Bash Script Boilerplate Generator
Tick the pieces you want and get a clean, safe starting point for your script.
Bash Script Boilerplate Generator
Every bash script starts the same way: shebang, strict mode, an argument loop you paste from an older script, a usage function you write for the third time this month. This generator produces that skeleton in one click, assembled from exactly the modules you tick, so a new script begins at the interesting part instead of the plumbing.
Name the script, give it a one-line description, choose your modules and press Generate. The output appears below with a Copy button, and it regenerates instantly whenever you change a checkbox, so it’s easy to compare what each module adds.
The modules on offer
Strict mode enables set -euo pipefail so errors stop the script instead of compounding. Logging gives you log, warn and die functions with timestamps, and every other module adapts to it: turn logging off and the same checks fall back to plain echo statements. There’s a usage function wired to -h and –help, an argument parser with verbose and dry-run flags plus a positional target, a temp directory with a cleanup trap that fires on exit, a root check, a dependency check with an editable command list, and a flock-based lock that stops two copies running at once, which matters a lot for anything on a schedule.
Why the pieces are shaped this way
The generated script keeps its logic inside a main() function called with "$@" at the bottom. That pattern reads better, sources cleanly, and means nothing executes until the whole file has parsed. SCRIPT_DIR and SCRIPT_NAME are resolved from BASH_SOURCE, so the script behaves the same whether it’s run from its own folder or from a cron job’s bare environment.
On that note, scripts headed for cron deserve a schedule check with the Crontab Decoder, long-running ones fit better as services via the Systemd Service Generator, and either way the file needs its execute bit, which the Chmod Permissions Calculator sorts out.
More tools from CommandLinux
Bash Script Boilerplate Generator Crontab Decoder Systemd Service Generator Chmod Permissions Calculator Tar Command Builder SSH Config Generator Find Command Composer Grep/Sed Regex Tester IP Subnet Calculator Command Line Quiz
