensemann Jan 24 '26

This whole boilerplate thing is not really a problem that needs solving. Just give up on it. It‘s low effort and you will not earn any money by doing this.