# Gowebly CLI: scaffolding a Go web app with htmx, Alpine.js and a CSS framework in one command > Gowebly CLI is a Go project generator that assembles a backend from the standard library or a popular router, a frontend from htmx, hyperscript or Alpine.js, and a stylesheet from a chosen CSS framework, with Docker, PWA and live-reload configuration included. It suits developers who want a working baseline in a minute, and it is the wrong tool if you want a minimal project you can shape yourself. **gowebly/gowebly** — 🔥 A next-generation CLI tool that makes it easy to create amazing web applications with Go on the backend, using htmx, hyperscript or Alpine.js, and the most popular CSS frameworks on the frontend. - Repository: https://github.com/gowebly/gowebly - Website: https://gowebly.org - Stars: 1,232 · Forks: 47 - Language: Go - License: Apache-2.0 - Published: 2026-10-19 · Updated: 2026-10-19 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/gowebly-gowebly ## The generator picks your stack, which is the point and also the constraint The Gowebly CLI is described as a next-generation CLI tool that makes it easy to create web applications with Go on the backend, using htmx, hyperscript or Alpine.js, and the most popular CSS frameworks on the frontend. The decision it removes is the one every new Go project faces: which router, which interactivity approach, which styling system, how to structure the directories, and what the Docker setup should look like. The README frames the motivation directly, describing the tedium of starting from scratch and arguing that the manual configuration work should be handed to a machine. For a developer learning a new stack, that setup friction is where projects usually stall. For an experienced developer with an opinionated existing template, the same automation is redundant. ## Seven routers and seven CSS frameworks are supported out of the box The supported backend options run from the standard library to specific frameworks. The README lists the built-in net/http package, which needs no router dependency at all, alongside Fiber, Gin, Echo, Chi, HttpRouter, Gorilla/Mux and PocketBase. On the frontend side the list of CSS frameworks is Tailwind CSS, daisyUI, Flowbite, Preline UI, UnoCSS, Bootstrap and Bulma, and the JavaScript side offers htmx, hyperscript or Alpine.js, with Bun as a supported JavaScript runtime environment for the frontend. Templ is supported as a way to build HTML with Go, which is a meaningful addition for anyone who wants typed templates instead of string concatenation. The breadth is the feature: the choice happens once, at generation time, rather than through weeks of framework evaluation. ## The output ships with the deployment plumbing already in place Beyond the stack selection, the generated project arrives with several things that are normally assembled by hand. There is a ready-to-use Dockerfile and Docker Compose file for deployment in any environment, and a live-reload mode for Go code and frontend files using the Air tool. A basic golangci-lint config is included for quick setup. The project is ready to install as a PWA in a browser or on a mobile device, and the CLI ships a library of user-friendly helpers for Go code. The last point is the one to watch: a generator that also ships its own helper package is making a longer-term commitment than a one-shot template, and that affects how much you want to depend on the generated shape later. ## Three ways to install, and none of them require a build The quickest route needs no installation at all. The README says you can run the CLI with go run, provided Go 1.25 or higher is installed, and the command creates a new project in the current directory. ```console go run github.com/gowebly/gowebly/v3@latest create ``` Note the major version suffix in the module path, which the go.mod file confirms as github.com/gowebly/gowebly/v3 with a Go directive of 1.26.2. On GNU/Linux and macOS the Homebrew route is a tap plus an install. ```console brew tap gowebly/tap brew install gowebly/tap/gowebly ``` For other systems, ready-made packages are published on the Releases page, with exe files for Windows and deb, rpm, apk and Arch Linux packages. The project also ships a .goreleaser.yml and a Dockerfile for the release process, and that Dockerfile is deliberately minimal, building FROM scratch, copying the gowebly binary and setting the entrypoint. ## The CLI is a Charm terminal application, not a script of shell calls The dependency list in go.mod shows what kind of program this is. The direct requirements are the Charm huh library for interactive form prompts, lipgloss for terminal styling, google/wire for dependency injection, and stretchr/testify for tests. Everything else is indirect, and most of it is Charm's own stack: bubbletea for the terminal UI, bubbles for widgets, and termenv for colour, go-osc52 for terminal escape sequences, and uniseg and runewidth for text width handling. The practical implication is that the CLI asks you questions interactively rather than taking a long list of flags, which is friendly for a first run and less convenient in a script or a CI job where nobody is there to answer prompts. ## Older major versions live in separate branches The README carries a note for anyone arriving from an earlier version. Versions 1 and 2 of the CLI are located in their own branches, linked from the note. The project uses semantic import versioning, with the current line published under the /v3 path in the module path, so a project that imports the CLI or its helpers must reference the major version explicitly. The release history shows v3.1.1 on 2026-04-20, v3.1.0 on 2026-03-23 and v3.0.7 on 2026-01-16, so the 3.x line has been shipping steadily through 2026. The repository also holds a CONTRIBUTING.md, a Dockerfile, a cmd/ directory, an internal/ directory and main.go, which is the standard layout for a Go command. ## The documentation is the real product, and it is multilingual The README leans heavily on the hosted documentation, and the emphasis makes sense for a tool aimed at developers at any level. The complete user guide is published at gowebly.org with each CLI command given a textual description and a diagram of how it works, and the documentation is available in English, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Spanish. The recommended learning path is explicit: read the short articles on what the Gowebly CLI is and how it works, then install the CLI, create a new project, and run it locally. A project of this kind lives or dies on whether a newcomer can get from install to a running app without guessing, and that is exactly what the guide is structured around. The one weakness is that the guide is a website, so the useful details are not in the repository itself. ## Apache-2.0 licensed, but the last commit was six months ago The licence is Apache-2.0, and the README states that the tool is 100 percent free and open source under it. For a code generator that writes files directly into your repository, that matters, since the generated output is not covered by the generator's licence and you are free to do what you like with it afterward. The maintenance picture is the part to note. The last push to the repository was on 2026-04-18, with the most recent release v3.1.1 tagged two days later on 2026-04-20, and nothing has landed in the tree in the roughly six months since. The documentation is still live and the previous major versions remain available in their branches, but this is a project on a slow cadence rather than an actively churned one, so a team depending on it should be comfortable pinning to a release and copying what it generates into its own templates. ## Conclusion Gowebly CLI is worth adopting for a team that keeps starting similar Go web projects and wants the router, CSS framework, Dockerfile, lint config and PWA plumbing assembled consistently rather than copied between repositories, because the alternatives are all selected from the same command. It is a poor fit for a project that wants a minimal dependency surface, since the generated structure assumes a specific stack, and a poor fit if you have already chosen your own build and deployment tooling. Verify first that the router and CSS framework you want are among the supported options, since those choices are made at generation time, and check the maintenance status before adopting it, as the last push to the repository was on 2026-04-18. ## FAQ ### How do I create a new project with the Gowebly CLI? With Go 1.25 or higher installed, run go run github.com/gowebly/gowebly/v3@latest create and the CLI creates a new web application in the current directory. The README also offers a Homebrew tap and install, and downloadable packages for Windows and several Linux distributions. ### Which Go web frameworks and CSS frameworks does Gowebly support? The README lists the net/http standard library plus Fiber, Gin, Echo, Chi, HttpRouter, Gorilla/Mux and PocketBase on the backend, and Tailwind CSS, daisyUI, Flowbite, Preline UI, UnoCSS, Bootstrap and Bulma on the frontend, with htmx, hyperscript or Alpine.js for interactivity. ### Does the generated project include Docker and deployment configuration? Yes. The feature list includes ready-to-use Dockerfile and Docker Compose files to deploy the application in any environment, plus a live-reload mode for Go and frontend files using Air, a basic golangci-lint config, and PWA install support. ### What licence does the Gowebly CLI use? Apache 2.0, which the README states makes it 100 percent free and open source. The CLI itself is published under that licence, and the code it generates in your project is yours to use as you wish. ## Sources - [gowebly/gowebly on GitHub](https://github.com/gowebly/gowebly) - [License: Apache-2.0](https://github.com/gowebly/gowebly/blob/main/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://gowebly.org) - [README](https://github.com/gowebly/gowebly/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/gowebly/gowebly/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/gowebly-gowebly