When you clone a GitHub repository, you might encounter a situation where the repository's contents are inside an extra folder, which can be inconvenient when you want to create a React app directly in the repository's root. To avoid this, you can follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository:

    git clone <repository_url>
   

2. Check the repository's folder structure: Navigate to the cloned repository's directory and check if there is an extra folder wrapping the actual project files. For example, if the repository's files are inside a folder named "my-app," you would see something like this:

    my-app/
      |- files-and-folders...
   

3. Move the files to the root directory: If there is an extra folder (e.g., "my-app"), you can move all the files and folders inside it to the root directory. You can do this by using the terminal or file explorer. Here's an example using the terminal:

    mv my-app/* .
    mv my-app/.git .    # Moves the .git folder as well, preserving version control
    rmdir my-app        # Removes the empty my-app directory after the move
   

   Now, you should have the project files directly in the repository's root directory.

4. Create the React app: Now that you have the project files in the root directory, you can create the React app. If you haven't installed create-react-app globally yet, do that first:

    npm install -g create-react-app
   

   Next, create your React app in the repository's root:

    npx create-react-app .
   

   The . at the end of the command tells create-react-app to use the current directory as the project's root.

5. Clean up: After successfully creating the React app, you can delete any unnecessary files from the initial repository. Be careful not to delete anything essential for the React app itself.

Remember, when you make any changes to the repository, make sure to commit and push those changes to the remote repository as needed.

Always be cautious when moving files and creating a new React app within an existing repository, as it could lead to data loss if not done carefully. Always back up your repository before making significant changes.

What I learned from this while working 🤗

You never know how much you know until you put in the work and much practice.

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