Use this template to start a new Starcraft 2 bot using the python-sc2 framework.
Then, if you need, follow the tutorial below.

First you will need to prepare your environment.

This tutorial recommends you use Python version 3.8.X. However, newer Python versions should also work with this tutorial. Python downloads page

This tutorial will use git for version control.
Git downloads page

On Windows SC2 is installed through the Battle.net app.
Linux users can either download the Blizzard SC2 Linux package here or, alternatively, set up Battle.net via WINE using this lutris script.

SC2 should be installed in the default location. Otherwise (and for Linux) you might need to create the SC2PATH environment variable to point to the SC2 install location.

Download the Starcraft 2 Maps from here. For this tutorial you will at least need the 'Melee' pack.
The maps must be copied into the root of the Starcraft 2 maps folder - default location: C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II\Maps.

Click the green Use this template button above to create your own copy of this bot.
Now clone your new repository to your local computer using git:

git clone <your_git_clone_repo_url_here>

cd into your bot directory:

cd <bot_folder_name_here>

Create and activate a virtual environment:

python -m venv venv
# and then...
venv\Scripts\activate # Windows CMD Prompt / PowerShell
source venv/bin/activate # Mac OS / Linux

Install our bot's Python requirements:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Test our bot is working by running it:

python ./run.py

If all is well, you should see SC2 load and your bot start mining minerals.
You can close the SC2 window to stop your bot running.

Now you will want to name your bot and select its race. You can specify both of these in the bot/bot.py file, in the CompetitiveBot class.

As you add features to your bot make sure all your new code files are in the bot folder. This folder is included when creating the ladder.zip for upload to the bot ladders.

To compete with your bot, you will first need zip up your bot, ready for distribution.
You can do this using the create_ladder_zip.py script like so:

python create_ladder_zip.py

This will create the zip filepublish\bot.zip. You can then distribute this zip file to competitions.