Guide

This guide provides an overview of how to use this template for creating a new Data Package. It includes instructions for using the template and post-creation tasks.

Installing

In order to use this template, you need to install a few programs:

  • Python: Required for installing and using many of the tools in this template, and because the template itself uses Python.
  • Git: For version control and setting up Git to track the newly created data package.
  • copier: A template tool for making new projects in a standardised and structured way.
  • uv: A tool for managing Python environments and running commands. Some post-copy steps of this template use uv.
  • just: A build management tool that helps with running common build and check tasks.

You will need to install Python and Git yourself, but the other tools can be installed using pipx—which we strongly recommend—with the following command:

pipx install copier uv rust-just

Using this template

You can use this template to create a new Data Package with a standard set of files and folders, as well as all the features and configurations to make it easier to build your data package more smoothly and effectively. First, open a Terminal and move into the directory where you want to create the new Data Package. Then run the following command:

# Copy into the current directory, which is the "."
uvx copier copy gh:seedcase-project/template-data-package .
Caution

This template runs some post-copy commands using your terminal. In order to run them, you need to use the --trust option. Review the copier.yml file, under the _tasks key to see what commands will be run after copying the template, so you can know and trust what the commands are doing. Unfortunately, this template can’t be used without the --trust option.

Post-creation setup

These steps are mainly for us in the Seedcase Project to set up the repository with the settings we use, but you can follow them if you want to set up your Data Package in a similar way.

After copying the template, while in the directory of the new Data Package, run the following:

just install-precommit

Next, install spaid and use the following commands to run the next setup steps:

spaid_gh_create_repo_from_local -h
spaid_gh_set_repo_settings -h
spaid_gh_ruleset_basic_protect_main -h

Some configuration is needed after copying this template to a new repository, including configuration external to the repository.

  • The template file .github/workflows/release-package.yml requires the auto-release-token GitHub App to be installed, as well as a GitHub secret called UPDATE_VERSION_TOKEN and a variable called UPDATE_VERSION_APP_ID to be set up in the repository (or organization) settings. See this guide for more details on how to set this up.