drupaltools-site-clone

name

drupaltools-site-clone

description

Clone an entire Drupal project as a clean starter template — copying custom code, config structure, and tooling while stripping all site-specific data, credentials, UUIDs, and history. Use this skill whenever the user wants to create a new Drupal project based on an existing one, says "clone this site", "use this project as a template", "create a new site from this codebase", or asks to scaffold a new Drupal project from an existing one.

Drupal site clone

Create a clean starter template from an existing local Drupal project.

Step 1 — Confirm the source project

Ask the user to confirm the source project root if not already clear from context. Verify it looks like a Drupal project:

test -f composer.json && test -f composer.lock && \
test -d web/core && echo "Valid Drupal project root"

Also detect the webroot — it may be web/, docroot/, or html/:

for d in web docroot html; do
  [ -d "$d/core" ] && echo "Webroot: $d" && break
done

Store the detected webroot as $WEBROOT for all subsequent steps. If detection fails, ask the user.

Step 2 — Ask for destination and new project name

Ask the user:

1. Full path where the clone should be created (e.g. /home/user/projects/newsite).
2. New project machine name (used for composer.json name, directory name, and any project-specific strings).

Validate the machine name: lowercase letters, digits, hyphens only, no spaces. Validate the destination: must not already exist.

Step 3 — Create the destination structure

mkdir -p "$DEST"

Then create the skeleton of folders that will be populated in later steps:

mkdir -p "$DEST/$WEBROOT/modules/custom"
mkdir -p "$DEST/$WEBROOT/themes/custom"
mkdir -p "$DEST/$WEBROOT/sites/default"
mkdir -p "$DEST/config"
mkdir -p "$DEST/drush"
mkdir -p "$DEST/scripts"
mkdir -p "$DEST/patches"

Step 4 — Copy custom code

Copy each of the following, preserving internal structure:

# Custom modules
cp -r "$SOURCE/$WEBROOT/modules/custom/." "$DEST/$WEBROOT/modules/custom/"

# Custom themes
cp -r "$SOURCE/$WEBROOT/themes/custom/." "$DEST/$WEBROOT/themes/custom/"

# Drush commands and config
[ -d "$SOURCE/drush" ] && cp -r "$SOURCE/drush/." "$DEST/drush/"

# Project scripts
[ -d "$SOURCE/scripts" ] && cp -r "$SOURCE/scripts/." "$DEST/scripts/"

# Patches
[ -d "$SOURCE/patches" ] && cp -r "$SOURCE/patches/." "$DEST/patches/"

# CI/CD config
for f in .github .gitlab-ci.yml .gitlab .circleci; do
  [ -e "$SOURCE/$f" ] && cp -r "$SOURCE/$f" "$DEST/$f"
done

Step 5 — Copy and strip config files

Copy all config directories, then strip UUIDs from every YAML file.

# Find and copy config dirs (handles config/sync, config/default, etc.)
find "$SOURCE" -type d -name "config" | grep -v "$WEBROOT/core" | while read d; do
  rel="${d#$SOURCE/}"
  mkdir -p "$DEST/$rel"
  cp -r "$d/." "$DEST/$rel/"
done

Strip UUIDs from all copied YAML files:

find "$DEST/config" -name "*.yml" | xargs sed -i '/^uuid:/d'

Also remove the _core block (contains site-specific hash) from config YAML:

find "$DEST/config" -name "*.yml" | xargs sed -i '/^_core:/,/^[^ ]/{ /^_core:/d; /^  default_config_hash:/d }'

Step 6 — Copy and rewrite composer.json

Copy the file then prompt the user for new values:

cp "$SOURCE/composer.json" "$DEST/composer.json"

Ask the user for:

• name — format vendor/project (e.g. mycompany/newsite)
• description — one line describing the new project
• authors — name and email (can be empty)

Rewrite with the provided values using jq if available, otherwise sed:

# With jq (preferred)
jq --arg name "$NEW_NAME" \
   --arg desc "$NEW_DESC" \
   '.name = $name | .description = $desc | .authors = []' \
   "$DEST/composer.json" > /tmp/composer.tmp && mv /tmp/composer.tmp "$DEST/composer.json"

Do not copy composer.lock — the clone starts without a lock file. The user must run composer install to generate a fresh one.

Step 7 — Copy README.md as a template

cp "$SOURCE/README.md" "$DEST/README.md"

Then replace the body content with placeholder sections, preserving only the top-level heading structure:

cat > "$DEST/README.md" << 'README'
# [Project name]

## Overview

[Describe the project.]

## Requirements

- Drupal: [version]
- PHP: [version]
- Composer: [version]

## Installation

[Describe installation steps.]

## Configuration

[Describe configuration steps.]

## Development

[Describe local development setup.]

## Maintainers

[List maintainers.]
README

Step 8 — Strip sensitive and environment-specific files

Do not copy the following. If any were accidentally copied, remove them:

# Git history
rm -rf "$DEST/.git"

# Environment files
rm -f "$DEST/.env" "$DEST/.env.local" "$DEST/.env.*.local"

# IDE/editor config
rm -rf "$DEST/.vscode" "$DEST/.idea"
rm -f "$DEST/.editorconfig" 2>/dev/null  # keep only if intentional

# Drupal-generated and sensitive files
rm -f "$DEST/$WEBROOT/sites/default/settings.php"
rm -f "$DEST/$WEBROOT/sites/default/settings.local.php"
rm -f "$DEST/$WEBROOT/sites/default/services.yml"
rm -rf "$DEST/$WEBROOT/sites/default/files"

# Composer lock
rm -f "$DEST/composer.lock"

Step 9 — Report

List what was created, what was stripped, and what the user must do next:

Created:

• Directory structure under $DEST
• Custom modules, themes, drush, scripts, patches, CI config
• Config files (UUIDs and _core hashes stripped)
• composer.json (rewritten)
• README.md (template)
• default.settings.php
• Fresh git repository (if confirmed)

Stripped:

• .git, .env, IDE config, composer.lock
• settings.php, services.yml, sites/default/files/
• All config UUIDs and _core hashes

Required next steps for the user:

1. composer install — generate a fresh composer.lock.
2. Create sites/default/settings.php from default.settings.php.
3. Create a new database and update settings.php with credentials.
4. drush site:install or import config with drush cim.
5. Fill in README.md.
6. Set a remote git origin if needed.

Step 12 — Wait for follow-up questions

Stop after the report. Typical follow-ups:

• Init a ddev project ddev config
• "Check the custom modules against best practices" — hand off to drupaltools-best-practices.
• "Show me what config files were copied" — list $DEST/config/**/*.yml.
• "Update the composer.json further" — edit specific fields on request.
• "What modules are in the custom folder?" — hand off to drupal-module-info for each.