copier 2.0.0

A library for rendering projects templates

Copier ·

A library for rendering projects templates.

• Works with local paths and git URLs.
• Your project can include any file and Copier can dynamically replace values in any kind of text files.
• It generates a beautiful output and take care of not overwrite existing files, unless instructed to do so.

How to use

• Use it in your Python code:

from copier import copy

# Create a project from a local path
copy('path/to/project/template', 'path/to/destination')

# Or from a git URL.
copy('https://github.com/jpscaletti/copier.git', 'path/to/destination')

# You can also use "gh:" as a shortcut of "https://github.com/"
copy('gh:jpscaletti/copier.git', 'path/to/destination')

# Or "gl:"  as a shortcut of "https://gitlab.com/"
copy('gl:jpscaletti/copier.git', 'path/to/destination')

• Or as a command-line tool:

copier path/to/project/template path/to/destination

Prompt the user for information

If a YAML file named copier.yaml (alternatively, a copier.json ) is found in the root of the project, it will be used to prompt the user to fill or confirm the values before become avaliable to the project template.

name_of_the_project: "My awesome project"
your_email: null

How it works

The content of the files inside the project template are copied to the destination without changes, unless are suffixed with the extension '.tmpl'. In that case, the templating engine will be used to render them.

A slightly customized Jinja2 templating is used. The main difference is that variables are referenced with [[ name ]] instead of {{ name }} and blocks are [% if name %] instead of {% if name %}. To read more about templating see the Jinja2 documentation.

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

Use the extra_data argument to pass whatever extra context you want to be available in the templates. The arguments can be any valid Python value, even a function.

API

copier.copy()

copier.copy(src_path, dst_path, data=None, *, exclude=DEFAULT_FILTER, include=DEFAULT_INCLUDE, envops=None, pretend=False, force=False, skip=False, quiet=False, )

Uses the template in src_path to generate a new project at dst_path.

Arguments:

• src_path (str): Absolute path to the project skeleton. May be a version control system URL

• dst_path (str): Absolute path to where to render the skeleton

• data (dict): Optional. Data to be passed to the templates in addtion to the user data from a copier.yaml.

• exclude (list): Optional. A list of names or shell-style patterns matching files or folders that musn't be copied.

• include (list): Optional. A list of names or shell-style patterns matching files or folders that must be included, even if its name are in the exclude list. Eg: ['.gitignore']. The default is an empty list.

• envops (dict): Optional. Extra options for the Jinja template environment.

• pretend (bool): Optional. Run but do not make any changes

• force (bool): Optional. Overwrite files that already exist, without asking

• skip (bool): Optional. Skip files that already exist, without asking

• quiet (bool): Optional. Suppress the status output