How to duplicate a composition in after effects and make it independent from the original

here is a script I created to do this - just select the comp you want to duplicate in your project panel and run this script file - if you don't know how to make a jsx from this just open TextEdit on a Mac (not sure what it is on Windows) and paste this > in the top bar click Format and select Make Plain Text > save it > go into your Finder and rename the file with .jsx at the end, and then you can run it in after effects enjoy!

// Duplicate selected comp and all nested comps
(function() {
    var proj = app.project;

    // Function to recursively duplicate a composition and all nested comps
    function duplicateComp(comp, compMap) {
        // If comp is already duplicated, return the duplicated one
        if (compMap[comp.id]) {
            return compMap[comp.id];
        }

        // Duplicate the main comp
        var duplicatedComp = comp.duplicate();
        duplicatedComp.name = comp.name + "_copy";

        // Add the duplicated comp to the map
        compMap[comp.id] = duplicatedComp;

        // Loop through all layers to find nested comps
        for (var i = 1; i <= duplicatedComp.numLayers; i++) {
            var layer = duplicatedComp.layer(i);

            if (layer.source && layer.source instanceof CompItem) {
                // Recursively duplicate the nested comp
                var nestedComp = layer.source;
                var duplicatedNestedComp = duplicateComp(nestedComp, compMap);

                // Replace the original nested comp with the duplicated one
                layer.replaceSource(duplicatedNestedComp, false);
            }
        }

        return duplicatedComp;
    }

    app.beginUndoGroup("Duplicate Comp with Nested Comps");

    if (proj.selection.length > 0 && proj.selection[0] instanceof CompItem) {
        var selectedComp = proj.selection[0];

        // Map to store duplicated comps to avoid duplicating the same comp multiple times
        var compMap = {};
        duplicateComp(selectedComp, compMap);

        alert("Duplicate process completed!");
    } else {
        alert("Please select a composition in the Project panel.");
    }

    app.endUndoGroup();
})();

This is a pefect solution for that!
https://youtu.be/2nX-dVSIr7g

I have the same problem - duplicating the composition in the project panel does not help if you have a composition with too many adjustments - cuts, keyframes, effects etc., that you have to add to the new composition.

I copied all the layers/rows of the original comp I wanted to duplicate, then selected (composition>new), and pasted the components into it. Then I dragged the new comp back into my timeline from the Project and this stopped linking the two comps together. Hope that helps! 

I thought all the answers here are possible ways to solve your problem.

I will offer one more.

You can save the precomposition as an Ae. project and then import it into your home project.

Use the following steps:
- Identify the precomposition you want to duplicate and then save your project under a different name. Something that is easy to identify.

- In the original project, import the saved project - as if you were importing a common file such as an image or video - file/import - I think you'll need to create an organization folder for these imports.

- Then just repeat the process and import the Ae project every time you want to duplicate it independently.

As you are importing a project, you can make it easy by consolidating duplicate files in file/dependencies/consolidate all footage.

This helped me with more complex projects where I had a lot of precompositions within other precompositions. But this's a short cut until there was a native After Effects way to allow independent duplication of precompositions.

this is insanely too complicated and time consuming, how come they never thought EVERYBODY wants this to be done easily in just one step ?!

Can you tell me what you are trying to achieve by du-locating them and what steps you are trying that aren’t working? Please describe in as much detail the steps you have taken. Thanks

What processing are you using to duplicate your composition? 

If you select a comp in the project window and then duplicate, you will create a duplicate comp that is independent of the first.  HOWEVER, if there are nested compositions within your comp, then these will remain true to their original source compositions.  You may need to duplicate and replace those precomps within your duplicate comp.  Or, as shown above, there's a script to automate the process.

(I want to make it independent for change the items and effects...)