Add License Templates

Add one or more license templates to your repository.

Usage

gh-templates license add [OPTIONS] [LICENSE]...

Arguments

Argument	Description
[LICENSE]...	License IDs to add (e.g., mit, apache-2.0, gpl-3.0)

Options

Option	Description
--dir <DIR>	Directory to save the license templates
--force	Force overwrite existing license template files
--all	Download all available license templates
-i, --interactive	Interactive mode for filling placeholders
--update-cache	Update the license templates cache
--param [<KEY=VALUE>...]	Additional parameters for license placeholders (key=value format)
-o, --output <OUTPUT>...	Output file names for the templates (in order of templates)
-h, --help	Print help

Examples

Add a Single License

gh-templates license add mit

This downloads the MIT license and saves it as LICENSE in the repository root.

Interactive License Creation

gh-templates license add mit  -i

Prompts for placeholder values interactively:

Enter value for 'copyright holders': <YOUR NAME>
Enter value for 'year': <2025>
✓ Filled 2 out of 2 placeholder(s).
⚠ Please carefully review the license text above for any missed or incorrect placeholders.
✓ LICENSE - has been added.

License with Parameters

gh-templates license add mit --force --dir . --param copyright-holders="YOUR NAME" --param year="2025"

Provides placeholder values directly through parameters.

Add Multiple Licenses

gh-templates license add mit apache-2.0 -o LICENSE-MIT LICENSE-APACHE-2.0

Downloads multiple license templates (useful for dual-licensing).

Custom Output Directory

gh-templates license add mit --dir legal/

Saves the license to a custom directory.

Custom File Names

gh-templates license add mit apache-2.0 -o LICENSE.MIT -o LICENSE.APACHE

Specify custom output file names for each license.

Force Overwrite

gh-templates license add mit --force

Overwrites existing license files without prompting.

Add All Licenses

gh-templates license add --all

Downloads all available license templates (not recommended).

Complex Example

gh-templates license add mit apache-2.0 --dir licenses/ --force -o MIT.txt -o APACHE-2.0.txt

This command:

• Adds MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses
• Saves to licenses/ directory
• Forces overwrite of existing files
• Uses custom file names with .txt extension

Default Behavior

• Output Directory: Repository root (.)
• File Names: LICENSE for single license, or license-specific names for multiple
• Overwrite: Prompts before overwriting existing files (unless --force is used)

License Customization

Licenses often contain placeholders that need to be filled:

1. You can use --interactive mode to be prompted for each placeholder
2. You can use --param key=value to provide values for placeholders
3. Common placeholders include:
   • copyright-holders: Your name or organization
   • year: Current year or appropriate range
   • project-name: Your project name

Example of customized MIT license:

Copyright (c) 2025 YOUR NAME

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software")...

Tips

1. Choose Carefully: License choice affects how others can use your code
2. Single License: Most projects use one primary license
3. Dual Licensing: Some projects offer multiple license options
4. Consult Legal: For commercial projects, consider legal consultation
5. Placement: Keep license files in the repository root for visibility

Common License Choices

License	Use Case
MIT	Simple, permissive open-source
Apache-2.0	Open-source with patent protection
GPL-3.0	Copyleft, requires derivatives to be open-source
BSD-3-Clause	Permissive with attribution requirement