rf init

Synopsis

rf init [name] [options]

Description

rf init creates a new project directory with a flow.yaml scaffold, a .rf/ runtime directory, and a .gitignore. If name is omitted, the current directory is used.

If the target directory already contains a flow.yaml, the command exits without overwriting.

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--template <name>	blank	Starter template: blank, csv-filter, api-fetch.
--no-git	—	Skip Git initialization.
--dir <path>	.	Create the project in a specific directory instead of using the name.

Examples

Basic init

$ rf init lead-scoring

Created lead-scoring/
  flow.yaml        pipeline definition (blank template)
  .rf/             runtime directory
  .gitignore       configured

Initialized Git repository.

Next steps:
  cd lead-scoring
  rf run

Init with a template

$ rf init lead-scoring --template csv-filter

Created lead-scoring/
  flow.yaml        pipeline definition (csv-filter template)
  data/sample.csv  sample input data
  .rf/             runtime directory
  .gitignore       configured

Initialized Git repository.

Next steps:
  cd lead-scoring
  rf run

Init in an existing directory

$ mkdir my-project && cd my-project
$ rf init --dir .

Created flow.yaml, .rf/, .gitignore in current directory.

Generated file structure

my-project/
  flow.yaml          # pipeline definition
  .rf/               # runtime directory (logs, state, artifacts)
  data/              # sample input data (non-blank templates only)
    sample.csv
  .gitignore         # ignores .rf/, artifacts/

flow.yaml (blank template)

name: my-project
version: 1

nodes: {}

flow.yaml (csv-filter template)

name: my-project
version: 1

nodes:
  read-data:
    type: source
    op: file.read
    params:
      path: data/sample.csv
      format: csv
    outputs:
      rows:
        type: Table

  filter:
    type: deterministic
    op: sql.query
    params:
      query: "SELECT * FROM rows WHERE score >= 50"
    inputs:
      rows:
        type: Table
        from: ref(read-data.rows)
    outputs:
      filtered:
        type: Table

  write-output:
    type: deterministic
    op: file.write
    params:
      path: output/filtered.json
      format: json
    inputs:
      data:
        type: Table
        from: ref(filter.filtered)

.gitignore

.rf/
artifacts/
*.ndjson
!data/**/*.ndjson

Common errors

Error	Cause
Directory "foo" already contains flow.yaml	A project already exists at that path. Pick a different name or delete the existing file.
Invalid project name "..."	Names must be lowercase alphanumeric with hyphens. No spaces, no special characters.
Cannot create directory "..."	Parent directory doesn’t exist or you don’t have write permissions.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Project created successfully.
1	Directory already contains flow.yaml.
2	Invalid project name.