diff --git a/bin/basic b/bin/basic
index b360b11..759ac05 100755
--- a/bin/basic
+++ b/bin/basic
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+if [ "$BASIC_BASE_URL" == "" ]; then
+    base_url="https://gitea.tforgione.fr/basic/"
+    custom_base_url=false
+else
+    base_url=$BASIC_BASE_URL
+    echo $base_url | grep /$ > /dev/null 2>&1
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        base_url="$base_url"/
+    fi
+    custom_base_url=true
+fi
+
 eprint() {
     echo -e >&2 "\x1B[1;31merror:\x1B[0m" $@
 }
@@ -15,15 +27,17 @@ info_n() {
 print-help() {
     echo -e "\033[32mbasic\033[0m"
     echo -e "Thomas Forgione <thomas@forgione.fr>"
-    echo -e "A script that automatically clones templates"
+    echo -e "A script that automatically clones templates from $base_url"
+    echo -e "Use the environment variable BASIC_BASE_URL to clone templates from somewhere else."
     echo
-   print-usage
+    print-usage
 }
 
 print-usage() {
     echo -e "\033[33mUSAGE:\033[0m"
-    echo -e "    \033[32mbasic init <latex|beamer|marp>\033[0m                initialize a template in the current directory"
-    echo -e "    \033[32mbasic init <latex|beamer|marp> <directory>\033[0m    initialize a template in the specified directory"
+    echo -e "    \033[32mbasic init <template>\033[0m                initialize a template in the current directory"
+    echo -e "    \033[32mbasic init <template> <directory>\033[0m    initialize a template in the specified directory"
+
 }
 
 print-usage-and-exit() {
@@ -32,13 +46,28 @@ print-usage-and-exit() {
 }
 
 git_clone() {
+    GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git ls-remote $1 > /dev/null 2>&1
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        eprint "the repository $1 does not exist or is private"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    if [ -d $2 ] && [ ! -z "$(ls -A $2)" ]; then
+        if [ "$2" == "." ]; then
+            eprint "the current directory is not empty"
+            info "use \`basic init <template> <directory>\` to specify another directory"
+        else
+            eprint "the directory $2 exists and is not empty"
+        fi
+        print-usage-and-exit 2
+    fi
 
     info_n "downloading template..."
     GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git clone $@ > /dev/null 2>&1
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
         echo >&2
         eprint "failed to download template"
-        exit 2
+        print-usage-and-exit 2
     fi
     echo " done!"
 }
@@ -46,21 +75,13 @@ git_clone() {
 init() {
     template=$1
 
-    case $template in
-        "latex" | "beamer" | "marp") ;;
-        *)
-            eprint "template $template does not exist"
-            print-usage-and-exit 1
-            ;;
-    esac
-
     if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
         name=$2
     else
         name=.
     fi
 
-    git_clone https://gitea.tforgione.fr/tforgione-basic/$1 $name
+    git_clone $base_url/$1 $name
     rm -rf $name/.git
 }