template.json

Every template is a directory templates/<name>/ holding template.json and files/ (the complete app). The CLI discovers templates from that directory; nothing needs registering.

Top-level fields

Field	Type	Meaning
name	string	Template id; matches the directory name
version	string	Written to the generated stack.json as templateVersion
title, description	string	Shown by stack list and stack info
defaults.port	number	Default for {{port}} and --port
derivedFrom	string	Marks a template generated from another (react-app is derived from react-monorepo); extract then explains how to regenerate it instead
replacements	rule[]	Renames applied to file contents
pathReplacements	rule[]	Renames applied to file paths (unused today)
features	object	The features; see below
hooks	hook[]	Commands run after generation
nextSteps	string[]	Printed after generation; {{tokens}} are filled in
aliasRoots	{ prefix: dir | null }	Lets doctor follow aliased imports ("@/": "src/"); null means “build output, skip”
generatedPaths	glob[]	Import targets that exist only after a build step (the Prisma client), so doctor doesn’t report them missing

Features

"realtime": {
  "title": "Socket.IO realtime layer",
  "description": "What it gives you, and what it costs.",
  "default": false,
  "requires": ["cache", "auth"],
  "files": ["src/realtime/**"],
  "packageJson": { "dependencies": ["socket.io"] }
}

Key	Meaning
title, description	Shown in stack info and these docs
core	Always on; --without is an error
default	On unless --without
requires	Features pulled in with it (transitively)
files	Globs dropped whole when the feature is off. Include its tests
packageJson	{ dependencies, devDependencies, scripts } to remove when off, for the root package.json; or an array of those, each with a file, for workspaces (apps/admin/package.json)
requirements	Python distributions to remove from requirements.txt when off (matched by name, case-insensitively, whatever the pin)

Globs: ** matches any depth including none, * stays within a path segment, braces and character classes work, and a path without wildcards matches the whole directory beneath it.

Replacements and tokens

Replacement rules are { from, to, regex?, flags?, when? }, applied in order to every text file after marker stripping. Put the longest identifiers first (AcmeCorp before Acme). when limits a rule to a feature expression.

to, hook commands and next steps can use these tokens (for --name "my app"):

Token	Value
{{name}}	my-app
{{Name}}	My App
{{pascal}}	MyApp
{{camel}}	myApp
{{snake}}	my_app
{{constant}}	MY_APP
{{scope}}	--scope, or the name
{{description}}	--description, or "<Name> service"
{{port}}	--port, defaults.port, or 5000
{{author}}	--author, or empty
{{year}}	the current year

Package names in packageJson are renamed with the same rules before they’re matched, so @acme/telemetry in a manifest still finds @shop/telemetry in a generated file. Script names are not renamed.

Hooks

{ "title": "install dependencies", "run": "yarn install --no-immutable", "optional": true }

Key	Meaning
run	Shell command; {{tokens}} filled in
cwd	Relative to the project; default .
when	Feature expression; the hook is skipped when false
optional	A failure warns and generation continues (unless --strict)
title	Label in the output

Every hook in every current template is optional.

File names

npm drops nested .gitignore and .npmrc files from published packages, so templates store them as _gitignore and _npmrc; generation renames them back. Binary files are copied untouched. Text files are recognised by extension and by name (Dockerfile*, .env*, and common dotfiles).