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Setup

Install Ultracite with your preferred package manager, choose the right presets, and generate editor and agent config for your project.

Ultracite can be installed with all major package managers. You’ll need Node.js 22.22.2 or later, or 24.15 or later (or Bun), and a project with a package.json file. If you’re new to Ultracite, the introduction covers what it is and which toolchains it supports.

Installation

The easiest way to get started is to run Ultracite’s init script, which will install the necessary packages and set up the config files for you. In your project directory, run:

npx ultracite init
pnpm dlx ultracite init
yarn dlx ultracite init
bunx ultracite init
nubx ultracite init
aube dlx ultracite init

You can optionally pass the following flags to the init command:

Flag Description Options
--linter The linting toolchain to use. When omitted and prompts are skipped, init keeps the linter the project already uses, or picks oxlint for a project without one. oxlint, biome, eslint
--pm The package manager to use. pnpm, bun, yarn, npm, deno, nub, aube
--frameworks The frameworks to configure. Space-separated: react, next, solid, vue, svelte, qwik, remix, tanstack, angular, astro, nestjs, jest, vitest, cypress, storybook, playwright, react-native, drizzle
--workspace-framework Frameworks for one workspace of a monorepo, as <path>=<framework>. Writes a config in that workspace that extends the root config. See Monorepos. Space-separated: apps/web=react, apps/docs=astro
--editors The editors to configure. Space-separated: universal, vscode, cursor, devin, antigravity, kiro, trae, void, bob, codebuddy, zed. Use universal to write .vscode/settings.json for every VS Code-based editor.
--agents The AI agents to configure. Space-separated: universal, claude, codex, jules, replit, devin, lovable, zencoder, ona, openclaw, snowflake-coco, deepagents, qoder, kimi-code, xum, pi, adal, copilot, cline, amp, aider, open-hands, gemini, junie, augmentcode, bob, kilo-code, goose, warp, droid, opencode, crush, qwen, kiro-cli, firebender, cursor-cli, mistral-vibe, vercel, fx, antigravity, grok
--hooks The agent hooks to configure. Space-separated: cursor, devin, codebuddy, claude, codex, deepagents, copilot, grok
--integrations Additional integrations to set up. Space-separated: husky, lefthook, lint-staged, pre-commit
--install-skill Install the reusable Ultracite skill after setup. (no value needed)
--js-plugins Optional Oxlint JS plugins to enable. Only Oxlint runs them, so without --linter, init skips the linter prompt and keeps the project’s linter (or picks oxlint), and stops if that linter isn’t Oxlint. Space-separated: @shadcn/lint, anti-slop, eslint-plugin-github, eslint-plugin-jsdoc, eslint-plugin-sonarjs, eslint-plugin-tsdoc, oxlint-plugin-react-doctor
--type-aware Turn on type-aware linting: the rules that need type information or a scan of the whole project. Adds ultracite/eslint/type-aware for ESLint and ultracite/biome/type-aware for Biome; for Oxlint, installs oxlint-tsgolint and sets typeAware in the config. Also turns on strictNullChecks in your tsconfig files, which those rules need. Without the flag, an interactive run asks. (no value needed)
--skip-install Skip installing dependencies. (no value needed)
--yes, -y Take the default for every question no flag answers, without prompting. (no value needed, on automatically in CI and when there’s no terminal)
--quiet Only print warnings and errors. (no value needed)

Every prompt, including the skill one, is skipped when you pass --yes or any of --pm, --editors, --agents, --hooks, --integrations, --frameworks, or --workspace-framework. Whatever those flags leave out takes its default: no editors, agents, hooks, or integrations, and no skill unless you pass --install-skill. So you can re-run init with just --hooks or --agents to add those to a project without changing its linter. In the interactive prompt, the linter the project already uses is preselected.

init asks every question before it changes anything. When you pick a different linter, an interactive run lists the other linters’ config files and packages and asks before removing them; if you keep them, ultracite check may still find and run the old linter. When type-aware linting is on, it also lists the tsconfig files that don’t have strictNullChecks yet and asks before turning it on. --yes does both without asking. An ESLint setup keeps legacy .eslintrc files, which ESLint 10 doesn’t read.

init checks every flag value before it changes anything. An unknown value (for example, --linter eslnt) stops it with a list of the valid values, and --js-plugins with --linter biome or --linter eslint stops it too. --agents is the exception: an agent ID init doesn’t know gets AGENTS.md, which most agents read, and a warning. The old IDs of renamed agents and editors (amazon-q-cli, mux, kimi-cli, snowflake-cortex and windsurf) still work, with a note to switch to the new one.

Programmatic Usage

For tools that need to call Ultracite programmatically (like scaffolding CLIs), pass --yes to skip the prompts and --quiet to drop the progress output:

npx ultracite init --yes --quiet --pm npm

init takes the defaults on its own when the CI environment variable is true or 1, or when there’s no terminal to answer prompts in, so it never waits for input in a pipeline:

CI=true npx ultracite init --pm npm

With --yes, Ultracite will:

  • Skip all interactive prompts
  • Keep the project’s current linter, or use Oxlint + Oxfmt for a project without one
  • Remove other linters’ configs and packages, and turn on strictNullChecks when type-aware linting is on, without asking
  • Only set up editors, agents, hooks, Git hooks, and the skill when you pass their flags
  • Exit with code 0 on success or 1 on failure

With --quiet, it leaves out the intro banner, spinners, and progress messages. Warnings, such as a config file it couldn’t update, and errors still print.

You can combine --yes with --linter to specify a toolchain:

npx ultracite init --yes --linter eslint --pm npm

Editor Extensions

When init creates .vscode/settings.json, it installs the extension your linter needs: the Oxc extension for Oxlint, the Biome extension for Biome, or the ESLint and Prettier extensions for ESLint. It installs them with your editor’s own command-line launcher (code, cursor, devin-desktop or windsurf, buddy for CodeBuddy, antigravity-ide, bobide for IBM Bob, kiro, trae or void), so they land in the editor you picked. Install them yourself from the editor’s Extensions view if the settings file already existed, the launcher isn’t on your PATH, or the install failed or took more than two minutes. The Stylelint extension is never installed for you. For VS Code (use your editor’s launcher in place of code):

# Oxlint + Oxfmt
code --install-extension oxc.oxc-vscode

# Biome
code --install-extension biomejs.biome

# ESLint + Prettier + Stylelint
code --install-extension dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
code --install-extension esbenp.prettier-vscode
code --install-extension stylelint.vscode-stylelint

Each editor has its own page, with the settings init writes for it and what to do after: see Editors.

Usage with Tailwind CSS

If you use Tailwind CSS, it’s recommended to install the Tailwind CSS IntelliSense extension for class sorting and hints:

code --install-extension bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss

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