Templates

Templates are regular files in a directory. Both file names and file contents support Handlebars.js syntax for token replacement.

How Templates Are Resolved

Each path in the templates array is resolved individually. If a path points to a directory or glob pattern containing multiple files, the first directory up the tree becomes the base path — files are then copied recursively into output, preserving their relative structure.

In the examples below, name is AppName and output is src.

Template path	Files found	Output
./templates/{{ name }}.txt	./templates/{{ name }}.txt	src/AppName.txt
./templates/directory	outer/{{name}}.txt, outer2/inner/{{name}}.txt	src/outer/AppName.txt, src/outer2/inner/AppName.txt
./templates/others/**/*.txt	outer/{{name}}.jpg, outer2/inner/{{name}}.txt	src/outer2/inner/AppName.txt

Glob Patterns & Exclusions

Template paths support glob patterns and negation with !:

{
  templates: ["templates/component/**", "!templates/component/README.md"]
}

Ignoring Files

Place a .scaffoldignore file in your template directory to exclude files. It works like .gitignore — one pattern per line, # for comments.

# .scaffoldignore
*.log
node_modules
README.md
dist/**

The .scaffoldignore file itself is never copied to the output.

Patterns are matched against both the file's basename and its path relative to the template directory, so README.md matches at any depth while dist/** only matches a dist directory at the template root.

Token Replacement

Handlebars expressions like {{ name }} are replaced in both file names and file contents. The name variable is always available — it's the name you pass when running the scaffold.

Any additional data from --data, -D, data config, or inputs is also available.

npx simple-scaffold \
  -t templates/component/{{name}}.jsx \
  -o src/components \
  MyComponent

This produces src/components/MyComponent.jsx, with all tokens inside the file replaced as well.

All standard Handlebars features work — {{#if}}, {{#each}}, {{#with}}, and more. See Handlebars.js Language Features for details.

Built-in Helpers

Simple Scaffold includes helpers you can use in templates and file names. Helpers can also be nested: {{ pascalCase (snakeCase name) }}.

Case Helpers

Helper	Usage	my name becomes
(none)	{{ name }}	my name
camelCase	{{ camelCase name }}	myName
pascalCase	{{ pascalCase name }}	MyName
snakeCase	{{ snakeCase name }}	my_name
kebabCase	{{ kebabCase name }}	my-name
hyphenCase	{{ hyphenCase name }}	my-name
startCase	{{ startCase name }}	My Name
upperCase	{{ upperCase name }}	MY NAME
lowerCase	{{ lowerCase name }}	my name

Date Helpers

Both now and date use date-fns format tokens.

Helper	Example	Output
now	{{ now "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm" }}	2042-01-01 15:00
now (with offset)	{{ now "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm" -1 "hours" }}	2042-01-01 14:00
date	{{ date "2042-01-01T15:00:00Z" "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm" }}	2042-01-01 15:00
date (with offset)	{{ date "2042-01-01T15:00:00Z" "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm" -1 "days" }}	2041-12-31 15:00
date (from data)	{{ date myCustomDate "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm" }}	(depends on data)

Signatures:

now(format: string, offsetAmount?: number, offsetType?: "years" | "months" | "weeks" | "days" | "hours" | "minutes" | "seconds")

date(date: string, format: string, offsetAmount?: number, offsetType?: "years" | "months" | "weeks" | "days" | "hours" | "minutes" | "seconds")

Custom Helpers

You can register custom Handlebars helpers via the helpers config option:

module.exports = {
  component: {
    templates: ["templates/component"],
    output: "src/components",
    helpers: {
      shout: (text) => text.toUpperCase() + "!!!",
    },
  },
}

Then use in templates: {{ shout name }}.

All helpers (built-in and custom) are also available as values for subdirHelper (--subdir-helper / -H).

For more on Handlebars helpers, see the Handlebars.js docs.