cookiecutter

What it is and what it does

Cookiecutter automates the creation of new projects by applying Jinja2 templating to a directory structure, prompting users for variable values defined in a cookiecutter.json file, then generating a customized project in the current working directory. It works with any language or framework—Python packages, Django projects, Rust crates, Terraform configs, documentation sites—by treating templates as ordinary directories with templated filenames and content.

The tool runs as a CLI utility or as a Python library, supporting both local and remote templates (including GitHub-hosted ones via the 'gh:' prefix). Templates can include pre- and post-generation hooks (shell or Python scripts) to automate setup tasks like git initialization or dependency installation. It has been in active development since 2013, supports Python 3.10 through 3.14, and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Use it for:

• Generate a new Python package project from a standard template with prompts for package name, author, and license.
• Create a Django project with pre-configured settings, apps, and database migrations from a community template.
• Scaffold a new Rust or Terraform project with language-specific boilerplate and CI/CD configuration.
• Set up documentation site templates with pre-configured Sphinx or static site generator structure.
• Automate team onboarding by running post-generation hooks that initialize git, install dependencies, and configure local development environments.
• Create internal company project templates that enforce naming conventions, code structure, and license headers across teams.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Cookiecutter is a command-line tool that generates new projects from templated directory structures, supporting any language or framework through Jinja2-based variable substitution and optional pre/post-generation hooks.

Yes. Cookiecutter is a mature, actively maintained tool with low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, and broad real-world adoption (top 5000 PyPI packages). It solves a genuine problem—reducing boilerplate and setup time—and works well both as a CLI tool and as a library. The only caveat is that license metadata is unclear in the package record; verify the actual license on GitHub before committing to a production dependency.

Install

cookiecutter on PyPI

pip install cookiecutter

uv add cookiecutter

poetry add cookiecutter

Installing cookiecutter

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution and eight well-maintained runtime dependencies. The package is actively maintained with a recent release and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice

License treatment is unclear in the metadata; the description references BSD licensing on GitHub, but this is not formally declared in the package metadata, so you may want to verify the actual license terms before use.

Quickstart

# Install as a CLI tool
uv tool install cookiecutter

# Or add to a project
uv add cookiecutter

# Use from command line
uvx cookiecutter gh:audreyfeldroy/cookiecutter-pypackage

# Use from Python
from cookiecutter.main import cookiecutter
cookiecutter('cookiecutter-pypackage/')

Requires Python 3.10 or later; templates are rendered with Jinja2, so template syntax must be valid.

Verify before relying

• Whether the BSD license mentioned in the description excerpt is the authoritative license for this package version

Package facts

Evidence: cookiecutter-2.7.1-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: cookiecutter, Python, projects, project templates, Jinja2, skeleton, scaffolding, project directory, package, packaging

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