readme-md-generator
A command-line tool that asks you questions and writes a README.md for your project.
- Stars
- 11.1k
- Forks
- 1.4k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- JavaScript
- Last update
- 4.1 years ago
- Type
- CLI
No commits in over a year — check for forks or alternatives before adopting.
What it is
readme-md-generator is a command-line tool that creates a README.md file for your project. It asks a series of questions in the terminal and fills in the answers using an ejs template. It reads your package.json and git configuration to suggest default answers, so you do not have to type everything from scratch.
- Generate a README.md for a new npm package by running the tool at the project root and answering the prompts
- Accept all default values with the -y flag to produce a README quickly
- Use a custom ejs template with -p to match your team's README format
Great for
- Developers starting a new project who want a README without writing one by hand
- Projects that already have a package.json and git config, so the suggested defaults are useful
- People who want to supply their own ejs README template with the -p option
Not ideal for
- Projects that need a detailed, project-specific README, since the tool produces a generic template-based layout that you will still need to edit (README does not say how much it covers)
- Anyone without Node.js and npm, since the tool is run through npx
- People looking for an actively maintained tool, since the last push was 2022-09-20 and the latest release is v1.0.0
How to get it
- 1
Use it in the browser (or self-host)
You'll need: Node.js (engines field lists node >=9.3.0) · npm (engines field lists npm >=5.5.0; npx is shipped with npm 5.2.0 and later)
Run the generator at your project root (no separate install step shown in README)
npx readme-md-generator - 2
Run it
- Open a terminal at the root of your project.
- Run npx readme-md-generator.
- Answer the questions, or run npx readme-md-generator -y to use defaults.
- Check the generated README.md and edit it as needed.
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Add a complete package.json with description, author, license, repository and bugs fields so the suggested defaults are more accurate, as shown in the README example.
- Use the -p option with your own ejs template to match a house style.
- Browse the example templates in the repository's templates folder as starting points.
Downloads
Strengths
- Simple to run: a single npx command starts the process
- Pre-fills answers from package.json and git configuration
- Supports custom ejs templates, and example templates are provided in the repository
Trade-offs
- The last push was in September 2022, so maintenance status is unclear from the README
- The README does not describe the full list of questions or the generated sections in detail
- Requires Node.js and npm, and the example package.json lists minimum versions of node >=9.3.0 and npm >=5.5.0 as engine constraints
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| readme-md-generator (this) | 11.1k | CLI | beginner | 4.1 years ago | Developers starting a new project who want a README without writing one by hand |
| metrics | 17.4k | Dev tool | intermediate | 5 months ago | Developers who want an automatically updated stats card on their GitHub profile README |
| github-readme-stats | 79.9k | Dev tool | beginner | 1 months ago | People who want a generated stats card on their GitHub profile README |
| Badges4-README.md-Profile | 13.6k | Curated list | beginner | 1 months ago | Developers who want a tidy tech-stack section on their GitHub profile |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.