git-bootstrap-cli

A small CLI tool to bootstrap Git repositories with standardized project templates.

It keeps your boilerplate (licenses, CI configs, base files, stack-specific files, etc.) outside of your projects in a dedicated templates repository. You can install it once and reuse it across many repositories.

Features

• Install and update a templates repository from any Git remote.
• Create new projects from layered templates: common/, stacks/<stack>/base/, optional stack kinds, and append-only snippets.
• Upgrade existing projects with the latest template changes.
• Compare a project against its expected templates with doctor.
• Create the initial bootstrap commits and tag according to a templates.yml manifest.

Installation

From GitHub releases

Download the latest binary for your platform from the releases page and place it somewhere on your PATH.

With go install

go install github.com/juli3nk/git-bootstrap-cli/cmd/git-bootstrap@latest

Configuration

By default, templates are stored in:

~/.local/share/git-bootstrap/templates

You can override this location with the PROJECT_BOOTSTRAP_HOME environment variable:

export PROJECT_BOOTSTRAP_HOME=/path/to/your/bootstrap/home

Commands

Command	Description
git-bootstrap templates install <repo-url>	Clone a templates repository into the configured templates directory.
git-bootstrap templates update	Pull the latest changes from the templates repository.
git-bootstrap templates status	Show the templates directory, version and remote origin.
git-bootstrap new [stack] [kind]	Apply templates to the current directory. Use --license to add a license file.
git-bootstrap upgrade [stack] [kind]	Re-apply the latest templates to the current directory.
git-bootstrap doctor [stack] [kind]	Compare current files against the expected templates.
git-bootstrap commit init	Initialize a Git repository and create the configured bootstrap commits and tag.
git-bootstrap commit app	Commit staged changes with the configured application commit message.
git-bootstrap version	Print the current binary version.

Templates repository layout

A valid templates repository looks like this:

templates/
├── common/                 # Files applied to every project
├── licenses/
│   ├── MIT.txt
│   └── APACHE-2.0.txt
├── stacks/
│   └── go/
│       ├── base/           # Base files for the "go" stack
│       │   └── append/     # Files appended, not overwritten
│       └── webapp/         # Optional kind under the "go" stack
│           └── append/     # Kind-specific appended files
└── templates.yml           # Manifest for bootstrap commits

The append/ directories are optional. Files inside them are appended to existing files instead of overwriting them.

Quick example

# Install a templates repository once
git-bootstrap templates install https://github.com/your-org/bootstrap-templates.git

# Create a new Go web project in the current directory
git-bootstrap new go webapp --license MIT

# Later, check if the project still matches the templates
git-bootstrap doctor go webapp

Development

go build ./...
go test ./...

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.