fork-it

You don't have to start from scratch — search GitHub first.

简体中文

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Core Philosophy

Important

Every great project starts somewhere. Why start from zero when you can start from 80%?

Got an idea? Before you type a single line of code, search GitHub first. There's probably a project that already does a big chunk of what you want. Fork it. Now it's yours. Tear it apart, reshape it, inject your own ideas — no PRs, no waiting, no asking permission. That's the beauty of open source.

You're not "reinventing the wheel." You're standing on it to reach higher.

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What is this?

fork-it is an AI Assistant Skill that helps you discover the best open-source starting points on GitHub — projects you can fork then customize into your own vision.

What It Does

Step	Description
Search	Finds the most relevant open-source projects for your idea
Analyze	Checks activity, community health, and how close the match is
Fork & Go	Points you to the best fork-worthy candidates, no strings attached

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Quick Start

fork-it is a plain SKILL.md skill — a standard Markdown definition plus shared Node scripts. It works with any AI coding agent that loads skills from a skills/ directory, so a single package installs across the whole ecosystem.

Supported agents

Agent	Skills directory
Universal (AGENTS.md)	~/.agents/skills/fork-it
OpenAI Codex	~/.codex/skills/fork-it
Cursor	~/.cursor/skills/fork-it
Claude Code	~/.claude/skills/fork-it
OpenCode	~/.opencode/skills/fork-it
Trae	~/.trae/skills/fork-it
Pi	~/.pi/skills/fork-it
Qoder	~/.qoder/skills/fork-it
CodeBuddy	~/.codebuddy/skills/fork-it

Most agents also accept project-level skills at <your-project>/.<agent>/skills/fork-it.

Option A — One-line installer (recommended)

The fastest way — no clone needed:

# Run directly from npm
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it

# Or run straight from the GitHub repo
npx github:GDWhisper/fork-it

By default the installer is interactive: it detects the agent config directories on your machine, shows them in a menu with their install status, and asks which ones to install into. Nothing is installed without your confirmation. Flags for non-interactive use:

npx @gdwhisper/fork-it                 # interactive: choose which agents to install
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it --all           # install into ALL known agent dirs (create if missing)
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it --agents a,b    # install into the named agents only (e.g. agents,claude)
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it --yes           # install into detected agents only, no prompt
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it --project       # install into the current project instead of your home dir
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it --list          # just show which agents were detected
npx @gdwhisper/fork-it --dry-run       # show what would be installed, change nothing

Prefer a local clone? The repo ships a cross-platform installer (install.mjs) with thin install.sh / install.ps1 wrappers:

# from a clone
./install.sh                 # or:  node install.mjs
./install.sh --all           # or:  node install.mjs --all
./install.sh --agents a,b    # or:  node install.mjs --agents a,b
./install.sh --project       # or:  node install.mjs --project
./install.sh --list          # or:  node install.mjs --list

Option B — Manual install

Download the latest package from Release, extract it, and copy the fork-it/ folder into any agent's skills/ directory from the table above.

File
fork-it.skill

.skill files are plain zip archives — each contains a ready-to-use fork-it/ folder (SKILL.md + scripts/).

Also on ClawHub: the package ships _meta.json, so it can be published/installed via the ClawHub registry too (see the project-level clawhub-publish skill at .agents/skills/clawhub-publish/).

Configure GitHub Token (Recommended)

Tip

A personal access token gives you 5,000 requests/hour instead of 60:

export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"

Rate Limit	Requests/hour
Unauthenticated	60
Authenticated	5,000

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Usage

How to Trigger

Just describe your idea to your AI agent. fork-it picks up on it naturally:

• "I want to build a..." / 「我想做一个…」
• "I'm thinking of making..." / 「我在考虑开发…」
• "Has anyone built something like..." / 「有没有人做过类似的…」
• Or invoke directly: /fork-it

Example

Input:

I want to build a Windows cache auto-cleanup tool

Output:

Here are some solid starting points you can fork and make your own:

Results

| Project | Stars | Language | What It Gives You |
|---------|-------|----------|-------------------|
| BleachBit | 4.7k | Python | Full-featured cross-platform cleaner, fork it and add your own rules |
| Winapp2 | 905 | VB.NET | Rich cleaning rules database, fork it as your rule engine |
| WindowsCleanerUtility | 105 | Batch | Minimal script, fork it if you want a lightweight starting point |

BleachBit gives you the most complete foundation. Fork it, strip what you
don't need, and build your own cleaner on top.

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How It Works

When fork-it Chimes In

When you're forming a new project idea — not when you're fixing bugs, learning, or asking about specific functions.

Good candidates for fork-it:

• "I want to build a chat app..."
• "I want to create a markdown editor..."
• "I want to make a cron job scheduler..."

fork-it stays quiet when:

• You're debugging existing code
• You're learning how something works
• You're asking about a specific algorithm or regex
• You're modifying an existing project

Decision Guide

Match	Path	What This Means
Great	Fork & Customize	The project does most of what you need. Fork it, tweak it, ship it.
Partial	Fork & Extend	Core is solid but missing your feature. Fork it and add your piece.
Reference	Learn, Then Build	Different enough that forking isn't the shortcut. Study the approach.
None	Build Fresh	You're doing something new. Go build it — and consider open-sourcing it!

Output Format

Scripts return a unified JSON structure:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "query": "pomodoro timer",
  "total_count": 1234,
  "returned_count": 10,
  "items": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "full_name": "user/repo",
      "description": "A pomodoro timer app",
      "url": "https://github.com/user/repo",
      "stars": 12300,
      "forks": 1200,
      "language": "TypeScript",
      "pushed_days_ago": 3,
      "created_at": "2024-01-01",
      "topics": ["productivity", "timer"],
      "license": "MIT"
    }
  ]
}

AI Display Rules (always reply in the user's language — the script output is language-neutral):

Field	Rule
pushed_days_ago: 3	AI converts to "3 days ago" / "3天前"
stars: 12300	AI formats as "12.3k" / "1.23万"
status: "error"	AI generates a friendly error message from code and message
repo data	AI translates description and commentary into the user's language

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Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Language	JavaScript (ES Modules)
API	GitHub Search API v3, GitHub REST API
Runtime	Node.js

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Why fork-it?

Benefit	Description
Jump Start	Start from a working codebase instead of a blank file
Full Creative Control	Fork it and it's yours — no PRs, no waiting, no gatekeepers
Learn by Reading	Even if you don't fork, studying real projects teaches you fast
Ship Faster	Spend time on YOUR ideas, not on boilerplate someone already wrote

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Contributing

We welcome contributions of all kinds:

Area	Description
Bug fixes	Fix issues and improve stability
New features	Add new capabilities
Documentation	Improve docs and examples
Translation	Enhance bilingual support

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details

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Made with love by GDWhisper

If fork-it helps you launch faster, give us a star!