Presets

Presets provide metadata defaults for deploying framework apps without extra configuration. A preset can define a default entrypoint (main), static asset directories (assets), and a custom dev command (dev). Presets are metadata-only — they never contain build commands, install commands, or start commands.

Every app uses a preset. If you do not set one explicitly, Tako uses the base adapter for your detected runtime.

Base runtime adapters

Tako ships with four built-in base adapters: bun, node, deno, and go. These are compiled into the CLI and serve as the default when no framework preset is selected.

Each base adapter defines a default entrypoint:

Adapter	Default main
bun	src/index.ts
node	index.js
deno	main.ts
go	app

Base adapters are not the same as presets. They are runtime plugins (tako-runtime/src/plugins/) that handle runtime behavior: install commands, launch arguments, entrypoint resolution, and package manager detection. Presets sit on top of adapters and only add metadata.

Built-in presets

Tako includes official framework presets that provide the right main, assets, and dev values for supported frameworks.

tanstack-start

[tanstack-start]
main = "@tanstack/react-start/server-entry"
assets = ["dist/client"]
dev = ["vite", "dev"]

Provides the TanStack Start server entry module as the entrypoint, marks dist/client as the asset directory to merge into public/ after build, and uses vite dev for local development.

nextjs

[nextjs]
main = ".next/tako-entry.mjs"
dev = ["next", "dev"]

Uses the tako.sh/nextjs adapter output. The adapter generates .next/tako-entry.mjs after next build, and tako dev runs next dev. If Next emits standalone output, Tako uses it; otherwise the wrapper falls back to next start.

vite

[vite]
dev = ["vite", "dev"]

For projects using Vite as their dev server. This preset only sets the dev command — it does not define main or assets, so those come from your tako.toml or the base adapter.

Setting a preset

Set a preset in tako.toml with the preset field:

runtime = "bun"
preset = "tanstack-start"

The runtime field selects which base adapter to use. The preset field names the framework preset to layer on top. Use the short name only — namespaced syntax like js/tanstack-start is rejected. github: references are also not supported.

If you omit preset, Tako uses the base adapter for your runtime with no framework-specific metadata.

Preset fields

Each preset definition supports these fields:

• name (optional) — Display name. Falls back to the TOML section name.
• main (optional) — Default app entrypoint. Your tako.toml main takes precedence if set.
• assets (optional) — List of directories to merge into public/ after build.
• dev (optional) — Custom dev command for tako dev. Framework presets use this to run their own dev server (e.g. vite dev) instead of the SDK entrypoint.

Presets do not contain build commands, install commands, or start commands. All build configuration belongs in your tako.toml under [build] or [[build_stages]]. All runtime behavior (install, launch, entrypoint resolution) lives in runtime plugins.

How presets merge with tako.toml

Presets provide defaults. Your tako.toml settings always take precedence.

Entrypoint (main): Resolution order is: main in tako.toml > main in package.json > preset main. For JS runtimes, when the preset main is an index file like index.ts or src/index.ts, Tako checks whether the file exists in your project before using the preset value. If no source provides main, deploy and dev fail with guidance.

Assets: Preset assets are combined with your top-level assets in tako.toml (deduplicated). Assets are merged into public/ after the build, with later entries overwriting earlier ones.

Dev command: tako dev resolves the dev command with this priority:

1. dev in tako.toml (user override, e.g. dev = ["custom", "cmd"])
2. Preset dev command (e.g. the vite preset uses vite dev)
3. Runtime default: JS runtimes run through the SDK entrypoint, Go uses go run .

Preset definition files

Official preset definitions are organized by language in family files at presets/<language>.toml. For example:

presets/javascript.toml
presets/go.toml

Each file contains framework presets as TOML sections, where each section name is the preset alias:

# presets/javascript.toml

[vite]
dev = ["vite", "dev"]

[tanstack-start]
main = "@tanstack/react-start/server-entry"
assets = ["dist/client"]
dev = ["vite", "dev"]

Preset resolution

When you deploy or run tako dev, Tako resolves your preset alias into actual metadata. Presets are cached locally for offline use.

tako dev prefers cached preset data immediately. If you already have a cached or embedded preset manifest, dev startup does not wait on GitHub. It only fetches from the master branch when nothing local is available.

tako deploy refreshes unpinned aliases (for example preset = "tanstack-start") from the master branch of the presets repository. Fresh branch metadata is cached for 1 hour. If the refresh fails, Tako falls back to previously cached content.

First run: tako dev can start offline for built-in presets because JS and Go family manifests are embedded in the CLI. tako deploy still needs a successful fetch the first time unless the preset is already cached.

Pinning a preset version

To lock a preset to a specific commit and guarantee reproducible builds, append @<commit-hash>:

preset = "tanstack-start@a1b2c3d"

Pinned presets fetch from that exact commit instead of master, so upstream changes never affect your builds.

Presets during tako init

When you run tako init interactively, Tako fetches the runtime-family preset manifest (e.g. presets/javascript.toml) and shows a selector with the available presets for your detected runtime. While loading, it displays Fetching presets....

• If no family presets are available after fetch, init skips preset selection and uses the base adapter.
• When a non-base preset is selected, init writes preset to tako.toml. For base adapters and the “custom preset reference” option, preset is left commented out.
• For main, init checks whether the adapter can infer an entrypoint. If the inferred main differs from the preset default, it is written to tako.toml. If they match (or the preset provides a default and no inference is available), main is omitted. Init only prompts for main when neither inference nor preset default is available.