Instructions for use with copier and cruft

[jsdodge]

I just tried to follow the instructions in the README and encountered errors.

copier

I entered:

uv tool install copier --with copier-templates-extensions
copier copy gh:scientific-python/cookie test-scipy-cookie --trust --vcs-ref=HEAD

This installed copier (v. 9.5.0), then produced the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/bin/copier", line 10, in <module>
    sys.exit(copier_app_run())
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/plumbum/cli/application.py", line 640, in run
    inst, retcode = subapp.run(argv, exit=False)
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/plumbum/cli/application.py", line 635, in run
    retcode = inst.main(*tailargs)
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/cli.py", line 281, in main
    return _handle_exceptions(inner)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/cli.py", line 70, in _handle_exceptions
    method()
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/cli.py", line 272, in inner
    with self._worker(
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/main.py", line 254, in __exit__
    raise value
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/cli.py", line 279, in inner
    worker.run_copy()
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/main.py", line 950, in run_copy
    self._ask()
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/main.py", line 505, in _ask
    system=self._system_render_context(),
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/main.py", line 385, in _system_render_context
    "answers_file": self.answers_relpath,
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier/main.py", line 582, in answers_relpath
    return Path(template.render(**self.answers.combined))
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 1290, in render
    ctx = self.new_context(dict(*args, **kwargs))
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 1388, in new_context
    return new_context(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/jinja2/runtime.py", line 117, in new_context
    return environment.context_class(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jsd/.local/share/uv/tools/copier/lib/python3.12/site-packages/copier_templates_extensions/extensions/context.py", line 23, in __init__
    parent.update(extension_self.hook(parent))
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/private/var/folders/lp/_hycnw992kl1_s_4p43q52jc0000gn/T/copier.vcs.clone.f4s2or_l/helpers/extensions.py", line 10, in hook
KeyError: 'project_name'

Cookiecutter

I entered:

uv tool install cookiecutter
cookiecutter gh:scientific-python/cookie

This worked as expected.

Cruft

I entered:

uv tool install cruft
cruft create gh:scientific-python/cookie

This installed cruft (v. 2.16.0), then produced the following error:

╭─ Error ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Unable to initialize the cookiecutter using gh:scientific-python/cookie!     │
│ Failed to clone the repo. stderr: 'Cloning into                              │
│ '/var/folders/lp/_hycnw992kl1_s_4p43q52jc0000gn/T/tmpi3vm5nqm'...            │
│ ssh: Could not resolve hostname gh: nodename nor servname provided, or not   │
│ known                                                                        │
│ fatal: Could not read from remote repository.                                │
│                                                                              │
│ Please make sure you have the correct access rights                          │
│ and the repository exists.                                                   │
│ '                                                                            │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Full URL instead of gh

I also tried replacing the gh:scientific-python/cookie with https://github.com/scientific-python/cookie. This resolved the error with Cruft, but not with Copier.

Let me know if any other information would be useful.

[henryiii]

You hit this bug: copier-org/copier#1977

Cruft seems like it doesn’t know the “gh” shortcut cookiecutter does?

[jsdodge]

Thanks! Yes, the gh shortcut seems to be the problem with cruft. I assume it worked at some point?

I guess I'll stick with cookiecutter for now. Would it be possible to warn users until the problems are fixed?

[henryiii]

Added to #555.

[henryiii]

I'm not sure if cruft ever worked like that, it's a wrapper on cookiecutter, so I might have assumed it worked, and since I'm actually using a local path when testing it, I might not have noticed. And the people using cruft might have just used it via the full path since they knew cruft already? Though I'm not sure, might be a regression.

[henryiii]

We now use a different system which I think avoids these breakages.