ego-scaffold

name: ego-scaffold description: >- Create a new GNOME Shell extension project with correct structure, lifecycle boilerplate, eslint-config-gnome, and EGO-compliant metadata. Generates extension.js, prefs.js, metadata.json, schema, stylesheet, and tooling. Use when creating a new extension, scaffolding a project, or starting fresh.

Scaffold a new GNOME Shell extension with EGO-compliant structure.

Information Needed

Before scaffolding, gather from the user:

Extension name — Human-readable name (e.g., "My Extension")
UUID — Format: name@username (e.g., my-extension@JohnDoe)
Description — What the extension does
Target GNOME versions — Array like ["48", "49"] (must include current stable)
Author name — For LICENSE copyright
Repository URL — GitHub/GitLab URL
Needs preferences? — Whether to generate prefs.js (default: yes)
Needs GSettings schema? — Whether to generate schema (default: yes, if prefs)

Generated Structure

<uuid>/
├── extension.js          # Main extension with lifecycle boilerplate
├── prefs.js              # Preferences UI (if requested)
├── metadata.json         # EGO-compliant metadata
├── stylesheet.css        # Empty stylesheet with scoped example
├── schemas/
│   └── <schema-id>.gschema.xml  # GSettings schema (if requested)
├── eslint.config.mjs     # ESLint with eslint-config-gnome
├── package.json          # For ESLint dependency
├── LICENSE               # GPL-2.0-or-later
└── .gitignore

Template Variables

Templates in the assets/ directory use ${PLACEHOLDER} syntax:

Variable	Description	Example
`${UUID}`	Extension UUID	`my-extension@JohnDoe`
`${NAME}`	Human-readable name	`My Extension`
`${DESCRIPTION}`	Extension description	`Does something useful`
`${SHELL_VERSIONS}`	JSON array of versions	`["47", "48"]`
`${SCHEMA_ID}`	Full schema ID	`org.gnome.shell.extensions.my-extension`
`${SCHEMA_SUFFIX}`	Schema path suffix	`my-extension`
`${CLASS_NAME}`	PascalCase class name	`MyExtension`
`${YEAR}`	Current year	`2026`
`${AUTHOR}`	Author name	`John Doe`

Steps

Ask user for required information
Create extension directory at the appropriate location
For each template in assets/, read it, replace placeholders, write to target
Generate stylesheet.css with a scoped class example: .${SCHEMA_SUFFIX}-label { }
Generate package.json with eslint + eslint-config-gnome devDependencies
Generate .gitignore (node_modules/, *.zip, .claude/, CLAUDE.md)
Generate LICENSE with GPL-2.0-or-later boilerplate
Run glib-compile-schemas schemas/ if glib-compile-schemas is available
Optionally run npm install if npm is available
Initialize git repo
Suggest running ego-lint to verify: "Run ego-lint to verify your new extension is EGO-compliant"

After Scaffolding

Tell the user:

Edit extension.js to add extension functionality in enable()
Edit prefs.js to add preference controls
Run glib-compile-schemas schemas/ after schema changes
Test with gnome-extensions enable <uuid>