Do you use starter/boilerplate code for projects?

If the question is "do I use scripts like create-react-app", the answer is no.

In general, I don't like code generators, I like to understand what I'm doing from the beginning and add stuff when I need them.

But I do have a set of tools that I know and that I end up setting up in my projects.

For Javascript, it's:

  - Typescript
  - Apollo server/client
  - Mocha, Sinon, Chai
  - Vue, Vuex with Bulma

For Python, it's:

  - Poetry
  - Pytest
  - Pyright (type checking)

For Elixir, it's:

  - Phoenix if needed (not using the generators)
  - ExDoc
  - Whatever lib I need

I use Cookiecutter for scaffolding but only with templates I’ve written myself.

Pre-existing templates may be more powerful and less buggy but I prefer to keep unneeded dependencies out of my projects. Writing my own templates also forces me to learn how everything fits together (and how sometimes it doesn’t).

The trade-off has been worth it for me so far.

I think it really depends on the project. If it’s a project for work it often has a deadline and thus saving all the time I can by using boilerplates or anything else is usually the way to go.

When is a project for myself I’m personally more interested in understanding how my code works (I mean, I don’t need to know the internals of sqlite…)

I have boilerplate Android code to run experiments with, mostly with things like network, tests, kotlin, viewmodel, and so on. Sad thing is it's always a little obsolete every time I try to use it again, and I've had situations where it's over architected.