strapi/docs/v3.x/concepts/templates.md

Templates

A template is a pre-made Strapi configuration designed for a specific use case. It allows you to quickly bootstrap a custom Strapi app.

Here are some things a template may configure for you:

• Collection types and single types
• Components and dynamic zones
• Plugins to install, or custom plugins

::: warning Templates and starters are not the same thing:

• A template is a pre-made Strapi configuration. Note that it's only a configuration, not a configured application. That's because it cannot be run on its own, since it lacks many files, like database configs or the package.json. A template is only useful once applied on top of a default Strapi app via the CLI.
• A starter is a pre-made frontend application that consumes a Strapi API

:::

Using a template

You can use a template when creating a project with create-strapi-app.

:::: tabs

::: tab yarn

yarn create strapi-app my-project --template <template-github-name>

:::

::: tab npx

npx create-strapi-app my-project --template <template-github-name>

:::

::::

In these examples, the template-github-name argument can have different forms:

• A shorthand. If a Github user named paul has a repository called strapi-template-restaurant, then the shorthand would be paul/restaurant. It only works if the repository's name starts with strapi-template-.
• A URL. Just paste the URL of your GitHub repository. It works even if the repository is not prefixed by strapi-template-.

::: tip When using a shorthand, if the username is omitted, the CLI assumes it's strapi.

So the following commands are equivalent:

# Shorthand
yarn create strapi-app my-project --template strapi/blog

# Shorthand with username omitted since it defaults to strapi
yarn create strapi-app my-project --template blog

# Full GitHub URL
yarn create strapi-app my-project --template https://github.com/strapi/strapi-template-blog

:::

You can use the --template option in combination with all other create-strapi-app options, like --quickstart or --no-run.

Creating a template

To create a Strapi template, you need to publish a public GitHub repository that follows some rules.

First, a template's only concern should be to adapt Strapi to a use case. It should not deal with environment-specific configs, like databases, or upload and email providers. This is to make sure that templates stay maintainable, and to avoid conflicts with other CLI options like --quickstart.

Second, a template must follow the following file structure.

File structure

You can add as many files as you want to the root of your template repository. But it must at least have template directory, and either a template.json or a template.js file.

The template.json is used to extend the Strapi app's default package.json. You can put all the properties that should overwrite the default package.json in a root package property. For example, a template.json might look like this:

{
  "package": {
    "dependencies": {
      "strapi-plugin-graphql": "latest"
    },
    "scripts": {
      "custom": "node ./scripts/custom.js"
    }
  }
}

You can also use a template.js file instead of the template.json file. It should export a function that returns an object with the same properties. It's useful when our properties need to have dynamic values. For example, we can use it to make sure that a template requires the latest version of a Strapi plugin:

module.exports = function(scope) {
  return {
    package: {
      dependencies: {
        "strapi-plugin-graphql": scope.strapiVersion,
      }
    }
  }
}

The template directory is where you can extend the file contents of a Strapi project. All the children are optional, you should only include the files that will overwrite the default Strapi app.

Only the following contents are allowed inside the template directory:

• README.md: the readme of an app made with this template
• .env.example: to specify required environment variables
• api/: for collections and single types
• components/ for components
• config/ can only include the functions directory (things like bootstrap.js or 404.js), because other config files are environment-specific.
• data/ to store the data imported by a seed script
• plugins/ for custom Strapi plugins
• public/ to serve files
• scripts/ for custom scripts

If any unexpected file or directory is found, the installation will crash.

Step by step

After reading the above rules, follow these steps to create your template:

1. Create a standard Strapi app with create-strapi-app, using the --quickstart option.
2. Customize your app to match the needs of your use case.
3. Outside of Strapi, create a new directory for your template.
4. Create a template.json file in your template directory.
5. If you have modified your app's package.json, include these changes (and only these changes) in template.json in a package property. Otherwise, leave it as an empty object.
6. Create a /template subdirectory.
7. Think of all the files you have modified in your app, and copy them to the /template directory
8. Publish the root template project on GitHub. Make sure that the repository is public, and that the code is on the master branch.