bitbucket repository download

[Gretchen]

I saw another post very similar to this but there was no answer.  I downloaded the Atlasboard repository in bitbucket using the "download repository" link.  This provides a zip file with a name like atlassian-atlasboard-328dcb50263e.zip.  So now I want to install it locally but to do that I need to have some idea whether this is a "true" repository (if so how do i connect with it?) or just a zip of the source.  I tried opening the repository in a git client but it says "not a git repository" and of course the npm installer doesn't like my local path for some reason. 

So what is the type of contents in the zip file when a user selects download repository?  Is it a git repository? if it is, how do you convert it from a zip file to an active local repository?  (beyond extracting it from the zip file).

[Boris Berenberg]

It is just a bundle of files, not a repository. If you want the repository with the history, then you will need to check it out clone it, not download the repository.

[Seth]

Technically, "clone" it, not "check it out".

[Boris Berenberg]

You are absolutely correct, thanks.

[ShubhamBadal]

In that case that feature/button must be renamed. Why say download repository if it is not a full repo with history. Label it as download project files or something.

Also, provide a direct .zip repo download (with .git history) like we have in github. Cloning is time consuming, one-click download of a branch like in Github will be helpful.