diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5d381cc..5dbf6ee 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+create_repo.toml
+out.toml
+.vscode
+
 # ---> Python
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9b4dc00..9f76e59 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,119 @@
 # gitea_repo_creator
 
---created with create_repo.py
\ No newline at end of file
+`python .\create_repo.py -h`
+
+## TODO
+
+- create package from script
+
+## notes on gitea api usage for creating repos
+
+`POST` @ endpoint `api/v1/user/repos`
+
+### general notes
+
+#### required headers
+
+- `accept: application/json`
+- `Content-Type: application/json`
+- `Authorization: token your_token_here`
+
+#### request body fields `-d '{...}'`
+
+> [Gitea API Documentation](https://demo.gitea.com/api/swagger#/repository/createCurrentUserRepo)
+
+<details>
+  <summary>Show table</summary>
+
+| field name           | description                                                                  | data type | possible values                                                      | `uniqueItems` | `required` |
+|                   -: | :-                                                                           | :-        | :-                                                                   | :-:           | :-:        |
+| `name`               | Name of the repository to create                                             | `string`  |                                                                      | `true`        | `true`     |
+| `auto_init`          | Whether the repository should be auto-initialized?                           | `boolean` |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `default_branch`     | DefaultBranch of the repository (used when initializes and in template)      | `string`  |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `description`        | Description of the repository to create                                      | `string`  |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `gitignores`         | Gitignores to use                                                       [^1] | `string`  |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `issue_labels`       | Label-Set to use                                                        [^1] | `string`  |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `license`            | License to use                                                          [^1] | `string`  |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `object_format_name` | ObjectFormatName of the underlying git repository                            | `string`  | `sha1`<br>`sha256`                                                   | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `private`            | Whether the repository is private                                            | `boolean` |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `readme`             | Readme of the repository to create                                      [^1] | `string`  |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `template`           | Whether the repository is a template                                         | `boolean` |                                                                      | `false`       | `false`    |
+| `trust_model`        | TrustModel of the repository                                                 | `string`  | `default`<br>`collaborator`<br>`committer`<br>`collaboratorcommiter` | `false`       | `false`    |
+
+</details>
+
+[^1]: name of template to use, returns error when name not found
+
+### examples
+
+#### *sh
+
+```bash
+repo_name="repo_name"
+token="your_token_here"
+address="gitea.domain.tld"
+
+response="$(\
+  curl -X "POST" \
+    "https://$address/api/v1/user/repos" \
+    -H "accept: application/json" \
+    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+    -H "Authorization: token $token" \
+    -d "{\"name\": \"$repo_name\"}" \
+2>/dev/null)"
+
+echo $response | jq
+# pretty print the returned json object with color highlighting
+
+# alternative, if jq is not installed
+# echo $response | python3 -m json.tool
+```
+
+#### PowerShell
+
+```powershell
+$repo_name = "repo_name"
+$token = "your_token_here"
+$address = "gitea.domain.tld"
+
+$headers = @{
+    "accept" = "application/json"
+    "Authorization" = "token $token"
+}
+$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://$address/api/v1/user/repos" `
+    -Method Post `
+    -Headers $headers `
+    -ContentType "application/json" `
+    -Body "{`"name`": `"`$repo_name`", `"auto_init`": false}"
+
+echo $response
+```
+
+</details>
+
+#### Python
+
+`pip install requests`
+
+```python
+import requests
+
+repo_name = 'repo_name'
+token = 'your_token_here'
+address = 'gitea.domain.tld'
+
+headers = {
+    'accept': 'application/json',
+    'Authorization': f'token {token}',
+    # 'Content-Type': 'application/json', # Already added when you pass json=
+}
+
+json_data = {
+    'name': f'{repo_name}', #required
+    'auto_init': False,
+}
+
+response = requests.post(f'https://{address}/api/v1/user/repos', headers=headers, json=json_data)
+
+print(response.content.decode())
+```
diff --git a/create_repo.py b/create_repo.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b02db7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/create_repo.py
@@ -0,0 +1,321 @@
+import requests
+
+# for pretty printing
+import json
+from pygments import highlight
+from pygments.lexers import JsonLexer
+from pygments.formatters import TerminalFormatter
+
+import argparse
+import contextlib
+import tomli
+import tomli_w
+from dotmap import DotMap
+import click
+
+import os
+import sys
+import re
+
+def get_config():
+    # Create an ArgumentParser object
+    args = get_args()
+    
+    config = config_from_file(args)
+
+    update_config_from_args(args, config)
+    
+    check_required_options(config)
+
+    if config._script.verbose > 0:
+        config.pprint()
+
+    return config
+
+def config_from_file(args):
+    config = DotMap()
+    if args.config_file:
+        try:
+            with open(args.config_file, 'rb') as file:
+                config = DotMap(tomli.load(file))
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            if args.verbose > 0:
+                print(f"File '{args.config_file}' not found.")
+    return config
+
+def update_config_from_args(args, config):
+    config._script.isgit = os.path.exists(".git")
+    config._script.cwd = os.getcwd().split('\\')[-1]
+
+    config._script.confirm  = False if args.yes else config._script.get('confirm', True)
+    config._script.out      = args.out      or config._script.get('out', None)
+    config._script.verbose  = args.verbose  or config._script.get('verbose', 0)
+    config._script.dryrun   = args.dryrun   or config._script.get('dryrun', None)
+    config._script.use_cwd  = args.use_cwd  or config._script.get('use_cwd', None)
+
+
+    config.repo.name = (
+        config._script.cwd if config._script.use_cwd else 
+        (args.repo_name or config.repo.get('name', None))
+        )
+    config.connection.token         = args.conn_token               or config.connection.get('token',None)
+    config.connection.address       = args.instance_address             or config.connection.get('address',None)
+    config.repo.auto_init           = args.repo_auto_init           or config.repo.get('auto_init',None)
+    config.repo.default_branch      = args.repo_default_branch      or config.repo.get('default_branch',None)
+    config.repo.description         = args.repo_description         or config.repo.get('description',None)
+    config.repo.gitignores          = args.repo_gitignores          or config.repo.get('gitignores',None)
+    config.repo.issue_labels        = args.repo_issue_labels        or config.repo.get('issue_labels',None)
+    config.repo.license             = args.repo_license             or config.repo.get('license',None)
+    config.repo.object_format_name  = args.repo_object_format_name  or config.repo.get('object_format_name',None)
+    config.repo.private             = args.repo_private             or config.repo.get('private',None)
+    config.repo.readme              = args.repo_readme              or config.repo.get('readme',None)
+    config.repo.template            = args.repo_template            or config.repo.get('template',None)
+    config.repo.trust_model         = args.repo_trust_model         or config.repo.get('trust_model',None)
+
+    config._dynamic = False
+
+def check_required_options(config):
+    if config.repo.name is None:
+        config.repo.name = interactive_repo_name()
+    if config.connection.address is None:
+        raise ValueError('instance address missing')
+    if config.connection.token is None:
+        raise ValueError('authorization token missing')
+
+def interactive_repo_name(c):
+    for _ in range(3):
+        repo_name = input("Enter a name for the repository: ")
+        if re.match("^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$", repo_name):
+            return repo_name
+        print("Invalid name. Please use only ASCII letters, numbers, dashes, or underscores.")
+    print('too many tries, exiting')
+    sys.exit()
+
+def get_args():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Create a repository on a gitea instance')
+    parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbose', action='count', default=0, help='Increase output verbosity')
+    parser.add_argument('-d', '--dryrun', action='store_true', help='don\'t actually do anything')
+    
+    parser.add_argument('-c', '--use_cwd', action='store_true', help='Use current working directory as repo_name')
+    parser.add_argument('-y', '--yes', action='store_true', help='don\'t ask me before creating repo')
+    parser.add_argument('repo_name', nargs='?', help='Name of the repository to create', default=None)
+
+    parser.add_argument('-f', '--config_file', help='Path to the TOML configuration file')
+    parser.add_argument('-o', '--out', help='Path to output used config to', default=None)
+
+    parser.add_argument('-t', '--conn_token', '--token', help='gitea authorization token', type=str, default=None)
+    parser.add_argument('-a', '--instance_address', '--address', help='gitea instance address', type=str, default=None)
+
+    argument_list = [
+        # ['name', 'Name of the repository to create', str, None, 'true'],
+        ['auto_init', 'Whether the repository should be auto-initialized?', bool, None, 'false'],
+        ['default_branch', 'DefaultBranch of the repository (used when initializes and in template)', str, None, 'false'],
+        ['description', 'Description of the repository to create', str, None, 'false'],
+        ['gitignores', 'Gitignores to use', str, None, 'false'],
+        ['issue_labels', 'Label-Set to use', str, None, 'false'],
+        ['license', 'License to use', str, None, 'false'],
+        ['object_format_name', 'ObjectFormatName of the underlying git repository', str, ['sha1', 'sha256'], 'false'],
+        ['private', 'Whether the repository is private', bool, None, 'false'],
+        ['readme', 'Readme of the repository to create', str, None, 'false'],
+        ['template', 'Whether the repository is a template', bool, None, 'false'],
+        ['trust_model', 'TrustModel of the repository', str, ['default', 'collaborator', 'committer', 'collaboratorcommiter'], 'false']
+    ]
+
+    for arg_info in argument_list:
+        parser.add_argument(f'--repo_{arg_info[0]}', f'--{arg_info[0]}', help=arg_info[1], type=arg_info[2], choices=arg_info[3])
+    
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    return args
+
+def generate_header(config):
+    return {
+        'accept': 'application/json',
+        'Authorization': f'token {config.connection.token}',
+        # 'Content-Type': 'application/json', # Already added when you pass json=
+    }
+
+def generate_payload(config):
+    return {key: value for key, value in config.repo.items() if value is not None}
+
+def pretty_print_json(obj, title=None):
+    print_obj = json.loads(obj) if isinstance(obj, (bytes, str)) else obj
+    json_str = json.dumps(print_obj, indent=2, sort_keys=False) # prettify
+    if title:
+        print(title)
+    print(highlight(json_str, JsonLexer(), TerminalFormatter())) # print
+
+def create_repo(config):
+    export_handler(config)
+    headers = generate_header(config)
+    json_data = generate_payload(config)
+    if config._script.verbose > 0:
+        print()
+        pretty_print_json(headers, title='Headers')
+        pretty_print_json(json_data, title='Body')
+    confirm_handler(config)
+    if not config._script.dryrun:
+        return requests.post(f'https://{config.connection.address}/api/v1/user/repos', headers=headers, json=json_data)
+    else:
+        print('(DRYRUN) created repo')
+    return None
+
+def confirm_handler(config):
+    if config._script.confirm:
+        dryrunstr = '(DRYRUN) ' if config._script.dryrun else ''
+        print(f'{dryrunstr}I\'m about to create \033[1;34m{config.repo.name}\033[0m at \033[1;34m{config.connection.address}\033[0m')
+        if not click.confirm(f'{dryrunstr}Continue?', default=True):
+            print('exiting')
+            sys.exit()
+
+def filter_none_values(data):
+    if isinstance(data, dict):
+        return {k: filter_none_values(v) for k, v in data.items() if v is not None}
+    else:
+        return data
+
+def remove_keys(data, keys):
+    if not isinstance(keys, (list, tuple, set)):
+        keys = [keys]  # Convert single value to a list
+
+    for key in keys:
+        data.pop(key, None)
+    return data
+
+def export_handler(config):
+    if config._script.out is not None:
+        config_export = config.toDict()
+        config_export = remove_keys(config_export, '_script')
+        config_export = filter_none_values(config_export)
+        with open(config._script.out, 'wb') as outf:
+            tomli_w.dump(config_export, outf)
+
+def status_handler(response, config):
+    if config._script.dryrun:
+        print('(DRYRUN) status handler')
+        return
+    match response.status_code:
+        case 201:
+            success_handler(response, config)
+        case 400:
+            print('\033[0;31m400\033[0m: APIError\n')
+            pretty_print_json(response.content)
+        case 401:
+            print('\033[0;31m401\033[0m: User does not exist\n')
+        case 409:
+            print(f'\033[0;31mError\033[0m: A repository named \033[1;34m{config.repo.name}\033[0m already exists for the user\n')
+        case 422:
+            print('\033[0;31m422\033[0m: APIValidationError\n')
+            pretty_print_json(response.content)
+        case _:
+            pretty_print_json(response.content)
+            print(f'{response.status_code}: good job, you found an unspecified status code. You can report a bug at https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/new/choose')
+            dump_response(response)
+
+def dump_response(response):
+    class DumpEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
+        def default(self, obj):
+            try:
+                if isinstance(obj, (dict, list, tuple)):
+                    return self.serialize_nested(obj)
+                return super().default(obj)
+            except TypeError:
+                return self.type_error_handler(obj)
+
+        def serialize_nested(self, obj):
+            if isinstance(obj, dict):
+                return {k: self.serialize_nested(v) for k, v in obj.items()}
+            elif isinstance(obj, (list, tuple)):
+                return [self.serialize_nested(item) for item in obj]
+            else:
+                return self.default(obj)
+
+        def type_error_handler(self, obj):
+            with contextlib.suppress(TypeError):
+                return self.default(json.loads(obj))    # first try interpreting it as json (load from bytes, try to serialize it)
+            try:
+                return self.default(vars(obj))          # then try converting it to a dict and serializing it
+            except (TypeError, json.decoder.JSONDecodeError):
+                return str(type(obj))                   # if everything fails, just return the type
+
+    print('I\'m writing the response to response.json in your current directory')
+    print('This file contains sensitive information, such as your authorization token. Keep that in mind and redact the file before sharing.')
+    with open("response.json", mode="w") as d:
+        json.dump(vars(response), d, cls=DumpEncoder, indent=4, sort_keys=True)
+
+def success_handler(response, config):
+    repository = DotMap(json.loads(response.content))
+    print('Success!')
+    message = f'You can find your new repository at \033[1;34m{repository.html_url}\033[0m\n'
+
+    if config._script.isgit:
+        message += success_handler_existing_repo(repository, config)
+    else:
+        message += success_handler_new_repo(repository, config)
+
+    print(message)
+
+def success_handler_existing_repo(repository, config=None):
+    message_lines = [
+        '',
+        'To push your current repo, run the following commands:',
+        '',
+        f'git remote add origin {repository["ssh_url"]}',
+        'git push -u origin main',
+        '',
+        ]
+    return '\n'.join(message_lines)
+
+def success_handler_new_repo(repository, config=None):
+    if len(os.listdir(os.getcwd())) >= 0:
+        message_lines = nonempty_dir_method(repository)
+    else:
+        message_lines = empty_dir_message(repository)
+        return '\n'.join(message_lines)
+
+def nonempty_dir_method(repository):
+    return [
+            '',
+            'Current directory is not empty. To use the files in your new repo, run the following commands',
+            '',
+            'git init',
+            f'git remote add origin {repository["ssh_url"]}',
+            'git pull origin main',
+            'git add [your files]'
+            '',
+        ]
+
+def empty_dir_message(repository):
+    message_lines = [
+            '',
+            'To create a new repository in your current directory, run the following commands:',
+            ''
+            ]
+    if os.name == 'nt':
+        message_lines.append('echo $null >> README.md')
+    else:
+        message_lines.append('touch README.md')
+    message_lines.extend(
+                (
+                    'git init',
+                    'git checkout -b main',
+                    'git add README.md',
+                    'git commit -m "first commit"',
+                    f'git remote add origin {repository["ssh_url"]}',
+                    'git push -u origin main',
+                    '',
+                )
+            )
+        
+    return message_lines
+
+def main():
+    try:
+        config = get_config()
+        resp = create_repo(config)
+        status_handler(resp, config)
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        sys.exit()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
+
diff --git a/repo.toml b/repo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aba7463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+[connection]
+token   = 'your_token'
+address = 'gitea.domain.tld'
+
+[repo]
+# name                = 'repo_name'
+auto_init           = true
+default_branch      = 'main'
+description         = '--created with create_repo.py'
+# gitignores          = 'Python'
+# issue_labels        = ''
+# license             = ''
+# object_format_name  = 'sha1'
+private             = false
+# readme              = 'Default'
+# template            = false
+# trust_model         = 'default'
\ No newline at end of file