diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index daf913b..7739ec7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -22,3 +22,10 @@ _testmain.go
 *.exe
 *.test
 *.prof
+
+# dep management files
+glide.lock
+vendor
+
+# don't accidentally commit a build of main
+boilr
diff --git a/glide.yaml b/glide.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb44600
--- /dev/null
+++ b/glide.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package: github.com/tmrts/boilr
+import:
+#- package: github.com/src-d/go-git
+- package: github.com/spf13/cobra
+- package: github.com/docker/go-units
+- package: github.com/olekukonko/tablewriter
+- package: github.com/fatih/color
+- package: gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4
+- package: github.com/src-d/crypto/ssh/knownhosts
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/download.go b/pkg/cmd/download.go
index d642d73..840ef25 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/download.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/download.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	cli "github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	//"github.com/src-d/go-git/plumbing/transport/ssh"
 
 	"github.com/tmrts/boilr/pkg/boilr"
 	"github.com/tmrts/boilr/pkg/host"
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ var Download = &cli.Command{
 	// FIXME Half-Updates leave messy templates
 	Run: func(c *cli.Command, args []string) {
 		MustValidateArgs(args, []validate.Argument{
-			{"template-repo", validate.UnixPath},
+			{"template-repo", validate.RepoURL},
 			{"template-tag", validate.AlphanumericExt},
 		})
 
@@ -50,7 +51,9 @@ var Download = &cli.Command{
 
 		// TODO(tmrts): allow fetching other branches than 'master'
 		if err := git.Clone(targetDir, git.CloneOptions{
-			URL: host.URL(templateURL),
+			URL:      templateURL,
+			Auth:     host.AuthMethodForURL(templateURL),
+			Progress: os.Stdout,
 		}); err != nil {
 			exit.Error(fmt.Errorf("download: %s", err))
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/host/github.go b/pkg/host/github.go
deleted file mode 100644
index ff1fdd4..0000000
--- a/pkg/host/github.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-package host
-
-import (
-	"regexp"
-	"strings"
-)
-
-const (
-	githubURL        = "https://github.com"
-	githubStorageURL = "https://codeload.github.com"
-)
-
-// ZipURL returns the URL of the zip archive given a github repository URL.
-func ZipURL(repo string) string {
-	var version = "master"
-
-	repo = strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimPrefix(repo, "/"), "/")
-
-	zipRegex := regexp.MustCompile(`zip/(\S+)$`)
-	if zipRegex.MatchString(repo) {
-		return repo
-	}
-
-	// FIXME(tmrts): this check could also identify a port number, but since
-	// we only support github I don't believe using it as a version modifier
-	// is a problem. Perhaps we should reconsider?
-	if strings.Contains(repo, ":") {
-		parts := strings.SplitAfter(repo, ":")
-
-		repo = parts[0]
-		version = parts[1]
-
-		repo = strings.TrimSuffix(repo, ":")
-	}
-
-	urlTokens := []string{githubStorageURL, repo, "zip", version}
-
-	return strings.Join(urlTokens, "/")
-}
-
-// URL returns the normalized URL of a GitHub repository.
-func URL(repo string) string {
-	githubRegex := regexp.MustCompile(githubURL + `/(\S+)$`)
-	if githubRegex.MatchString(repo) {
-		return repo
-	}
-
-	return strings.Join([]string{githubURL, repo}, "/")
-}
diff --git a/pkg/host/host.go b/pkg/host/host.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..817f6af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/host/host.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+package host
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/howeyc/gopass"
+	"gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4/plumbing/transport/http"
+
+	"gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4/plumbing/transport"
+	"gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4/plumbing/transport/ssh"
+)
+
+var (
+	scpLikeUrlRegExp   = regexp.MustCompile("^(ssh://)?(?:(?P<user>[^@]+)(?:@))?(?P<host>[^:|/]+)(?::|/)?(?P<path>.+)$")
+	isHttpSchemeRegExp = regexp.MustCompile("^(http|https)://")
+)
+
+func IsRepoURL(url string) bool {
+	return isHttpSchemeRegExp.MatchString(url) || scpLikeUrlRegExp.MatchString(url)
+}
+
+func IsSSH(url string) bool {
+	if !isHttpSchemeRegExp.MatchString(url) && scpLikeUrlRegExp.MatchString(url) {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
+func AuthMethodForURL(url string) transport.AuthMethod {
+
+	if IsSSH(url) {
+		// 1:scheme, 2:user, 3:host, 4:path
+		m := scpLikeUrlRegExp.FindStringSubmatch(url)
+		a, _ := ssh.NewSSHAgentAuth(m[2])
+		return a
+	}
+
+	ba := http.NewBasicAuth("", "")
+	ba.CredentialsProvider = promptForCredentials
+
+	return ba
+}
+
+func promptForCredentials() (string, string) {
+	var u = ""
+	var p = ""
+
+	uname, err := promptForUsername()
+
+	if err == nil {
+		u = uname
+	}
+
+	pbytes, err := gopass.GetPasswdPrompt("password: ", true, os.Stdin, os.Stdout)
+
+	if err == nil {
+		p = string(pbytes)
+	}
+
+	return u, p
+}
+
+func promptForUsername() (string, error) {
+	consolereader := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin)
+
+	fmt.Print("username: ")
+	response, err := consolereader.ReadString('\n')
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	if len(response) < 1 {
+		return promptForUsername()
+	}
+
+	return strings.TrimSuffix(response, "\n"), nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/util/validate/string.go b/pkg/util/validate/string.go
index f1dd0f1..18afc17 100644
--- a/pkg/util/validate/string.go
+++ b/pkg/util/validate/string.go
@@ -2,12 +2,17 @@ package validate
 
 import (
 	"reflect"
+	"regexp"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/tmrts/boilr/pkg/util/validate/pattern"
 )
 
+var (
+	repoUrlRegExp = regexp.MustCompile("^(ssh://|https://)?(?:(?P<user>[^@]+)(?:@))?(?P<host>[^:|/]+)(?::|/)?(?P<path>.+)$")
+)
+
 // String is the validation function used for checking whether a string is valid or not.
 type String func(string) bool
 
@@ -43,3 +48,29 @@ func Alphanumeric(s string) bool {
 func AlphanumericExt(s string) bool {
 	return pattern.AlphanumericExt.MatchString(s)
 }
+
+// RepoURL validates whether a string is a valid repo url.
+func RepoURL(s string) bool {
+	isurl := false
+	if repoUrlRegExp.MatchString(s) {
+		isurl = true
+		m := repoUrlRegExp.FindStringSubmatch(s)
+
+		//bad scheme
+		if m[1] == "http://" {
+			isurl = false
+		}
+
+		//blank host
+		if len(strings.TrimSpace(m[3])) < 1 {
+			isurl = false
+		}
+
+		//blank path
+		if len(strings.TrimSpace(m[4])) < 1 {
+			isurl = false
+		}
+	}
+
+	return isurl
+}