# Generating a new project from empty directory

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/generating-a-new-project-from-empty-directory/121349>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** package, environment\
**Created:** [October 15, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/generating-a-new-project-from-empty-directory/121349 "2024-10-15T19:57:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![danrib07](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/danrib07/32/212751_2.png) [@danrib07](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/danrib07)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/generating-a-new-project-from-empty-directory/121349/1 "2024-10-15T19:57:57Z")

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I’ve cloned an empty repository `Test2` from Github. I want to create a Julia package within this folder. After cloning the repository in the following directory `C:\Users\someuser\Test2`, after accessing it via `cd` command, I start Julia and then enter the package mode via:

```julia
julia> ]

```

To generate a project within this folder, I type

```julia
(@v1.11) pkg> generate Test2
  Generating project Test2:
    Test2\Project.toml
    Test2\src\Test2.jl

```

However, another directory Test2 is created with the Project.toml and Manifest.toml files. So the directory now looks like `C:\Users\someuser\Test2\Test2`. Whereas if I type `generate Test2` from `C:\Users\someuser` directory, I get the following error:

```julia
ERROR: C:\Users\someuser\Test2 already exists

```

How can I create generate the new project files `Project.toml` and `Manifest.toml` within the cloned directory at `C:\Users\someuser\Test2`?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GunnarFarneback](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gunnarfarneback/32/1827_2.png) [@GunnarFarneback](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GunnarFarneback)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/generating-a-new-project-from-empty-directory/121349/2 "2024-10-15T20:09:37Z")

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Just move everything below `Test2\Test2` up to `Test2`, then remove the now empty `Test2\Test2`.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![danrib07](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/danrib07/32/212751_2.png) [@danrib07](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/danrib07)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/generating-a-new-project-from-empty-directory/121349/4 "2024-10-15T20:11:26Z")

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Thank you for your reply. So there’s no path-specific information contained in `Project.toml` and `Manifest.toml` ? I was apprehensive to do that at first.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GunnarFarneback](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gunnarfarneback/32/1827_2.png) [@GunnarFarneback](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GunnarFarneback)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/generating-a-new-project-from-empty-directory/121349/5 "2024-10-15T20:25:55Z")

</div>

There’s not and the absence of paths can easily be verified by inspection.

```julia
(@v1.10) pkg> generate Test2
  Generating project Test2:
    Test2/Project.toml
    Test2/src/Test2.jl

(@v1.10) pkg> 

$ tree Test2
Test2
├── Project.toml
└── src
    └── Test2.jl

1 directory, 2 files

$ cat Test2/Project.toml 
name = "Test2"
uuid = "e99fa0d8-77c6-477a-b44f-3dfec49fa2d1"
authors = ["Gunnar Farnebäck <gunnar@lysator.liu.se>"]
version = "0.1.0"

$ cat Test2/src/Test2.jl 
module Test2

greet() = print("Hello World!")

end # module Test2

```

The only non-obvious thing is the `uuid`, which you can think of as a random string with the only purpose of being different from any other uuid out there, so that it can act as a unique identity for the package.