diff --git a/fre/__init__.py b/fre/__init__.py
index e69de29b..4711e312 100644
--- a/fre/__init__.py
+++ b/fre/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+__version__ = '2024.01'
diff --git a/fre/pp/checkoutScript.py b/fre/pp/checkoutScript.py
index 57036634..3ded8384 100644
--- a/fre/pp/checkoutScript.py
+++ b/fre/pp/checkoutScript.py
@@ -4,19 +4,20 @@
 # Description:
 
 import os
+import sys
 import subprocess
 from subprocess import PIPE
 from subprocess import STDOUT
 import re
 import click
+from fre import fre
+from click.testing import CliRunner
 
-#############################################
-
-package_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 
 #############################################
 
-def _checkoutTemplate(experiment, platform, target, branch='main'):
+
+def _checkoutTemplate(experiment, platform, target, branch=None):
     """
     Checkout the workflow template files from the repo
     """
@@ -30,39 +31,49 @@ def _checkoutTemplate(experiment, platform, target, branch='main'):
     # Set the name of the directory
     name = f"{experiment}__{platform}__{target}"
 
-    # Clone the repository with depth=1; check for errors
-    click.echo("cloning experiment into directory " + directory + "/" + name)
-    clonecmd = (
-        f"git clone -b {branch} --single-branch --depth=1 --recursive "
-        f"https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/fre-workflows.git {name}" )
-    preexist_error = f"fatal: destination path '{name}' exists and is not an empty directory."
-    click.echo(clonecmd)
-    cloneproc = subprocess.run(clonecmd, shell=True, check=False, stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT)
-    if not cloneproc.returncode == 0:
-        if re.search(preexist_error.encode('ASCII'),cloneproc.stdout) is not None:
-            argstring = f" -e {experiment} -p {platform} -t {target}"
-            stop_report = (
-                "Error in checkoutTemplate: the workflow definition specified by -e/-p/-t already"
-                f" exists at the location ~/cylc-src/{name}!\n"
-                f"In the future, we will confirm that ~/cylc-src/{name} is usable and will check "
-                "whether it is up-to-date.\n"
-                "But for now, if you wish to proceed, you must delete the workflow definition.\n"
-                "To start over, try:\n"
-                f"\t cylc stop {name}\n"
-                f"\t cylc clean {name}\n"
-                f"\t rm -r ~/cylc-src/{name}" )
-            click.echo(stop_report)
-            return 1
-        else:
-            #if not identified, just print the error
-            click.echo(clonecmd)
-            click.echo(cloneproc.stdout)
-        return 1
+    # branch and version parameters
+    default_tag = subprocess.run(["fre","--version"],capture_output=True, text=True).stdout.split()[2]
+    if default_tag == '2024.1':   #hard coded solution to current discrepencies with fre --version
+        default_tag = '2024.01'
+    print('the default tag for directory ',directory,'/',name, ' is ', default_tag)
+    if branch != None:
+        print(branch)
+        if os.path.isdir(name):   #scenario 4
+            os.chdir(name)
+            name_path_tag=subprocess.run(["git","describe","--tags"],capture_output=True, text=True).stdout.split('*')
+            name_path_branch=subprocess.run(["git","branch"],capture_output=True, text=True).stdout
+            name_path_branch = name_path_branch.split('*')[1].split()[0]
+            os.chdir(directory)
+            if default_tag not in name_path_tag and name_path_branch != branch:
+                stop_report = f"Tag and branch of prexisting directory {directory}/{name} does not match fre --version or branch requested"
+                sys.exit(stop_report)
+                return 1
+            print('scenario 4: directory exists, and branch requested matches branch in use')
+                
+        else:   #scenario 2
+            clone_output = subprocess.run(['git', 'clone','--recursive', f'--branch={branch}', 'https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/fre-workflows.git', f'{name}'], capture_output=True, text=True)
+            print('scenario 2: output of fre pp checkouts git clone command is as follows:',clone_output)
+    else:
+        
+        
+        if os.path.isdir(name): #scenario 3
+            os.chdir(name)
+            name_path_tag=subprocess.run(["git","describe","--tags"],capture_output=True, text=True).stdout.split()[0]
+            os.chdir(directory)
+            if not default_tag in name_path_tag:
+                stop_report = f"Tag of prexisting directory {diretory}/{name} does not match fre --version"
+                sys.exit(stop_report)
+                return 1
+            print('scenario 3: directory exists, and its branch matches default tag') 
+            
+        else:   #scenario 1
+            clone_output = subprocess.run(['git', 'clone', '--recursive', '-b',f'{default_tag}', 'https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/fre-workflows.git', f'{name}'], capture_output=True, text=True)
+            print('scenario 1: output of fre pp checkouts git clone command is as follows:',clone_output)
 
 #############################################
 
 @click.command()
-def checkoutTemplate(experiment, platform, target, branch="main"):
+def checkoutTemplate(experiment, platform, target, branch = None):
     '''
     Wrapper script for calling checkoutTemplate - allows the decorated version
     of the function to be separate from the undecorated version