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https://github.com/rdmurphy/create-clone

👭 A a template repository scaffolding tool that creates copies of git repositories with support for private GitHub repos.
https://github.com/rdmurphy/create-clone

Last synced: about 1 year ago
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👭 A a template repository scaffolding tool that creates copies of git repositories with support for private GitHub repos.

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README 

          


  create-clone





  npm

  gzip size

  brotli size

  install size




`create-clone` is a template repository scaffolding tool that creates copies of git repositories **with support for private repos**. It taps into the compressed tarball of a repository to quickly pull down a copy without all that extra git cruft.



## Key features



- 🎏 Supports GitHub repos, GitHub gists, GitLab and Bitbucket

- 💡 Understands GitHub shorthand (`rdmurphy/my-cool-template`) for referring to repositories

- 🔐 With proper credentials in place **can clone private repositories on GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket**



## Table of contents



- [Setup](#setup)

- [Usage](#usage)

  - [GitHub](#github)

  - [GitLab](#gitlab)

  - [Bitbucket](#bitbucket)

  - [Gist](#gist)

- [Private repos](#private-repos)

  - [GitHub](#github-1)

  - [GitLab](#gitlab-1)

  - [Bitbucket](#bitbucket-1)

- [What makes this different from `degit`?](#what-makes-this-different-from-degit)

- [License](#license)



## Setup



`create-clone` requires at least Node 10 to run.



This library expects to be used in a global context and makes the most sense when installed globally.



```sh

npm install --global create-clone

# or

yarn global add create-clone

```



This also means it works great when paired with `npx`.



```sh

npx create-clone  

```



**However!** `create-clone`'s unique name gives it another super power — you can use a special feature of `npm init` and `yarn create`.



```sh

npm init clone  

# or

yarn create clone  

```



This is most of the reason this library exists. 😶



## Usage



`create-clone` works any git host URLs that [`hosted-git-info`](https://github.com/npm/hosted-git-info) supports. By default the copy of the repository is output into your **current working directory**. A path to a different directory can be provided as the second parameter and will be created if necessary.



```sh

# The contents of the repository will be copied into the current directory

create-clone user/repository



# The contents of the repository will be copied into provided directory (and created if necessary)

create-clone user/repository my-new-project

```



By default `create-clone` will stop and not touch a target directory that already contains files, but this can be overriden with `--force`.



```sh

# I already have something in the "my-old-project" directory, but I don't care

create-clone user/repository my-old-project --force

```



### GitHub



```sh

# shortcuts only available to GitHub

create-clone user/repository

create-clone user/repository#branch



create-clone github:user/repository

create-clone github:user/repository.git

create-clone github:user/repository#branch

create-clone github:user/repository.git#branch



# github.com and www.github.com are both supported

create-clone https://github.com/user/repository

create-clone https://github.com/user/repository.git

create-clone https://github.com/user/repository#branch

create-clone https://github.com/user/repository.git#branch

create-clone git@github.com:user/repository

create-clone git@github.com:user/repository.git

create-clone git@github.com:user/repository#branch

create-clone git@github.com:user/repository.git#branch

```



### GitLab



```sh

create-clone gitlab:user/repository

create-clone gitlab:user/repository.git

create-clone gitlab:user/repository#branch

create-clone gitlab:user/repository.git#branch



# gitlab.com and www.gitlab.com are both supported

create-clone https://gitlab.com/user/repository

create-clone https://gitlab.com/user/repository.git

create-clone https://gitlab.com/user/repository#branch

create-clone https://gitlab.com/user/repository.git#branch

create-clone git@gitlab.com:user/repository

create-clone git@gitlab.com:user/repository.git

create-clone git@gitlab.com:user/repository#branch

create-clone git@gitlab.com:user/repository.git#branch

```



### Bitbucket



```sh

create-clone bitbucket:user/repository

create-clone bitbucket:user/repository.git

create-clone bitbucket:user/repository#branch

create-clone bitbucket:user/repository.git#branch



# bitbucket.org and www.bitbucket.org are both supported

create-clone https://bitbucket.org/user/repository

create-clone https://bitbucket.org/user/repository.git

create-clone https://bitbucket.org/user/repository#branch

create-clone https://bitbucket.org/user/repository.git#branch

create-clone git@bitbucket.org:user/repository

create-clone git@bitbucket.org:user/repository.git

create-clone git@bitbucket.org:user/repository#branch

create-clone git@bitbucket.org:user/repository.git#branch

```



### Gist



```sh

create-clone gist:user/hash

create-clone gist:user/hash.git

create-clone gist:user/hash#branch

create-clone gist:user/hash.git#branch



create-clone git@gist.github.com:hash.git

create-clone git+https://gist.github.com:hash.git

create-clone git+https://gist.github.com:hash.git

create-clone https://gist.github.com/user/hash

create-clone https://gist.github.com/user/hash.git

create-clone https://gist.github.com/user/hash#branch

create-clone https://gist.github.com/user/hash.git#branch

create-clone git@gist.github.com:user/hash

create-clone git@gist.github.com:user/hash.git

create-clone git@gist.github.com:user/hash#branch

create-clone git@gist.github.com:user/hash.git#branch

```



## Private repos



GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket all have varying methods for authenticating against their services, so each one needs slightly different permissions and keys.



> Fun fact — Private GitHub gists are already supported without any additional authentication because they're only "private" as long as no one else has the URL. [This is a documented feature](https://help.github.com/en/articles/creating-gists#about-gists)!



### GitHub



`create-clone` requires a [GitHub personal access token](https://help.github.com/en/articles/creating-a-personal-access-token-for-the-command-line) with read access for repositories and/or gists. Once you have this token, it needs to be available in your environment at `GITHUB_TOKEN`.



In your `.bashrc`/`.zshrc`/preferred shell config:



```sh

export GITHUB_TOKEN=

```



`create-clone` will check for this environment variable when attempting to clone a GitHub repository or gist and [include it as an authorization header](https://developer.github.com/v3/#authentication) in the request. `create-clone` will be able to clone any private GitHub repo your account can access.



### GitLab



GitLab also has [personal access tokens](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/personal_access_tokens.html), but because access to the archive of a private repository is only available [via the GitLab API](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/repositories.html#get-file-archive), your token needs to be [given the scope of `api` access](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/personal_access_tokens.html#limiting-scopes-of-a-personal-access-token), _not_ `read_repository`. Once you have this token, it needs to be available in your environment at `GITLAB_TOKEN`.



In your `.bashrc`/`.zshrc`/preferred shell config:



```sh

export GITLAB_TOKEN=

```



`create-clone` will check for this environment variable when attempting to clone a GitLab repository and [include it as an authorization header](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/README.html#personal-access-tokens) in the request. `create-clone` will be able to clone any private GitLab repo your account can access.



### Bitbucket



This is the funky one. Bitbucket does not have the equivalent of a personal access token, so we need to use what it calls an [app password](https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucket/app-passwords-828781300.html). The _only_ permission your app password needs is `Repositories -> Read`. However, because we are using what's essentially a single-purpose password, we also need to include your Bitbucket username as part of the request. To accomplish this, we need to set up **two** environmental variables: `BITBUCKET_USER` for your username, and `BITBUCKET_TOKEN` for your app password.



In your `.bashrc`/`.zshrc`/preferred shell config:



```sh

export BITBUCKET_USER=

export BITBUCKET_TOKEN=

```



`create-clone` will check for this environment variable when attempting to clone a Bitbucket repository and include it as the [user and password](https://developer.atlassian.com/bitbucket/api/2/reference/meta/authentication#app-pw) of the request. `create-clone` will be able to clone any private Bitbucket repo your account can access.



## What makes this different from [`degit`](https://github.com/Rich-Harris/degit)?



Honestly? Not a whole lot. This was mostly me wanting to be able to do something cool like `npm init clone `/`yarn create clone `.



The most notable difference is `create-clone` **does not** have a caching layer like `degit` does. In practice I've not found that to be a major issue, but it may be a big deal for some folks! `degit` also has a [cool actions framework layered on top](https://github.com/Rich-Harris/degit#actions).



## License



MIT