You Bought the Ship Template — Here Is How to Get Your Code and Start Building

You just purchased the Ship Template. Congratulations — you now have access to a production-ready application template that would take months to build from scratch. This guide walks you through every step to get the code on your computer and running in your browser.

No development experience required. Every step is explained in plain English.

The Big Picture

Here is what you are about to do, in five steps:

1. Set up GitHub (if you do not have an account yet)
2. Accept your invitation to access the template code
3. Create your own copy of the template
4. Download the code to your computer
5. Run it and see your application in the browser

The whole process takes about 15 minutes. Let us walk through each step.

Step 1: Set Up a GitHub Account

GitHub is where your code lives on the internet. If you already have a GitHub account, skip to Step 2.

1. Go to github.com and click Sign up
2. Enter your email address, create a password, and choose a username
3. Complete the verification steps (GitHub may ask you to solve a simple puzzle)
4. Choose the Free plan — it has everything you need

That is it. You now have a place to store and manage your code online.

Why GitHub? GitHub is not just storage — it is also how your application gets deployed (put on the internet for real users). Services like Vercel connect to your GitHub account and automatically update your live website whenever you make changes to your code. More on that in a future guide.

Step 2: Accept Your GitHub Invitation

After your purchase, we send you an invitation to access the template code on GitHub. Here is how to find and accept it:

1. Check your email — look for a message from GitHub with the subject line "You have been invited to collaborate on a repository"
2. Click the invitation link in the email
3. Click "Accept invitation" on the GitHub page that opens

If you do not see the email:

• Check your spam or promotions folder
• Make sure you are checking the email associated with your GitHub account
• If it has been more than a few minutes, reach out to us at theteam@shipsomething.com and we will resend it

Once you accept, you will see the template repository page. You now have access to the code.

Step 3: Create Your Own Copy (Fork)

This is the most important step. You are not going to work directly in the template repository — that belongs to us and is shared with all customers. Instead, you are going to create your own personal copy that belongs entirely to you. This is called "forking."

1. On the template repository page, look for the "Fork" button near the top right of the page
2. Click it — GitHub will ask where to create the fork
3. Fill in the details:
   • Repository name — this becomes your project name. You can rename it to something that describes your app (e.g., "my-knitting-shop", "fitness-tracker", "recipe-app"). Use lowercase letters and hyphens, no spaces.
   • Description — optional, but helpful. Something like "My knitting marketplace."
4. Make sure "Copy the main branch only" is checked
5. Click "Create fork"

GitHub will spend a few seconds creating your copy. When it is done, you will be on your brand new repository page. Notice the URL — it says github.com/your-username/your-project-name. This is yours. You own it. You can do anything you want with it.

What just happened? You created an independent copy of the template under your own GitHub account. Any changes you make go to your copy — the original template is not affected. Think of it like photocopying a book: the original stays on the shelf, and you can write all over your copy.

Step 4: Download the Code to Your Computer

Now you need to get the code from GitHub onto your computer so you can work with it. This is called "cloning."

Before you clone, make sure you have these tools installed:

• A code editor — we recommend Visual Studio Code (free)
• Node.js — download from nodejs.org (choose the LTS version)
• Git — if you are on a Mac, type git --version in your terminal. If it is not installed, your Mac will prompt you to install it. On Windows, download from git-scm.com.

If you need help with any of these, read our guide: Setting Up Your Development Environment.

To clone your repository:

1. On your repository page on GitHub, click the green "Code" button
2. Copy the URL shown (it looks like https://github.com/your-username/your-project-name.git)
3. Open your terminal (on Mac: search for "Terminal" in Spotlight; on Windows: search for "Command Prompt" or use the terminal in VS Code)
4. Navigate to where you want to keep your projects:

cd ~/Desktop

5. Clone your repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-project-name.git

Replace the URL with the one you copied from GitHub.

6. Move into your project folder:

cd your-project-name

You now have the complete template codebase on your computer.

Step 5: Install, Configure, and Run

Almost there. Three quick commands and your application will be running.

Install all the tools your project needs:

npm install

This reads a list of requirements and downloads everything automatically. It may take a minute or two the first time. You will see a progress indicator.

Set up your configuration file:

cp .env.example .env.local

This creates a local settings file for your application. You will customize it later when you connect services like your database and payment processor, but the defaults are enough to get started.

Start your application:

npm run dev

Now open your web browser and go to:

http://localhost:3000

You should see your application running — a welcome page with your template ready to customize. This is running on your own computer, not on the internet. Only you can see it.

What You See When It Runs

When your application starts, you will see a welcome page. This is the template in "getting started" mode. It includes:

• A welcome homepage — a starting point for your own landing page
• A blog — with a welcome post and the admin tools to write more
• An admin panel — at /admin, where you can manage your application
• Documentation — at /docs, with guides for every feature

Everything you see is customizable. The colors, the text, the layout, the features — it is all yours to change.

What Comes Next

You have your code running. There are two paths forward, depending on how you want to build.

Path A: You have a PRD (product requirements document)

If you used PRD Maker or wrote your own product plan, drop it into your project:

1. Save your PRD as a file called PRODUCT.md
2. Place it in the root of your project — the same folder where you see README.md
3. Open your AI coding assistant (Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf, or whichever you use)
4. Start a new chat. The chat will be empty — the assistant is waiting for you to go first
5. Type: "Let's build this." — that is all you need to say. The assistant will read your PRD automatically and respond with something like: "I have read your product brief for [your product]. It defines 8 features and 12 pages. Based on the priorities, I would suggest starting with the homepage. Would you like me to build that?"
6. Say yes — or tell it where you would rather start. The assistant works through your PRD page by page, feature by feature.

You do not need to know any technical commands. The PRD tells the assistant what to build. You guide the order and make decisions along the way.

Other things you can say to get started:

• "Hello" — the assistant will see your PRD and offer to start
• "Build the homepage" — if you already know where to start
• "What is in my product brief?" — if you want the assistant to summarize what it read
• "What should we build first?" — if you want a recommendation

Path B: You want to explore and build as you go

If you do not have a plan yet — or you prefer to figure it out as you build — that works too. The template is designed for this. Just start telling the AI what you want:

• "Build me a homepage for a social app for dog owners"
• "Add a pricing page with three tiers"
• "Create a login page"

The assistant will build what you ask for and will start filling in a product brief (PRODUCT.md) as you go, capturing your decisions so it stays consistent across sessions.

Either way, explore these when you are ready:

1. Customize your branding — Visit /admin/brand to upload your own logo and favicon
2. Explore the admin panel — Visit /admin to see user management, analytics, and settings
3. Read the docs — Visit /docs for detailed guides on authentication, payments, and more
4. Connect your services — When you are ready, follow our guides to set up Supabase (database), Stripe (payments), and Vercel (deployment)
5. Add a voice agent — Enable real-time voice AI by creating an ElevenLabs Conversational Agent and adding your Agent ID to .env.local. See /docs → Voice Agents for the full guide

There is no rush. The template works out of the box with sensible defaults. You can start customizing immediately or take time to explore first.

Starting Another Project

Your purchase gives you lifetime access to the Ship Template. You can create as many projects as you want from it — there is no limit.

To start a new project, go back to the template repository on GitHub:

github.com/sincerelyjorge/ship-template

Click "Use this template" again, give your new project a name, and follow the same clone-and-install steps from earlier in this guide. Each new project starts fresh with the latest version of the template.

If we have released updates since your last project, your new project will include those updates automatically. Your existing projects are not affected — they stay exactly as you left them.

Troubleshooting

"I did not receive the GitHub invitation email" Check your spam folder. Make sure the email address you gave us matches your GitHub account email. Contact us at theteam@shipsomething.com if you need the invitation resent.

"I do not see the 'Use this template' button" Make sure you have accepted the GitHub invitation first (Step 2). If you accepted but still do not see the button, try refreshing the page or logging out and back into GitHub.

"npm install gives me errors" Make sure you have Node.js version 20 or newer. Check with node --version. If your version is older, download the latest LTS version from nodejs.org.

"npm run dev shows an error" Make sure you ran cp .env.example .env.local first. The application needs this configuration file to start. If the error mentions a specific missing value, check the .env.example file for instructions on that setting.

"The page does not load in my browser" Make sure the development server is still running in your terminal (you should see output there). Visit http://localhost:3000 — make sure it is http, not https.

Need Help?

• Email us: theteam@shipsomething.com
• Read more guides: Browse our blog for tutorials on every topic from deployment to payments
• Check the docs: Visit /docs for technical reference

Key Takeaways

• After purchase, you receive a GitHub invitation to access the template code. Accept it via email.
• Use the "Use this template" button on GitHub to create your own personal copy of the code. This copy belongs entirely to you.
• Clone your copy to your computer, install dependencies with npm install, and start the development server with npm run dev.
• Visit localhost:3000 in your browser to see your application running on your own computer.
• Everything is customizable. Start with branding, explore the admin panel, and connect services when you are ready.
• Related guides: Setting Up Your Development Environment — Intro to GitHub — Getting Your App Online