Checkout https://repos.borg.ch/projects/kicad8/local to a local directory,
for example C:\WE\projects\kicad

In Kicad project view open Preferences->Configure Paths.

Add KICAD_USER_DIR and let it point to the base directory of
local files.
KICAD_USER_DIR            C:\WE\projects\kicad

Add the following 3 entries:
KICAD_USER_3DMODELS_DIR    ${KICAD_USER_DIR}\3dmodels
KICAD_USER_FOOTPRINT_DIR  ${KICAD_USER_DIR}\footprints
KICAD_USER_SYMBOL_DIR     ${KICAD_USER_DIR}\symbols

Not sure if this one is useful for anything:
KICAD_USER_TEMPLATE_DIR   ${KICAD_USER_DIR}\template\