@@ -22,47 +22,35 @@ using Node.js's native environment file support. Use `--env <path>` to load a
 different file. Existing environment variables take precedence, and the file
 is optional when variables are provided by the shell or CI.
 
-WARNING: work in process, the following doesn't work yet, but soon!
-
-The easiest way to create a status board for your project is using Github Pages.  To get started, create a new repo for your project and clone it
-to your development machine.  In the new directory run the following:
+Create a project interactively:
 
+```sh
+npx @pkgjs/statusboard create my-statusboard
+cd my-statusboard
+npm install
 ```
-# Creates a statusboard project
-# @TODO make this command actually work as it does not right now
-$ npx @pkgjs/statusboard create
-
-# Setup your config in `index.js
-# Then commit your work
-$ git commit -am "statusboard setup"
-
-# Create an orphan branch for our builds
-$ git checkout --orphan gh-pages
 
-# Remove the files we dont need here
-$ git rm -rf .
+The command asks for organizations, repositories (`owner/repo`), issue labels,
+and optional GitHub Actions deployment. It creates `config.js`, `package.json`,
+`.gitignore`, and a local Git repository. Choose a new or empty directory;
+existing project files are never overwritten.
 
-# Create a .nojekyll file, this turns off pesky github pages stuff
-$ touch .nojekyll
-$ git commit --am "github pages initial commit"
+Set `GITHUB_TOKEN` in your environment or in a local `.env` file, then run:
 
-# Now we setup the branch as a working tree on the master branch
-$ git checkout master
-$ mkdir build
-$ git worktree add build gh-pages
+```sh
+npm run build
+```
 
-# Now we can run the index and build
-$ npm run build
+The site is generated in `build/`. Edit `config.js` to customize the board.
 
-# Now we should have a site in ./build, we can
-# commit and push the branches now
-$ cd build && git add . && git commit -m "our new statuspage" && git push
-```
+If you selected GitHub Actions, push the generated project to a GitHub repository
+with a `main` branch and enable **Settings → Pages → Source → GitHub Actions**.
+The workflow builds and deploys the site using the repository's Pages base path.
+Without Actions, set `baseUrl` in `config.js` to match your hosting path.
 
 ## TODO
 
 - Cli logger
-- `create` command to setup a new project
 - Contribution graph like on github
 - Meetings page (pull tag "meeting")
 - Typescript support (load typings or if authored in TS)
 
@@ -82,7 +82,10 @@ module.exports = (create, builder, argv) => {
 
   let cli = yargs()
 
-    .command('create [directory]', 'Create a StatusBoard', {}, async (argv) => {
+    .command('create [directory]', 'Create a StatusBoard', (cli) => cli.positional('directory', {
+      description: 'Directory for the new project',
+      type: 'string'
+    }), async (argv) => {
       await initStatusboard(argv)
     })
 
 
@@ -1,150 +1,126 @@
-const inquirer = require('inquirer')
+'use strict'
+const inquirer = require('inquirer').default
 const path = require('node:path')
-const createPackageJson = require('create-package-json')
-const fs = require('fs-extra')
-const { gitInit } = require('../git.js')
-
-async function create (opts) {
-  const { directory } = opts
-
-  const config = {
-    path: directory,
-    name: undefined,
-    labels: [],
-    orgs: [],
-    projects: [],
-    githubActions: false
-  }
+const fs = require('node:fs/promises')
+const { gitInit } = require('../git')
+const packageJson = require('../../package.json')
 
+async function create (opts = {}) {
   const answers = await inquirer.prompt([
     {
       type: 'input',
       name: 'path',
       message: 'Where would you like to create your project?',
       default: 'statusboard',
-      when: () => !config.path
+      when: () => !opts.directory,
+      validate: value => value.trim().length > 0 || 'Enter a project directory.'
     },
     {
       type: 'confirm',
       name: 'defaultLabels',
-      message: 'Do you want use default labels?',
+      message: 'Do you want to use the default labels?',
       default: true
     },
     {
       type: 'input',
       name: 'labels',
-      message: 'What labels do you want to use (use commas to separate)',
-      when: (answers) => !answers.defaultLabels
+      message: 'What labels do you want to use (use commas to separate)?',
+      when: answers => !answers.defaultLabels
     },
     {
       type: 'input',
       name: 'orgs',
-      message:
-        'What organizations do you want to include (use commas to separate)'
+      message: 'What organizations do you want to include (use commas to separate)?'
     },
     {
       type: 'input',
       name: 'repositories',
-      message:
-        'What repositories do you want to include (use commas to separate)'
+      message: 'What repositories do you want to include (owner/repo, separated by commas)?',
+      validate: value => transformUserInput(value).every(repo => /^[\w.-]+\/[\w.-]+$/.test(repo)) || 'Use owner/repo for each repository.'
     },
     {
       type: 'confirm',
       name: 'githubActions',
-      message: 'Do you want deploy with GitHub Actions?',
+      message: 'Do you want to deploy with GitHub Actions?',
       default: false
     }
   ])
 
-  config.path = answers.path.trim()
-
-  config.labels = transformUserInput(answers.labels)
-  config.orgs = transformUserInput(answers.orgs)
-  config.projects = transformUserInput(answers.repositories)
-  config.githubActions = answers.githubActions
-
-  const appPath = path.resolve(config.path)
-  config.name = path.basename(appPath)
-  config.path = appPath
-
-  await fs.ensureDir(appPath)
+  const directory = (opts.directory || answers.path || '').trim()
+  if (!directory) throw new Error('Enter a project directory.')
+  const appPath = path.resolve(directory)
+  await fs.mkdir(appPath, { recursive: true })
+  if ((await fs.readdir(appPath)).length) {
+    throw new Error(`Directory is not empty: ${appPath}`)
+  }
 
-  if (config.githubActions) {
-    createBuildAction(config)
+  const config = {
+    path: appPath,
+    name: path.basename(appPath),
+    labels: answers.defaultLabels ? undefined : transformUserInput(answers.labels),
+    orgs: transformUserInput(answers.orgs),
+    projects: transformUserInput(answers.repositories),
+    githubActions: answers.githubActions
   }
 
+  if (config.githubActions) await createBuildAction(config)
   await createConfigFile(config)
-  createGitIgnore(config)
+  await fs.copyFile(path.join(__dirname, 'template', 'gitignore'), path.join(appPath, '.gitignore'))
 
-  await createPackageJson({
-    cwd: appPath,
-    name: config.name,
+  // The generated manifest is fixed apart from the project name and our version.
+  const manifest = {
+    name: config.name.toLowerCase().replace(/[^a-z0-9-]/g, '-').replace(/^-+/, '') || 'statusboard',
     description: 'A dashboard for project status',
     version: '1.0.0',
-    dependencies: ['@pkgjs/statusboard'],
-    author: null,
-    keywords: ['statusboard', 'projects'],
-    repository: null,
-    type: 'commonjs',
     private: true,
+    type: 'commonjs',
     license: 'MIT',
-    main: 'config.js',
-    devDependencies: null,
+    engines: packageJson.engines,
+    dependencies: { '@pkgjs/statusboard': `^${packageJson.version}` },
     scripts: {
       build: 'statusboard build -C ./config.js',
       buildsite: 'npm run clean && statusboard site -C ./config.js',
       buildindex: 'statusboard index -C ./config.js',
-      clean: 'rm -rf build/css build/js'
+      clean: 'node -e "const fs = require(\'node:fs\'); for (const dir of [\'build/css\', \'build/js\']) fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })"'
     }
-  })
+  }
+  await fs.writeFile(path.join(appPath, 'package.json'), `${JSON.stringify(manifest, null, 2)}\n`, { flag: 'wx' })
 
-  gitInit(appPath)
+  if (!gitInit(appPath)) {
+    console.warn('Could not create the initial Git commit. Project files are ready; check Git installation and user configuration.')
+  }
+  console.log(`Created Statusboard in ${appPath}. Run npm install there, set GITHUB_TOKEN, then run npm run build.`)
+  if (config.githubActions) {
+    console.log('Enable GitHub Pages with GitHub Actions as the source in your repository settings.')
+  }
 }
 
 async function createConfigFile (config) {
-  const configFile = path.join(config.path, 'config.js')
-
-  const configJs = `module.exports = {${
-    config.labels.length >= 1
-      ? `\n  issueLabels: ${JSON.stringify(config.labels)},`
-      : ''
-  }${config.orgs.length >= 1 ? `\n  orgs: ${JSON.stringify(config.orgs)},` : ''}${
-    config.projects.length >= 1
-      ? `\n  projects: ${JSON.stringify(config.projects)},`
-      : ''
-  }${config.githubActions ? `\n  baseUrl: "/${config.name}",` : ''}
+  const fields = {
+    ...(config.labels === undefined ? {} : { issueLabels: config.labels }),
+    orgs: config.orgs,
+    projects: config.projects
+  }
+  const content = JSON.stringify(fields, null, 2).slice(0, -2)
+  const baseUrl = config.githubActions
+    ? `\n  baseUrl: process.env.STATUSBOARD_BASE_URL ?? ${JSON.stringify(`/${config.name}`)},`
+    : ''
+  await fs.writeFile(path.join(config.path, 'config.js'), `'use strict'\nmodule.exports = ${content},${baseUrl}
   github: {
     token: process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN
   }
 }
-`
-
-  await fs.writeFile(configFile, configJs)
+`, { flag: 'wx' })
 }
 
-function transformUserInput (input) {
-  if (input?.length === 0) {
-    return []
-  }
-
-  return input?.split(',').map((l) => l.trim()) || []
+function transformUserInput (input = '') {
+  return input.split(',').map(value => value.trim()).filter(Boolean)
 }
 
-function createBuildAction (config) {
+async function createBuildAction (config) {
   const workflowDir = path.join(config.path, '.github', 'workflows')
-  const templateFile = path.join(__dirname, 'template', 'build.yml')
-  const configFile = path.join(workflowDir, 'build.yml')
-
-  fs.ensureDirSync(workflowDir)
-  fs.copyFileSync(templateFile, configFile)
-}
-
-function createGitIgnore (config) {
-  const gitIgnore = path.join(config.path, '.gitignore')
-  const templateFile = path.join(__dirname, 'template', '.gitignore')
-
-  fs.ensureFileSync(gitIgnore)
-  fs.copyFileSync(templateFile, gitIgnore)
+  await fs.mkdir(workflowDir, { recursive: true })
+  await fs.copyFile(path.join(__dirname, 'template', 'build.yml'), path.join(workflowDir, 'build.yml'))
 }
 
 module.exports = create
@@ -26,10 +26,11 @@ jobs:
     - name: Checkout
       uses: actions/checkout@v4
     - name: Setup Pages
+      id: pages
       uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
     - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
       with:
-        node-version: lts/*
+        node-version: 22
     - uses: actions/cache@v4
       id: cache
       with:
@@ -45,10 +46,11 @@ jobs:
     - run: npm run build
       env:
         GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        STATUSBOARD_BASE_URL: ${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_path }}
     - name: Upload artifact
       uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
       with:
         path: './build'
     - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
       id: deployment
-      uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
+      uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
@@ -8,4 +8,7 @@ build
 
 # local env files
 .env*.local
-.env
+.env
+
+# local database
+data.db
@@ -1,40 +1,15 @@
-const { execSync } = require('child_process')
-const { rm } = require('fs')
-const { join } = require('path')
+'use strict'
+const { execFileSync } = require('node:child_process')
 
-function isGitRepo () {
+module.exports.gitInit = function gitInit (directory) {
+  const options = { cwd: directory, stdio: 'ignore' }
   try {
-    execSync('git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree', { stdio: 'ignore' })
+    execFileSync('git', ['init', '-b', 'main'], options)
+    execFileSync('git', ['add', '-A'], options)
+    execFileSync('git', ['commit', '-m', 'Initial commit from @pkgjs/statusboard'], options)
     return true
-  } catch {}
-  return false
-}
-
-module.exports.gitInit = function gitInit (path) {
-  let didInit = false
-
-  try {
-    if (isGitRepo()) {
-      return false
-    }
-
-    execSync('git init', { stdio: 'ignore' })
-
-    didInit = true
-
-    execSync('git checkout -b main', { stdio: 'ignore' })
-    execSync('git add -A', { stdio: 'ignore' })
-    execSync('git commit -m "Initial commit from @pkgjs/statusboard"', {
-      stdio: 'ignore'
-    })
-
-    return true
-  } catch (e) {
-    if (didInit) {
-      try {
-        rm(join(path, '.git'), { recursive: true, force: true })
-      } catch (_) {}
-    }
+  } catch {
+    // Keep the repository and generated files if Git identity is not configured.
     return false
   }
 }
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@
     "@wesleytodd/buildjs": "0.0.8",
     "babel-plugin-transform-es2015-modules-commonjs": "^6.26.2",
     "cptmpl": "0.0.4",
-    "create-package-json": "^1.1.0",
     "es5-lit-element": "^2.2.1",
     "es5-lit-html": "^1.1.1",
     "express": "^5.2.1",