Getting Started With Templates

The $INSTALLATION_ROOT/templates directory will be subsequently referred to as the Default Template Location.

Templates currently come in 2 flavours: project and item.

• A project is a template containing many files in a particular structure. They create a ready-to-run structure to start using a Puppet product. These are great starting points. You can create a boilerplate empty starter Puppet Module or a fully customized Puppet Module with specialized CI files and RSAPI providers.
• An item is a template that will supplement a project or existing content. These could be language features like a Puppet class or single files like a Git ignore file.

pct new

PCT is available through the pct new command.

The --list or -l flag displays a list of locally available templates located in the Default Template Location. The list of templates is also available by calling pct new without flags.

pct new
pct new --list

Example output:

DISPLAYNAME                   | AUTHOR     | NAME                    | TYPE
──────────────────────────────┼────────────┼─────────────────────────┼─────────
Bolt Plan                     | puppetlabs | bolt-plan               | item
Bolt Project                  | puppetlabs | bolt-project            | project
Bolt PowerShell Task          | puppetlabs | bolt-pwsh-task          | item
Bolt YAML Plan                | puppetlabs | bolt-yaml-plan          | item
Puppet Module Managed Gemfile | puppetlabs | git-attributes          | item
Puppet Class                  | puppetlabs | puppet-class            | item
Puppet Content Template       | puppetlabs | puppet-content-template | project
Puppet Defined Type           | puppetlabs | puppet-defined-type     | item
Puppet Fact                   | puppetlabs | puppet-fact             | item
Puppet Module                 | puppetlabs | puppet-module           | project
Puppet Resource API Provider  | puppetlabs | rsapi-provider          | item
Puppet Resource API Transport | puppetlabs | puppet-transport        | item

Using the available templates above, its time to generate some content.

pct new <author>/<template>

Replace <author> and <template> with the author and name of the template containing the content you want.

By default the new <author>/<template> function will use the directory name of your current working directory to “name” your new content. To override this behaviour use the --name or -n flag.

pct new <author>/<template> --name MyProject

By default the new <author>/<template> function will output the template content to the current working directory. To override this behavour use the --output or -o flag.

pct new <author>/<template> --output /path/to/your/project

Note: Not all templates require a name. If a template doesn’t require one, providing a value to the --name parameter will have no effect on the generated content.

Example workflows

> cd /home/me/projects/MyBoltProject
> pct new puppetlabs/bolt-project

> pct new puppet-module -n MyNewProject -o /home/me/projects/
> cd /home/me/projects/MyNewProject
> pct new puppetlabs/puppet-fact -n ApplicationVersion
> pct new puppetlabs/rsapi-provider -n Awesomething
> pct new puppetlabs/puppet-transport -n AwesomethingApi

Template Updates

At this time pct new will NOT update existing code to a newer version of a template.

If you run a pct new command using a project template, the project will replace the content within the output directory with the template code.

If you run a pct new command using an item template, the item will suppliment the content within the output directory with the template code. If files / folders that are named the same as the template content already exist, it will overwite this content.