prepare-code

Lightweight CLI helper to prepare competitive programming files from templates.

prepare-code is a small command-line app (written in Go) that:

• detects the online problem platform from a problem URL,
• extracts a short problem code/name,
• creates a new source file from a language-specific template and fills basic metadata (author, date, link, working directory).

Status (current branch: port-cli-to-go): Core CLI implemented in Go. Platform detection currently supports Codeforces. Templates are available for Java, C++ and Python in the template/ folder.

Quick install

• Build locally with Python:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OBrutus/prepare-code/refs/heads/mainline/install.py | python3

• Or run the provided build.sh which wraps the build steps used by this repo.

• There's also a convenience installer install.py which copies the repository into ~/.prepare-code and can add it to your shell PATH (supports macOS zsh and Linux shells).

Usage

• Run the CLI with a problem URL as the first argument:

./prepare-code "https://codeforces.com/problemset/problem/1234/A"

• If no URL is provided the program prompts for it interactively. The CLI then:
  • identifies the platform (e.g. Codeforces),
  • extracts a short code name (for Codeforces: contestNumber-A → 1234-A),
  • prompts for a language (default: java), and
  • creates a source file named <code>.<lang> (for example 1234-A.java) in the current directory populated from template/<lang>/template.<lang>.

Templates

• Templates live under template/<lang>/template.<lang>.
• Current templates included: java, cpp, python.
• Templates use %s placeholders that are replaced with:
  1. Author (from local user lookup),
  2. Date (YYYY-MM-DD),
  3. Version (template placeholder),
  4. Link (platform name),
  5. Directory (cwd when run)

Project structure (high level)

• main.go — CLI entrypoint (parses URL, prompts for language, creates session).
• src/platform — platform detection and platform-specific logic (e.g. Codeforces extraction in codeforces.go).
• src/session — session handling and template processing (creates files using templates).
• template/ — language templates used to create new problem files.
• install.py, build.sh — helpers for installation and building.

Notes & Next steps

• Only Codeforces URL parsing is implemented today. Adding more platforms (AtCoder, SPOJ, etc.) is straightforward by adding new packages under src/platform and wiring them in src/platform/identifier.go.
• Contributions welcome: improve URL parsing robustness, add more templates, or add a --lang / --out CLI flags.

If you'd like, I can (pick one):

• update README with a quick example run and screenshots,
• add a --help flag and basic CLI docs in main.go, or
• implement AtCoder platform detection next.