Installing Cookiecutter

Let's get our environment ready. We'll need the cookiecutter library to handle generating the Python packaging boilerplate code.

As mentioned previously, you should already have pip available.

Overview

Cookiecutter is a command-line utility that creates projects from templates called 'cookiecutters'. Created and led by Audrey Roy, it's a cross-platform tool designed to expedite project creation.

While in this sprint we're using it to create a Python package, people use Cookiecutter to create packages or projects in JavaScript, Ruby, Lisp, C, C++, Objective-C, and more.

Steps

Now it's time to install Cookiecutter.

From the command line, we type:

$ pip install cookiecutter

Info You may need to use sudo before this.

Cookiecutter should take about a minute to install. Once cookiecutter finishes installing, let's check that it's working okay with a version check:

$ cookiecutter --version
Cookiecutter 0.7.2

If the result is Cookiecutter 0.7.2, that means it's time to find some code to turn into a Python package!

FAQ

Should I install cookiecutter into a virtualenv?

You can if you want, but you don't have to.

Typically many people install it systemwide, as with other useful command-line utilities.

What if I don't have pip?

You can also install it via easy_install, or via your system's package manager. There are packages for Homebrew, Ubuntu, and Debian. (TODO: add link to details)

Summary

You now have Cookiecutter installed and ready to go on your computer.

In Creating New Python Packages, you will be using Cookiecutter to grab a project template containing boilerplate for starting an open-source Python package.