copit

Copy reusable source code from GitHub repos, HTTP URLs, and ZIP archives into your project.

Inspired by shadcn/ui — instead of installing opaque packages, copit copies source code directly into your codebase. The code is yours: readable, modifiable, and fully owned. No hidden abstractions, no dependency lock-in. Override anything, keep what you need.

Use cases

• Quickly copy and own code — Pull files from GitHub repos, HTTP URLs, or ZIP archives directly into your project. No forks, no submodules — just your own copy to read, modify, and maintain.

• Build frameworks with injectable components — Create a core library as a traditional package, then offer optional components that users copy into their projects via copit. Think of how shadcn/ui is built on top of Tailwind and Radix UI: the base libraries are installed as dependencies, while UI components are copied in and fully owned. Apply the same pattern to any ecosystem — a LangChain-style core as a library, with community integrations (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) as injectable source code that users can customize freely.

Installation

Standalone (recommended)

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huynguyengl99/copit/main/install.sh | bash

You can specify a version or install directory:

COPIT_VERSION=v0.1.0 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huynguyengl99/copit/main/install.sh | bash

# Custom install location
INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huynguyengl99/copit/main/install.sh | bash

From PyPI

pip install copit
# or
uv pip install copit

From npm

npm install -g @copit/cli
# or run without installing
npx @copit/cli --help

npm installs only the prebuilt binary for your platform. The unscoped copit package on npm is a different tool.

From Cargo

cargo install copit

Uninstall

If installed via the standalone script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huynguyengl99/copit/main/uninstall.sh | bash

If installed to a custom directory:

INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huynguyengl99/copit/main/uninstall.sh | bash

For PyPI: pip uninstall copit. For npm: npm uninstall -g @copit/cli. For Cargo: cargo uninstall copit.

Quick start

# Initialize a copit.toml in your project
copit init

# Copy a file from a GitHub repo
copit add github:serde-rs/serde@v1.0.219/serde/src/lib.rs

# Copy a file from a raw URL
copit add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/serde-rs/serde/refs/heads/master/LICENSE-MIT

# Copy from a ZIP archive
copit add https://example.com/archive.zip#src/utils.rs

Usage

copit init

Creates a copit.toml config file in the current directory with a default target directory (vendor).

copit create <source> <dir>

Starts a new project from a template folder. Its contents are copied into <dir> (new or empty) as your own code, untracked. A template can ship its own copit.toml, so copit add works right away.

copit create github:owner/repo@v1.0.0/templates/api my-app
copit create ../templates/api my-app     # a local folder, skipping what git ignores

As with registries, a template is data: copit copies it and never runs anything.

copit add <source>...

Fetches source code and copies it into your project.

Usage: copit add [OPTIONS] [SOURCES]...

Arguments:
  [SOURCES]...  Source(s) to add (e.g., github:owner/repo@ref/path, https://...)

Options:
      --to <TO>      Target directory to copy files into
      --overwrite    Overwrite existing files without prompting
      --skip         Skip existing files without prompting
      --backup       Save .orig copy of new version for excluded modified files
      --freeze       Pin this source so update and update-all skip it
      --no-license   Skip copying license files

Source formats

Registries

A registry publishes named components you install by id, resolving what they require and installing their package dependencies:

copit registry add my-kit github:owner/repo@v1.0.0 --to app/components
copit add @my-kit/auth

  logger  0.1.0  (core)  (required)
  auth    0.1.0  (core)

  Files -> app/components/
    logger/  (6 files)
    auth/    (6 files)

  Packages (via uv): my-runtime>=0.1

Dependencies are copied before the components that need them, and packages go to whichever manager the project already uses: uv, poetry, pdm, pip, pnpm, yarn, npm or cargo, chosen by the registry's declared ecosystem.

See Registries for the index format, copit-registry.json, and how to publish one.

copit update <path>...

Re-fetches specific tracked source(s) by path (as shown in copit.toml). Always overwrites non-excluded files.

# Re-fetch a specific tracked source
copit update vendor/mylib

# Re-fetch with a new version
copit update vendor/mylib --ref v2.0

# Re-fetch with backup for excluded modified files
copit update vendor/mylib --backup

Options:

• --ref <version> — Override the version ref for this update (updates the source string and ref field)
• --backup — Save .orig copy of new version for excluded modified files
• --overwrite — Overwrite existing files without prompting
• --skip — Skip existing files without prompting
• --freeze — Pin this source so update and update-all skip it
• --unfreeze — Unpin this source so it can be updated again

copit update-all

Re-fetches all tracked sources in copit.toml.

# Re-fetch all tracked sources
copit update-all

# Re-fetch all with backup for excluded modified files
copit update-all --backup

Options:

• --ref <version> — Override the version ref (errors if multiple sources are tracked)
• --backup — Save .orig copy of new version for excluded modified files
• --overwrite — Overwrite existing files without prompting
• --skip — Skip existing files without prompting

copit licenses-sync

Reorganizes license files to match the current (or a new) licenses_dir configuration — moving between centralized and side-by-side layouts.

# Move all license files into a centralized directory
copit licenses-sync --licenses-dir licenses

# Move licenses back to side-by-side (next to each source)
copit licenses-sync --no-dir

# Re-sync based on current config
copit licenses-sync

Options:

• --licenses-dir <DIR> — Move licenses into a centralized directory and set licenses_dir in config
• --no-dir — Move licenses back to side-by-side and remove licenses_dir from config
• --dry-run — Preview what would be moved without making changes

copit remove <path>... (alias: rm)

Removes previously copied files from disk and their entries from copit.toml.

# Remove a specific file
copit remove vendor/lib.rs

# Remove multiple files
copit rm vendor/lib.rs vendor/utils.rs

# Remove all tracked sources
copit rm --all

Config file

copit.toml tracks your project's target directory and all copied sources:

target = "vendor"

[[sources]]
path = "vendor/prek-identify"
source = "github:j178/prek@master/crates/prek-identify"
ref = "master"
commit = "abc123def456..."
copied_at = "2026-03-07T08:46:51Z"
excludes = ["Cargo.toml", "src/lib.rs"]

Root-level fields:

• overwrite/skip/backup: Project defaults. Priority: CLI flags > per-source > root-level > false.
• licenses_dir: Centralized directory for license files. When set, licenses go to {licenses_dir}/{relative_path}/ (mirroring the target structure) instead of next to the source.

Per-source ([[sources]]) fields:

• ref: The user-specified version string (branch/tag/sha)
• commit: Resolved commit SHA from GitHub API (optional, GitHub sources only)
• excludes: List of relative paths (within source folder) to skip on re-add. With --backup, the new version is saved as <file>.orig.
• frozen: Pin this source so it's skipped during update and update-all.
• no_license: Skip copying license files for this source (set via --no-license on add, respected by update/update-all).
• overwrite/skip/backup: Per-source overrides.

See Configuration for full details.

License

MIT