ReadyMade makes it easier for webdevelopers and designers to work with assets that requires compilation : CoffeeScript, Less css, Sass, Stylus, Uglify, markdown ... and obviously all of your static files that don't require compilation (images, css, js, etc.).

It can work as a standalone server or integrate with ExpressJS.

Serve your file for development

ReadyMade offers you one single solution to compile your assets on-the-fly when you are developing.

Contrary to the -watch option many compilers offer, ReadyMade compiles your files when you refresh your browser. A detailed error page will be served if your file compilation fails. To get the server running and serve your assets on localhost:10000, just cd to your media directory root and run :

readymade serve

For instance, if you have a CoffeeScript source file in

./js/myfile.coffee

and you request for

http://localhost:10000/js/myfile.js

Your CoffeeScript file will get compiled and served.

Compiled files are cached (by default in a .readymade directory). The compilation will occur only if it is required.

Build your files for production

You can also build most of assets using one single command.

readymade build <file1> <file2> ...

You may also write all your targets' path (one per line) in a target file and build all of them at once via

readymade build -t <your-target-file>

By default, files are compiled in place. You can define a specific build directory by

readymade build -t <your-target-file> -d <your-build-dir>

Formats handled by default

Type of asset	Target file	Source file	Compiler installation
CoffeeScript	.js	.coffee	npm install coffee-script
Coco	.js	.coco	npm install coco
LiveScript	.js	.ls	npm install LiveScript
Less	.css	.less	npm install less
Sass	.css	.scss or .sass	gem install sass
Stylus	.css	.styl	npm install stylus
Uglify JS	.min.js	.js	npm install uglifyjs
Markdown	.html	.md	npm install markitup
Markdown and Jade	.html	.md and .jade	npm install markitup
Mustache templates (via Hogan)	templates.js	a "mustaches" directory containing all your templates.	npm install markitup

How to extend

ReadyMade works on Makefile. You can define extend its default configuration by writing your own building rule.

For instance, I could define the way to define a rule to copy files to .copy file by creating and editing readymade.Makefile.

##############################
# Copy file
# (.*) -> (.*.copy)
${build_path}/%.copy: %
    mkdir -p `dirname $@`
    cp $^ $@

This rule will be active if you run either readymade serve or readymade build with the -f option :

readymade serve -f readymade.Makefile

How to install

ReadyMade requires NodeJS and Make to be installed on your computer. Make comes by default on most Linux Distribution and with XCode on MacOS (dunno about Windows).

Once it is installed, you can install readymade via

npm install readymade -g

(You might need to sudo your way through this command.)

You will also need to install separately all of the compilers you need.

Integrate with express

Readymade is up and running just by adding one line in your app.configure:

app.configure(function(){
    // ... 
    app.use(require('readymade').middleware({root: "public"}));
    // ... 
});

Readymade will then server the content within ./public content on /public. In order to extend readymade with your own building rules, just pass the path to your makefile with the makefile option.

app.configure(function(){
    // ... 
    var readymadeOptions = {
        root: "public",
        makefile:"./readymade.Makefile"
    };
    app.use(require('readymade').middleware(readymadeOptions));
    // ... 
}); 

More help

Get more information about command-line options via :

readymade help (action)