degit makes copies of git repositories. When you run degit some-user/some-repo, it will find the latest commit on https://github.com/some-user/some-repo and download the associated tar file to ~/.degit/some-user/some-repo/commithash.tar.gz if it doesn't already exist locally. (This is much quicker than using git clone, because you're not downloading the entire git history.)

• Node.js 20 or later (see engines in package.json)
• Bun 1.3.14 when developing this repository (see packageManager in package.json)

End users can still install the published package with npm (npm install -g degit). For a dev clone of this repo, use Bun so the lockfile and bunfig.toml apply; minimumReleaseAge is set to 14 days so installs skip very fresh publishes.

git clone https://github.com/Rich-Harris/degit.git
cd degit
bun install
bun run build

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to contribute. AGENTS.md summarizes setup and commands for tooling and coding agents. When you change development workflow, CI, or contributor-facing instructions, update README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, and AGENTS.md together so they stay consistent.

npm install -g degit

The simplest use of degit is to download the master branch of a repo from GitHub to the current working directory:

degit user/repo

# these commands are equivalent
degit github:user/repo
degit git@github.com:user/repo
degit https://github.com/user/repo

Or you can download from GitLab and BitBucket:

# download from GitLab
degit gitlab:user/repo
degit git@gitlab.com:user/repo
degit https://gitlab.com/user/repo

# download from BitBucket
degit bitbucket:user/repo
degit git@bitbucket.org:user/repo
degit https://bitbucket.org/user/repo

# download from Sourcehut
degit git.sr.ht/user/repo
degit git@git.sr.ht:user/repo
degit https://git.sr.ht/user/repo

The default branch is master.

degit user/repo#dev       # branch
degit user/repo#v1.2.3    # release tag
degit user/repo#1234abcd  # commit hash

If the second argument is omitted, the repo will be cloned to the current directory.

degit user/repo my-new-project

To clone a specific subdirectory instead of the entire repo, just add it to the argument:

degit user/repo/subdirectory

If you have an https_proxy environment variable, Degit will use it.

Private repos can be cloned by specifying --mode=git (the default is tar). In this mode, Degit will use git under the hood. It's much slower than fetching a tarball, which is why it's not the default.

Note: this clones over SSH, not HTTPS.

degit --help

• Private repositories

Pull requests are very welcome!

A few salient differences:

• If you git clone, you get a .git folder that pertains to the project template, rather than your project. You can easily forget to re-init the repository, and end up confusing yourself
• Caching and offline support (if you already have a .tar.gz file for a specific commit, you don't need to fetch it again).
• Less to type (degit user/repo instead of git clone --depth 1 git@github.com:user/repo)
• Composability via actions
• Future capabilities — interactive mode, friendly onboarding and postinstall scripts

You can also use degit inside a Node script:

const degit = require('degit');

const emitter = degit('user/repo', {
	cache: true,
	force: true,
	verbose: true,
});

emitter.on('info', (info) => {
	console.log(info.message);
});

emitter.clone('path/to/dest').then(() => {
	console.log('done');
});

You can manipulate repositories after they have been cloned with actions, specified in a degit.json file that lives at the top level of the working directory. Currently, there are two actions — clone and remove. Additional actions may be added in future.

// degit.json
[
	{
		"action": "clone",
		"src": "user/another-repo"
	}
]

This will clone user/another-repo, preserving the contents of the existing working directory. This allows you to, say, add a new README.md or starter file to a repo that you do not control. The cloned repo can contain its own degit.json actions.

// degit.json
[
	{
		"action": "remove",
		"files": ["LICENSE"]
	}
]

Remove a file at the specified path.

• zel by Vu Tran
• gittar by Luke Edwards

MIT.