Transplant

Transplant is a CLI wizard / generator for setting up Sprout apps. After using the Sprout template and cloning to your machine, run this in your clone's root and It will automate the setup process.

It's also a working example of an app built using Sprout.

Quick start

Install Transplant on Linux or in WSL:

curl -fsSL https://releases.sproutcli.dev/transplant/install.sh | sh

Use Sprout as a GitHub template, then clone your new repo and run the wizard:

git clone https://github.com/YOU/YOUR_APP.git
cd YOUR_APP
transplant

It walks you through features and project settings, previews the cut, and tests and builds the result. The getting started guide covers the next steps and the manual setup path. For more wizard options, see Transplant's README.

Development needs Linux or WSL, Git, Bash, curl, GCC for the race tests, and Go => the version in go.mod. Windows binaries still ship for the sake of this being a good Sprout example.

Run transplant update to check for and apply updates.

Script it

Every question has a flag. --yes accepts the defaults, creates the setup branch, confirms finalization, and commits after verification succeeds. Pass --branch=false or --commit=false to opt out of those steps.

transplant --yes \
  --module=github.com/YOU/YOUR_APP --app-name=your-app \
  --service=headless --update=manual \
  --release-url=https://releases.example.com/ \
  --contact-url=https://github.com/YOU/YOUR_APP \
  --author="Your Name" --year=2026 --docs=markdown

The module defaults to the GitHub origin URL, the binary name to a cleaned-up repo name, and the copyright name to git config user.name. If a required default isn't available, pass its flag. No answers are stored in Transplant's database, and these update choices never change Transplant's own preferences.

Flag	Choices / default
--service	none, headless, https (default)
--update	none, check, manual (default), auto
--docs	keep, markdown (default), none
--default-log-level	debug, info, warn (default), error, none
--service-desc	Default: <app-name> service; only with a service
--service-default-port	Default: 8484; only with HTTPS
--year	Default: current year
--preview	Print the plan without edits, a branch, tests, or a commit
--skip-verify	Skip the generated project's tests and dev build

--update=none leaves updates to re-running the installer. check retains discovery and notices, manual also supports applying on request, and auto adds unattended application. Auto needs a service and is initially disabled in the generated app; its operator can enable it with <app> update --automatic=true.

Markdown-only docs keeps docs/content/docs/** and docs/MAINTENANCE.md and removes everything else under docs/. Both markdown and none remove .github/workflows/docs.yml; keep retains the full site and its workflow. README gets a short stub; CONTRIBUTING stays for you to edit. Your copyright notice is added while the original MIT notice stays intact.

If something stops halfway

Transplant stops at the failed step, leaves the changes for review, and prints a recovery command. It never resets or cleans your checkout itself. If tests or the build fail after the cut, fix the generated project and rerun ./scripts/test.sh and ./scripts/build.sh; the cutter has already removed itself, so rerunning Transplant isn't a repair path.

Working on Transplant

See AGENTS.md, the architecture notes, and the maintenance protocol. For everything else see the docs.

./scripts/test.sh
# Test pending changes using a clean Sprout clone:
TRANSPLANT_SPROUT=path/to/sprout/clone go test ./internal/transplant \
  -run '^TestSproutCompatibility$' -v -count=1 -timeout=25m

The compatibility test finalizes, tests, and builds HTTPS/auto, CLI/no-update, and headless/manual trees. CI runs it against Sprout main and requires it before release. Sprout must support scripts/cut --list-features-json contract version 1; older or unfamiliar templates are refused before any checkout edits.

MIT