projectinit

Professional Stata Project Structure Initializer

One-click reproducible research infrastructure following J-PAL, DIME (World Bank), and AEA Data Editor standards. Includes LaTeX integration, GitHub automation, and bilingual support.

Author: Maykol Medrano | Email: mmedrano2@uc.cl | GitHub: @MaykolMedrano

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Features

• J-PAL/DIME/AEA Standards: Numbered folders (01_Data, 02_Scripts, 03_Outputs)
• LaTeX Integration: PUC thesis and standard templates with automatic macro generation
• GitHub Automation: One-command repository creation and deployment
• Bilingual Support: English/Spanish interfaces
• Cross-Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux compatible

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Installation

Net Install (Recommended)

net install projectinit, from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MaykolMedrano/projectinit/master/installation")

Manual Installation

1. Download projectinit.ado and projectinit.sthlp from installation/
2. Copy to your Stata ado directory:
   • Windows: C:\ado\plus\p\
   • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Stata/ado/plus/p/
   • Linux: ~/.stata/ado/plus/p/

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Quick Start

* Basic project
projectinit "MyResearch", root("C:/Research")

* Full setup with LaTeX, GitHub, and replication package
projectinit "PhD_Dissertation", ///
    root("C:/Research") ///
    lang(en) ///
    latex(puc) ///
    github(private) ///
    replicate ///
    verbose

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Project Structure

YourProject/
├── run.do                    # Master execution script
├── README.md                 # Project documentation
├── .gitignore
├── 01_Data/
│   ├── Raw/                 # Original, immutable data
│   ├── De-identified/       # Anonymized data
│   ├── Intermediate/        # Processed data
│   └── Final/               # Analysis-ready datasets
├── 02_Scripts/
│   ├── Ados/                # Custom programs
│   ├── Data_Preparation/    # Cleaning scripts
│   ├── Analysis/            # Main analysis
│   └── Validation/          # Robustness checks
├── 03_Outputs/
│   ├── Tables/              # LaTeX/CSV tables
│   ├── Figures/             # PDF/PNG figures
│   └── Logs/                # Execution logs
├── 04_Writing/              # LaTeX manuscript (if latex() used)
├── 05_Doc/                  # Documentation, codebooks, IRB
└── 06_Replication/          # AEA-compliant package (if replicate used)

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Command Reference

Syntax

projectinit projectname, root(string) [options]

Options

Option	Values	Default	Description
root()	path	required	Parent directory for project
lang()	en | es	en	Interface language
latex()	puc | standard	none	LaTeX template
github()	public | private	none	Create GitHub repository
author()	"name"	username	Author name
email()	"email"	—	Contact email
replicate	—	—	Include AEA replication package
overwrite	—	—	Overwrite existing project
verbose	—	—	Display detailed output

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Best Practices

• Never modify raw data — Keep 01_Data/Raw/ untouched
• Use dynamic paths — Always use globals from run.do
• Set random seeds — Ensures reproducible results
• Document dependencies — List all packages in run.do
• Version control — Use git to track changes

For detailed workflow and AEA compliance guidelines, run help projectinit in Stata.

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Citation

@software{projectinit2026,
  author = {Maykol Medrano},
  title = {projectinit: Professional Stata Project Structure Initializer},
  version = {2.1.0},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/MaykolMedrano/projectinit}
}

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Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create feature branch: git checkout -b feature/NewFeature
3. Commit changes: git commit -m 'Add NewFeature'
4. Push: git push origin feature/NewFeature
5. Open Pull Request

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Acknowledgments

Built following best practices from:

• J-PAL (MIT) — Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
• DIME (World Bank) — Development Impact Evaluation
• AEA Data Editor — American Economic Association
• Gentzkow & Shapiro (2014) — "Code and Data for the Social Sciences"

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License

MIT License — See LICENSE for details.

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Version: 2.1.0 | Stata: 14+ | Changelog: CHANGELOG.md