Is Fork

Fork a Space Locally

Fork brings one copy-authorized Space home as a new independent local Git repository. A public, copy-enabled source needs no IdeaSpaces account. The result has fresh Note and root identity, one import commit, source lineage for later updates, no source history, no remote, and no hosted owner.

This is a conversational layer over the IdeaSpaces CLI. The extension exposes the resolved CLI as $IS_CLI_PATH when available. Define this helper in any bash command that invokes it:

is_cli() {
  if [ -n "$IS_CLI_PATH" ] && [ -f "$IS_CLI_PATH" ]; then
    case "$IS_CLI_PATH" in
      *.js) node "$IS_CLI_PATH" "$@" ;;
      *) "$IS_CLI_PATH" "$@" ;;
    esac
  else
    ideaspaces "$@"
  fi
}

No separate install or native is_fork tool is required.

Confirm the coordinate

Require a canonical Space URL and choose the destination folder. If the user omitted the folder, state the CLI-derived local name before running. A destination that already exists is never merged, replaced, or removed. If the user already named both source and destination, that is confirmation; do not ask twice.

--name <local-name> changes only the unpublished display name. Never pass --location or --slug: hosting placement belongs to later ideaspaces publish --hostname/--slug.

Materialize

Quote the URL, path, and optional name:

is_cli fork "<space-url>" "<destination>" [--name "<local-name>"]

Do not log in first for a public source. The CLI sends valid ambient credentials when they already exist, allowing a directly shared private Fork through the same local-only path, but never invents an empty token. If a private source is neutrally refused and the user expects direct access, offer is_auth action="login", then retry the identical command.

The CLI validates the complete bounded snapshot before touching the destination and removes its temporary sibling on failure. Do not reproduce the snapshot with curl, raw file writes, or Git plumbing.

Maintain from the source

Run update from inside a fork. Preview first unless the user already explicitly asked to apply:

is_cli update

Report the proposed Markdown and asset writes, deletes, and conflicts. Apply only after confirmation:

is_cli update --yes

A public source remains account-free while both public View and Fork are enabled. Do not log in preemptively. If a directly shared private source is neutrally refused and the user expects access, offer is_auth action="login", then retry the same update. Never reproduce the three-way update with raw writes: the CLI preserves local additions, *.local.md, staged bystanders, destination identity, and conflicting local files. Report conflicts as preserved local work and an unchanged second run as a no-op.

Report the result

State:

• destination path and fresh local Space identity;
• that source history was not copied;
• that the repository has one clean main import commit and no remote;
• that the Space is unpublished and locally owned.

Offer is-publish only if the user now wants remote hosting. Publishing is the account boundary; Fork itself is not.