copier

Create project from template

$ copier copy [gh:user/template] [destination/]

$ copier copy [./template] [./project]

$ copier update

$ copier update --vcs-ref [v2.0.0]

$ copier recopy

$ copier copy --data [name=myproject] [template] [dest]

copier command [options] [arguments]

copier is a project templating tool similar to cookiecutter but with a crucial distinction: it can update existing projects when the template evolves. This makes it ideal for maintaining multiple projects based on a shared template, as you can propagate improvements and bug fixes from the template to all derived projects.
The tool uses Jinja2 templating and supports both Git repository URLs and local paths as template sources. Templates are versioned using Git tags, allowing projects to track which template version they were created from and update to newer versions while preserving local customizations.
copier stores metadata about template answers in the generated project, enabling the update command to intelligently merge template changes with your modifications. This addresses a major limitation of traditional project generators where improvements to the template couldn't be applied to existing projects. The tool requires Python 3.10+ and is particularly popular in Python and web development communities.

--data key=value

Answer questions non-interactively

Git reference (tag/branch)

Trust template (run tasks)

Preview without creating files

Skip specific paths

Overwrite without prompting

Load answers from file

copy template destination

Create new project from template

Update project from template

Regenerate with new answers

Files ending in .jinja are rendered. Others are copied as-is.

$ template/
├── copier.yml        # Config & questions
├── {{project_name}}/ # Dynamic directory
└── README.md.jinja   # Templated file

Requires Python 3.10+ and Git 2.27+. Templates versioned by Git tags. Use --trust for templates with tasks.

cookiecutter(1), yeoman(1)