# npm-init-template
> Create 'npm init' packages easily with templates and prompts
Latest version **4.3.3** (published 2026-05-01) · BlueOak-1.0.0 license · 0 weekly downloads
## Install
```sh
npm install npm-init-template
pnpm add npm-init-template
yarn add npm-init-template
bun add npm-init-template
```
## Health
**Score 65/100 (B)** — status: active.
Positive: has types; esm support; no vulnerabilities; high maintenance score; high quality score.
Warnings: low downloads.
## Facts
| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 4.3.3 |
| Published | 2026-05-01 |
| First published | 2023-05-24 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | BlueOak-1.0.0 |
| TypeScript types | bundled |
| Module format | ESM + CommonJS |
| Node | 20 \|\| >=22 |
| Dependencies | 5 |
| Unpacked size | 57.3 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 2425 |
| Author | Isaac Z. Schlueter |
| Maintainers | isaacs |
## Links
- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm-init-template
- Repository: https://github.com/tapjs/tapjs
- Homepage: https://github.com/tapjs/tapjs/tree/main/src/npm-init-template#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/tapjs/tapjs/issues
- Funding: https://github.com/sponsors/isaacs
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/npm-init-template
## Dependencies (5)
- [read](https://npm.io/package/read.md) ^4.1.0
- [mkdirp](https://npm.io/package/mkdirp.md) ^3.0.1
- [mustache](https://npm.io/package/mustache.md) ^4.2.0
- [minimatch](https://npm.io/package/minimatch.md) ^10.0.1
- [foreground-child](https://npm.io/package/foreground-child.md) ^4.0.0
## Recent versions
- 4.3.3 (latest) — 2026-05-01
- 1.0.3 (pre) — 2023-09-15
- 4.3.2 — 2026-04-05
- 4.3.1 — 2026-02-05
- 4.3.0 — 2025-12-01
- 4.2.0 — 2025-11-25
- 4.1.0 — 2025-11-25
- 4.0.3 — 2025-11-23
- 4.0.2 — 2025-11-01
- 4.0.1 — 2025-10-02
- 4.0.0 — 2024-07-08
- 3.0.0 — 2024-06-24
- 2.0.1 — 2024-05-24
- 2.0.0 — 2024-05-21
- 1.1.1 — 2023-10-31
- … 7 more at https://npm.io/package/npm-init-template/versions
## README
# npm-init-template
This is a library for building `npm init` packages more easily,
by providing a set of utility functions for collecting
information and then creating the starter package from a folder
of template files.
## USAGE
Create a package that exports a single `bin` command:
```json
{
"name": "create-my-special-thing",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "npm init my-special-thing",
"bin": "index.mjs"
}
```
Then in that bin script (shown here as `index.mjs`), put code
like this:
```js
#!/usr/bin/env node
import { Init } from 'npm-init-template'
// Provide it with the path to this file, so we know how to find
// the template files. If using commonjs, use __filename instead.
const { prompt, build, values, positionals, run } = new Init(
import.meta.url,
)
// any prompts that the user already set in the command line,
// like with --foo=bar will be automatically set in the values
// already, and will skip the prompt
// Otherwise, these will update the values object appropriately.
await prompt('What is your name?', 'name')
await prompt('What is your quest?', 'quest')
// third arg is passed as options to `read`
await prompt('What is your favorite color?', 'color', {
default: 'blue',
})
await prompt(
'What is the flight average velocity of an unladen sparrow?',
'sparrow',
)
if (values.sparrow === "I don't know") {
throw new Error('AAAHHHH!!!!')
}
await build({
// The folder where the templates live
// Any files that named *.mustache will be expanded using
// the values object built up by the prompts.
// Any other kinds of files will be copied as-is.
//
// Default is './templates'
// templates: './templates',
// Set the settings for template file handling.
//
// By default:
//
// Any file named *.{json,js,ts,jsx,tsx}.mustache will use the
// template tags <% %> instead of {{ }}, and JSON.stringify
// escaping instead of HTML escaping.
//
// Any file named *.{html,xhtml,xml}.mustache will be escaped using
// HTML escaping by default.
//
// Any other kind of *.mustache file will not escape values
// (default behavior can be overridden by setting the '*'
// member here)
//
// add/adjust as you see fit
// templateSettings: {
// bash: {
// tags: ['(%', '%)'],
// escape: text => JSON.stringify(text),
// }
// },
// of course, you can also change the mustache tags in the
// template itself, using the syntax like `{{=(% %)=}}`
// the folder to build the package in. To build in place,
// use `target: '.'`
// this is required.
// positionals is the positional arguments read by parseArgs
target: positionals[0] || `${values.name}-${values.quest}`,
// glob pattern(s) of template files to include, defaults to '**'
// You can use this for example to conditionally only include
// tsconfig and .ts files if the user has opted into typescript
// This is matched against the file being written, so without
// the '.mustache' extension.
// include: '**',
// include: ['tsconfig*.json', 'src/**/*.ts'],
// excludes take priority over includes. This will omit
// templates from the built results. Defaults to undefined (ie,
// include everything.)
// exclude: 'files/to/exclude/**',
})
// after building, you can run stuff in the folder, if you want
await run('npm install')
```
In `./templates/quest.html.mustache`, you can put [mustache
templates](https://github.com/janl/mustache.js/), something like
this:
```html
Hello, {{name}}!
Good luck on {{quest}}.
The average flight velocity of an unladen sparrow is {{ sparrow }}.
```
JSON files use `JSON.stringify` as the default escaping
mechanism, so in `templates/package.json.mustache`, you can put
something like this:
```json
{
"name": <% name %>,
"description": <% quest %>
}
```
Templates can also include each other as partials, each will be
loaded with its name relative to the templates folder.
```html
Hello, {{name}}!
Good luck on {{quest}}.
The average flight velocity of an unladen sparrow is {{ sparrow }}.
Your `package.json` file is:
{{>package.json}}
```
---
_Source: https://npm.io/package/npm-init-template · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._