diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e9f02db..04cbfa6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,5 +46,4 @@ you can focus on writing code rather than configuring your environment.
 ## Continuous Integration
 
 The included GitHub Actions workflow runs linting, type checks, unit tests and
-complexity analysis for every push and pull request.
-
+complexity analysis for every push and pull request.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/init_repo.sh b/scripts/init_repo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ecf457d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/init_repo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Initialize new project from template by replacing placeholder names.
+# Usage: run this script from the repository root after creating a new repo
+# from the template. The script will infer the project name from the
+# repository directory and push a commit with the updated names to main.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+OLD_NAME="template"
+
+# Determine project name from repo root directory
+PROJECT_NAME="$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)")"
+# Convert any dashes to underscores for the Python package
+NEW_NAME="${PROJECT_NAME//-/_}"
+
+# Rename package directory
+if [ -d "$OLD_NAME" ]; then
+    git mv "$OLD_NAME" "$NEW_NAME"
+fi
+
+# Rename test file if it exists
+if [ -f "tests/test_${OLD_NAME}.py" ]; then
+    git mv "tests/test_${OLD_NAME}.py" "tests/test_${NEW_NAME}.py"
+fi
+
+# Replace occurrences in key project files
+FILES=(pyproject.toml README.md Makefile .github/workflows/ci.yml)
+for file in "${FILES[@]}"; do
+    if [ -f "$file" ]; then
+        sed -i -E "s/\b${OLD_NAME}\b/${NEW_NAME}/g" "$file"
+    fi
+done
+
+# Update README header with project name
+sed -i "1s/.*/# ${PROJECT_NAME}/" README.md
+
+# Commit and push using existing git credentials
+
+git add -A
+git commit -m "Initialize project with name $NEW_NAME"
+git push -f origin main