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Creating a template

A template is a directory: usually the root folder of a Git repository.

The content of the files inside the project template is copied to the destination without changes, unless they end with .jinja (or your chosen suffix). In that case, the templating engine will be used to render them.

Jinja2 templating is used. Learn more about it by reading Jinja2 documentation.

If a YAML file named copier.yml or copier.yaml is found in the root of the project, the user will be prompted to fill in or confirm the default values.

Minimal example

📁 my_copier_template ------------------------ # your template project
├── 📄 copier.yml ---------------------------- # your template configuration
├── 📁 .git ---------------------------------- # your template is a Git repository
├── 📁 {{project_name}} ---------------------- # a folder with a templated name
│   └── 📄 {{module_name}}.py.jinja ---------- # a file with a templated name
└── 📄 {{_copier_conf.answers_file}}.jinja --- # answers are recorded here
copier.yml
# questions
project_name:
    type: str
    help: What is your project name?

module_name:
    type: str
    help: What is your Python module name?
{{project_name}}/{{module_name}}.py.jinja
print("Hello from {{module_name}}!")
{{_copier_conf.answers_file}}.jinja
# Changes here will be overwritten by Copier
{{_copier_answers|to_nice_yaml}}

Generating a project from this template with super_project and world as answers for the project_name and module_name questions respectively would create in the following directory and files:

📁 generated_project
├── 📁 super_project
│   └── 📄 world.py
└── 📄 .copier-answers.yml
super_project/world.py
print("Hello from world!")
.copier-answers.yml
# Changes here will be overwritten by Copier
_commit: 0.1.0
_src_path: gh:your_account/your_template
project_name: super_project
module_name: world

Copier allows much more advanced templating: see the next chapter, configuring a template, to see all the configurations options and their usage.

Template helpers

In addition to all the features Jinja supports, Copier includes:

  • All functions and filters from jinja2-ansible-filters.

    • This includes the to_nice_yaml filter, which is used extensively in our context.

  • _copier_answers includes the current answers dict, but slightly modified to make it suitable to autoupdate your project safely:

    • It doesn't contain secret answers.
    • It doesn't contain any data that is not easy to render to JSON or YAML.
    • It contains special keys like _commit and _src_path, indicating how the last template update was done.
  • _copier_conf includes a representation of the current Copier Worker object, also slightly modified:
    • It only contains JSON-serializable data.
    • You can serialize it with {{ _copier_conf|to_json }}.
    • ⚠️ It contains secret answers inside its .data key.
    • Modifying it doesn't alter the current rendering configuration.
    • It contains the current commit hash from the template in {{ _copier_conf.vcs_ref_hash }}.
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