diff --git a/packages/create-next-on-firebase/package.json b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e72c0879
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+  "name": "create-next-on-firebase",
+  "version": "0.1.0",
+  "description": "Experimental CLI to init a Next.js project for deployment on Firebase",
+  "main": "dist/index.js",
+  "scripts": {
+    "build": "rm -rf dist && tsc && chmod +x ./dist/bin/*"
+  },
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "git+https://github.com/FirebaseExtended/firebase-framework-tools.git"
+  },
+  "author": "Firebase",
+  "license": "Apache-2.0",
+  "bugs": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/FirebaseExtended/firebase-framework-tools/issues"
+  },
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/FirebaseExtended/firebase-framework-tools#readme"
+}
diff --git a/packages/create-next-on-firebase/src/bin/create.ts b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/src/bin/create.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..46c652c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/src/bin/create.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env node
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import { program } from "commander";
+
+program.argument("<directory>", "path to the project's root directory").action((directory) => {
+  console.log(`Shelling out to @apphosting/create:`);
+
+  const createProcess = spawn("npx", ["@apphosting/create", "--framework=nextjs", directory], {
+    shell: true,
+    stdio: "inherit",
+  });
+
+  // print out the shell command that spawn created
+  console.log(createProcess.spawnargs.at(-1));
+
+  createProcess.stdout?.on("data", (data) => {
+    console.log(`i: ${data}`);
+  });
+
+  createProcess.stderr?.on("data", (data) => {
+    console.error(`error: ${data}`);
+  });
+
+  createProcess.on("close", (code) => {
+    if (code === 0) {
+      console.log("Success!");
+    } else {
+      console.log(`There was a problem, exited with code ${code}`);
+    }
+  });
+});
+
+program.parse();
diff --git a/packages/create-next-on-firebase/src/index.ts b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/src/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cb0ff5c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/src/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export {};
diff --git a/packages/create-next-on-firebase/tsconfig.json b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..16c33592
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/create-next-on-firebase/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "extends": "../../tsconfig.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "noEmit": false,
+    "outDir": "dist"
+  },
+  "include": ["src/index.ts", "src/bin/*.ts"]
+}