ptmp

A single-binary Rust CLI that copies a template directory and renders Tera placeholders via an interactive TUI. Targets research and academic projects with LaTeX, R, Julia, Quarto, and Taskfile/Makefile scaffolding.

Installation

cargo install --path .

Usage

Create a default template

Generate a starter template directory with example files and a fields.toml manifest.

ptmp init --template-path ~/templates/my-template

Create a new project from a template

Copy a template directory to a new location, prompting for field values defined in fields.toml.

ptmp new \
  --template-path ~/templates/latex_analytics \
  --destination ~/projects/WNV-modeling

Emit a single component

Write one file into the current working directory, prompting only for the fields that file needs.

ptmp taskfile       # Taskfile.yml
ptmp latex          # main.tex
ptmp makefile       # Makefile
ptmp readme         # README.md
ptmp r              # R/example.R
ptmp julia          # src/example.jl
ptmp project-toml   # Project.toml
ptmp slurm          # example.slurm
ptmp gitignore      # .gitignore
ptmp editorconfig   # .editorconfig
ptmp citation       # CITATION.cff
ptmp license        # LICENSE (MIT)
ptmp quarto         # report.qmd
ptmp slides         # slides.qmd

Template rendering

Templates use Tera syntax with autoescape disabled (safe for LaTeX and Markdown). Any UTF-8 file in the template directory can contain placeholders like {{ title }} or {{ author }}. Binary files are detected automatically and copied without rendering.

Built-in variables injected into every render context:

Variable	Value
project_name	Sanitised destination folder name
today	Current date (YYYY-MM-DD)
year	Current four-digit year

fields.toml

Place a fields.toml file in the template root to define which variables the TUI prompts for. Each [[fields]] entry maps to one interactive prompt.

[[fields]]
name = "title"
prompt = "Project title"
default = "My Analysis"
required = true

[[fields]]
name = "author"
prompt = "Author name"
default = ""
required = true

[[fields]]
name = "affiliation"
prompt = "Affiliation (e.g., Institution/Lab)"
default = ""
required = false

[[fields]]
name = "main_file"
prompt = "Main LaTeX file name"
default = "main.tex"
required = false

[[fields]]
name = "latex_engine"
prompt = "LaTeX engine (pdf/xelatex/lualatex)"
default = "pdf"
required = true

Fields are referenced in templates as {{ name }}, e.g. {{ title }} or {{ author }}. When required is true, the prompt rejects empty input. The default value is pre-filled in the prompt and used if the user presses enter without typing.

License

MIT