Using Cookiecutter Without Direct GitHub Command¶

Goal

Learn how to manually download and use a Cookiecutter template from GitHub when direct command line access to GitHub (cookiecutter gh:...) is not available.

Prerequisites¶

Basic understanding of command line operations.
Python and pip installed on your system.
Access to GitHub through a web browser.

Steps¶

1. Downloading the Cookiecutter Template¶

Find and Download the Repository

Download the Repository: Click on the 'Code' button, select 'Download ZIP', save, and extract it to a known location on your computer.

2. Setting Up Your Environment¶

# Install Cookiecutter if not already installed
pip install cookiecutter

# Navigate to your desired project directory
cd path/to/your/Projects

Warning

Replace path/to/your/Projects with the actual path where you want to create your project.

3. Creating Your Project¶

Run Cookiecutter and Input Project Details

Run Cookiecutter and provide the path to the unzipped template folder:

cookiecutter path/to/unzipped/cookiecutter-collabora

Replace path/to/unzipped/cookiecutter-collabora with the actual path to the unzipped template. Follow the prompts to input details for your new project.

4. Finalizing the Project¶

After running the command, a new directory with your project name will be created. Navigate to this directory to perform any additional setup required by the template.

Conclusion

You've successfully used a Cookiecutter template without direct GitHub command line integration. This approach is useful in environments with restricted internet access or limitations in using GitHub tools directly.