Launch Checklist

Use this when starting a new repo or standardizing an existing one.

Baseline

packageManager pinned to the settled house pnpm line, currently pnpm@11.10.0
Node engine pinned to >=24.18.0 <25 for apps and services
.node-version pins the current Node 24 LTS patch
turbo pinned to 2.10.4
typescript pinned to 6.0.3
lint-staged pinned to 17.0.8
@howells/lint installed
@howells/typescript-config installed
@howells/envy installed when runtime env exists
tsx and vitest installed unless the repo has no script or test surface
workspace layout uses apps/* and packages/*

root package.json uses the standard script contract
pnpm-workspace.yaml is present
turbo.json is present and small
oxlint.config.ts and oxfmt.config.ts use @howells/lint presets when the repo needs explicit lint or format configuration
tsconfig.json uses explicit leaf presets
components.json exists for UI repos
.husky/pre-commit is installed
AGENTS.md exists and is concise

the bundled UI baseline is the starting assumption
shared primitives live in a package, not in the app
Storybook exists for exported reusable UI
local wrappers are preferred over primitive forks
brand expression is handled through tokens and compositions, not component duplication
motion, lucide-react, zod, clsx, tailwind-merge, and sonner are installed when the repo is UI-first
@tanstack/react-query is used for client server-state and nuqs for meaningful URL state
@howells/stacksheet is used for stacked sheet workflows instead of overextending a basic drawer
@howells/aperto is considered for thumbnail-to-expanded media transitions instead of rebuilding that interaction locally

Drizzle and Neon are the default persistence choice for TypeScript product apps
tRPC is the default typed app API boundary unless the API needs to be language-agnostic
@howells/envy owns env access and provider preflight checks
@howells/ai is used before adding raw provider SDKs directly to app code
howells/motif packages are used before adding raw fal.ai clients for image generation or media utilities
files-sdk is used behind a storage/upload boundary when object/blob storage needs provider portability or agent-facing file operations
Mastra is added only when the repo has real agent/workflow structure
MCP contracts live in packages/mcp or packages/mcp-server, not hidden in app routes
zod validates model IO, tool schemas, env schemas, and API boundaries where appropriate

cache is disabled by default in Turbo tasks
task-level env is scoped narrowly
env parsing and provider checks use @howells/envy when the repo has runtime env
there is no direct oxlint, oxfmt, Biome, Prettier, or ESLint dependency drifting away from @howells/lint
there is no generic local tsconfig base hiding runtime assumptions
there is no duplicate component system growing beside packages/ui in a new UI repo
there is no second local motion/transition mini-framework appearing without a strong reason
there is no local clone of @howells/stacksheet or @howells/aperto behavior without a strong product-specific reason
there are no raw AI provider clients scattered through app routes
there are no new-project defaults derived from legacy PHP/Craft dependencies