| name | clone-repos |
| description | Bulk-clone a set of git repositories into a single root directory using the bundled clone-repos.sh script. Use this whenever the user wants to clone several repos at once, pull down all the repos for a project or engineering estate, lay multiple repositories out side-by-side under one folder, or set up a local working tree of many repos (e.g. as the first step before reading, documenting, or doing an architecture review across a codebase). Trigger on phrases like 'clone these repos', 'clone all the repos', 'bulk clone', 'clone a bunch of repositories into a folder', or when the user hands over a list of git URLs and a destination directory. |
clone-repos
Clone many git repositories into one root directory in a single step, using the
bundled assets/clone-repos.sh. Each repo lands as a subdirectory beneath the root.
When to use this
Reach for this whenever the user needs more than one repo cloned into a common
location — for example, pulling down every service in a project, or staging a
client's repos before an architecture/documentation pass. If the user only wants a
single repo cloned, a plain git clone is simpler and you don't need this skill.
What you need from the user
Two things — ask for whatever is missing:
- A destination (root) directory — where the repos should land. The script
creates it if it doesn't exist.
- The repository URLs — either as a list in the conversation, or a path to a
file with one URL per line.
If the user mentions a maximum number of repos, note it — the script defaults to
cloning at most 5 and that cap is raised with -n.
How to run it
The script lives at assets/clone-repos.sh relative to this skill's directory.
Resolve that absolute path, ensure it's executable, then invoke it with the Bash
tool. The general form:
<skill-dir>/assets/clone-repos.sh [-n NUM] [-f FILE] ROOT_DIR [REPO_URL ...]
| Option / arg | Meaning |
|---|
ROOT_DIR | Required. Root directory the repos are cloned beneath (created if missing). |
REPO_URL … | Zero or more git URLs to clone. |
-f FILE | Read repo URLs from a file, one per line (# comments and blanks ignored). |
-n NUM | Clone at most NUM repos. Default 5. Also settable via CLONE_REPO_LIMIT. |
-h | Print help. |
URLs passed on the command line and via -f FILE are combined; the -n limit
applies to the total.
Important: the default cap is 5. If the user supplies more than 5 URLs (or asks
for "all of them"), pass -n with a number at least as large as the count —
otherwise the extras are silently left uncloned (the script reports how many it
skipped). When in doubt, set -n to the number of URLs you were given.
Examples
A few URLs given inline, into a fresh folder:
/path/to/skill/assets/clone-repos.sh -n 3 ~/clients/acme \
https://github.com/acme/api.git \
https://github.com/acme/web.git \
https://github.com/acme/common.git
A list the user keeps in a file:
/path/to/skill/assets/clone-repos.sh -n 20 ~/clients/acme -f ~/acme-repos.txt
Override the cap with the environment variable instead of -n:
CLONE_REPO_LIMIT=50 /path/to/skill/assets/clone-repos.sh ~/clients/acme -f repos.txt
After running
The script is safe to re-run — it skips any repo already cloned (detected by a
.git directory at the destination) and prints a final cloned / skipped / failed
summary. Relay that summary to the user, and if any clone failed (non-zero exit),
surface which URL failed rather than reporting success. Common causes: a private repo
the user isn't authenticated for, or a typo'd URL.
