Link_app not working http://127.0.0.1:33480/components can't be reached

I am trying to use link_app via the latest github repo kit-extension-template-cpp using ./repo.bat link_app

I get Failed to establish a new connection: [WinError 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it

I see that link_app ends up using repo_kit_tools\0.11.9\omni\repo\kit_tools\link_app.py which has r = http.request("GET", "http://127.0.0.1:33480/components")

http://127.0.0.1:33480/components does not work

I can go to Chrome and view http://localhost:33480/components no problem. localhost actually resolves to [::1]

http://[::1]:33480/components works as well.
I can change the python code to use localhost, but don’t want to change code of Nvidia’s libraries if I don’t have to.

The reason I need to link an app is that build.bat does not automatically download the extension,(omni.replicator.core in this case) as I get:
Tick: discovery: Could not resolve host name "kit-extensions.ov.nvidia.com"
which I assume is not a public place to get extensions.

I have heard of this magic where we do not need to link an app anymore, but I cannot find how to do this.
Can you describe how I can do this with kit-extension-template-cpp repo or another repo which will have c++ building

Windows 11
Omniverse Launcher 1.8.11

in kit-extension-template-cpp\source\extensions\omni.example.cpp.hello_world\config\extension.toml added:

[dependencies]
"omni.replicator.core" = {}

Thank you,

Mark