begin

begin is a terminal command for running logic-less project templates. Templates are just git repositories whose files and directories are copied to the working directory when run. Directory names, file names, and file content can contain Mustache tags - the values of which are prompted for in the terminal and substituted when the template is run.

Installation

To install on your system, obtain the Ruby gem with:

$ gem install begin_cli

Read the Installation Guide for more in-depth examples for various operating systems.

Overview

Installing A Template

• Install a template with the begin install command, e.g:

  $ begin install path/to/template.git

• Once you have installed a template, you may run it...

Running A Template

• Run a template with the begin new command, e.g:

  $ begin new template

Template Structure

• A template is just a Git repository

• A template can therefore contain any number of files and directories, and can be easily shared with others

• A template name can optionally start with begin-. This prefix is ignored and stripped by the command automatically, e.g:

  $ begin install path/to/begin-latex-document.git
  $ begin new latex-document

• An example template can be found at (https://github.com/jbrd/begin-latex-document)[https://github.com/jbrd/begin-latex-document], e.g:

  $ begin install https://github.com/jbrd/begin-latex-document.git
  $ begin new latex-document

Template Tags

• File names, directory names, and file content can contain Mustache tags

• Create a .begin.yml in your template repository to describe expected tags:

  tags: !!omap
      title:
          label: 'Title'
      author:
          label: 'Author'
      sections:
          label: 'Sections'
          array: true

• The user will be prompted for expected tags upon running a template:

  $ begin new latex-document
  Title: My Amazing New Document
  Author: John Smith
  Sections (CTRL+D to stop): Introduction
  Sections (CTRL+D to stop): Background
  Sections (CTRL+D to stop): ^D
  Running template 'latex-document'...
  Template 'latex-document' successfully run
  

Terminal Commands

• Run a template with begin new

• List installed templates with begin list

• Install a template with begin install

• Uninstall a template with begin uninstall

• Update templates with begin update

• Get help with begin help

• Print the command version with begin version

Example Templates

• An example template can be found at: https://github.com/jbrd/begin-latex-document.git

Development

• Ensure Bundler is installed on your system
• After checking out the repo, run bundle install --path vendor/bundle to install dependencies
• Run bundle exec begin to use the gem in this directory, ignoring other installed copies of this gem
• Run bundle exec rake to run test specs and ensure the code conforms to style guidelines
• To package this gem from source, run bundle exec rake install
• To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/jbrd/begin. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

Contributors

• James Bird (jbrd)

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.