Initialize the Project

You can now begin working on your Catalyst project from your local machine. The first step is to initialize the project in an empty directory. This will be considered the home directory of your project (CATALYST_PROJECT_HOME) and all of the project files will be saved in it. You can learn more about this from the Project Directory Structure help page. You can learn about initializing a project in detail from the CLI help documentation.

Create a folder for the project directory on your local machine and navigate to it from the CLI. Initialize a project by executing the following command:

$ catalyst init

Select Functions and Client from the list by pressing Space. Press Enter to confirm your choices. 

You can now associate this project with the project that we created earlier. Select EventApp from the list and press Enter.

Initialize Functions

The CLI will now begin the initialization of the Functions directory.

1. The CLI will prompt you to select the type of function you want to develop. Since we require an event function, select Event and press Enter. 
   
2. Select Node.js from the list of available function stacks. Press Enter to confirm. 
   
3. Press Enter twice to auto-fill the value of package name as "event_app".
4. Press Enter twice to auto-fill the value of the entry point as "index.js".  
5. Press Enter twice to auto-fill the displayed value of the function author, or provide the email address in case of a different author and press Enter.
   
6. The CLI will then prompt you to allow installation of node dependencies. Press Y to confirm the installation, and press Enter to confirm your choice. This will install node modules, configuration files, and other dependencies in the directory.
   
   If you install all the required dependencies, the boilerplate structure of Catalyst Node.js SDK will be added to your directory. This will enable the function to execute properly without causing errors.

Your function setup process is now complete. The Node function's directory is now set up with the main function file and the dependencies.

Initialize Client

The CLI will now begin the initialization of the Client directory. The CLI will prompt you to provide a name for the client component of your project. Enter "EventAppClient" and press Enter.

Your client directory will now be created with the standard structure. The values will be updated in the catalyst.json configuration file.

The project initialization process is now complete. The necessary configuration files with their boilerplate codes have now been created in your project directory.