42gen (42 Project Starter Generator)

42gen is a C command-line generator for 42 school projects. It creates a clean project skeleton with a standard 42 layout and a ready-to-use Makefile.

Contents

• Quick Start
• What It Generates
• Templates
• Build and Usage
• Safety Checks
• Repository Structure
• Makefile Targets
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• License

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/terminal-42s/42gen
cd 42gen
make
./42gen --help

Generate your first project:

./42gen minishell

What It Generates

For a project named myproject, 42gen creates:

myproject/
├── src/
│   ├── main.c
│   └── utils.c
├── include/
│   └── myproject.h
├── Makefile
├── README.md
├── author
└── .gitignore

Git Integration

• Automatically initializes a git repository
• Adds generated files and creates an initial commit

Default Makefile Flags

• -Wall -Wextra -Werror
• -Iinclude

Templates

Template name	Extra generated files
minishell	parser.c, executor.c, builtins.c
push_swap	sort.c, stack_ops.c
cub3d	render.c, map.c
ft_printf	ft_printf.c
get_next_line, gnl	get_next_line.c
so_long	game.c, map_parser.c
philosophers, philo	philosopher.c, monitor.c
ft_irc, irc	server.c, commands.c
webserv	server.cpp, request.cpp (C++)
cpp_module..., cpp...	main.cpp, class.cpp (C++)

Build and Usage

Build the generator:

make

Run it:

./42gen <project_name>

Examples:

./42gen minishell
./42gen push_swap
./42gen cub3d
./42gen ft_printf
./42gen gnl
./42gen so_long
./42gen philosophers
./42gen ft_irc
./42gen webserv
./42gen cpp_module01
./42gen myproject

Safety Checks

• Accepts only names matching [A-Za-z0-9_-]
• Prevents overwriting an existing directory
• Uses safer functions like snprintf and strncpy
• Cleans up partially created files on failure
• Includes built-in --help output

Repository Structure

.
├── include/
│   └── 42gen.h
├── src/
│   ├── generator.c
│   ├── main.c
│   └── utils.c
├── Makefile
└── README.md

Makefile Targets

• make or make default: Build the generator
• make 42gen: Compile only the 42gen binary
• make clean: Remove object files
• make fclean: Remove object files and binary
• make re: Rebuild from scratch
• make linux, make mac, make windows: OS-specific stubs

Roadmap

• Add --bonus and --git options
• Add norminette template support
• Add GUI mode (SDL2 or webview)
• Add cross-platform installer (Linux, macOS, Windows)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Fork the repo, make improvements, and open a pull request.

License

MIT License.