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Fix: Make dev-template work without a git repo

IMPLEMENTATION RULES: Before implementing this plan, read and follow:

Status: Active​

Goal: Allow dev-template to run on fresh machines without requiring a git repo or GitHub login.

Last Updated: 2026-02-19

GitHub Issue: #63 (follow-up)

Investigation: INVESTIGATE-dev-template-no-git-required.md

Priority: High — the zip download fix alone is not enough for fresh machines

Problem​

dev-template calls detect_github_info() at startup which exits if not inside a git repo. On a fresh machine, users can't even browse templates. The {{GITHUB_USERNAME}} and {{REPO_NAME}} placeholders in manifest and workflow files are already replaced by GitHub Actions at CI/CD time — the replacement in dev-template is redundant.

Phase 1: Remove all git dependencies from dev-template — ✅ DONE​

Tasks​

  • 1.1 Remove detect_github_info() function
  • 1.2 Remove replace_placeholders() function
  • 1.3 Remove process_essential_files() function
  • 1.4 Remove the calls from main execution
  • 1.5 Bump SCRIPT_VERSION to 1.5.0

Validation​

# Run from a directory with no git repo — should work end to end
cd /tmp && mkdir test && cd test && dev-template

Acceptance Criteria​

  • No git commands anywhere in the script
  • dev-template runs on a fresh machine with no git repo
  • Templates can be browsed, selected, and copied without any dependency on git or GitHub auth
  • Template files are copied as-is (CI/CD handles placeholder replacement at build time)

Files to Modify​

  • .devcontainer/manage/dev-template.sh — remove detect_github_info(), replace_placeholders(), process_essential_files()