[Bug]: npm create storybook@latest in framework-less project doesn't work because it can't detect a framework

[kleinfreund]

Describe the bug

I'm trying to create a new project with storybook and npm create storybook@latest fails immediately with:

npm create storybook@latest                                    

> npx
> "create-storybook"


┌  Initializing Storybook
│
●  Package manager: npm
│
●  Adding Storybook version 10.4.2 to your project
│
■  Unable to initialize Storybook in this directory.

│  Storybook couldn't detect a supported framework or configuration for your
│  project. Make sure you're inside a framework project (e.g., React, Vue, Svelte,
│  Angular, Next.js) and that its dependencies are installed.

│  Tips:
│  - Run init in an empty directory or create a new framework app first.
│  - If this directory contains unrelated files, try a new directory for Storybook.
│
■  Storybook encountered an error during initialization
│
│  Debug logs are written to:
│  no/debug-storybook.log
│
└  Storybook exited with an error

npm error code 1
npm error path no
npm error command failed
npm error command sh -c "create-storybook"
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: no/2026-06-03T11_49_56_204Z-debug-0.log

This project doesn't have a framework currently. It's new. I don't know, yet, if I even will use a framework never mind which. I might produce plain HTML without a framework. The storybook error looks like ... not using a framework isn't an option?

Reproduction link

https://no

Reproduction steps

1. Create an empty project

   mkdir test
   cd test
   echo '{}' > package.json

2. Run npm create storybook@latest

System

Not relevant

Additional context

No response

[dosubot]

Hi @kleinfreund! I'm Dosu and I'm helping the Storybook team.

Storybook does support plain HTML projects via the @storybook/html renderer [1], but the init command requires framework detection to succeed—and an empty package.json with no dependencies won't match anything in the detection list [2].

You can bypass framework detection by passing the --html flag [3]:

npm create storybook@latest -- --html

This tells the CLI to set up a plain HTML Storybook project without needing any framework dependencies installed first.

That said, it does seem like this could be a smoother experience—an empty project could reasonably prompt the user to pick a renderer (including HTML) rather than failing outright.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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