create-ol-app

The create-ol-app program sets up a project directory with the dependencies required for developing an OpenLayers application. The program requires npx, distributed with Node (at least version 12), and git.

Using create-ol-app saves you from having to set up or configure tools like Vite, webpack, or Parcel. After setting up a new OpenLayers application, you can proceed with configuring the development environment to your liking – the create-ol-app program sets up the required tools, but doesn't lock you in to any specific configuration.

Creating a new application

To create a new OpenLayers application, choose a name for your application (my-app below) and run the following:

npx create-ol-app my-app

🐛 If you get an error like "could not find commit hash" when running create-ol-app, make sure that you have git installed.

This will create a new directory called my-app (choose a different name if you like) and install the dependencies for OpenLayers application development. By default, Vite is used for development and bundling. See below for other options.

💡 Tip – if you run npx create-ol-app with no additional arguments, the new application will be set up in the current directory.

After the step above completes, you can change into your new application directory and start a development server:

cd my-app
npm start

See the my-app/readme.md for more detail on working with the new application.

Choosing a bundler

The create-ol-app program supports a few different module bundlers. By default, an application is set up using Vite. To use a different bundler, pass the --template option to create-ol-app.

The default template uses Vite. This is equivalent to running the following:

npx create-ol-app my-app --template vite

To see what other templates are available, see the help output for the create-ol-app program:

npx create-ol-app --help

To use webpack instead of Vite, run the following:

npx create-ol-app my-app --template webpack

After creating a new application, see the included readme.md for more details on getting started.