Python Template

A Copier template for Python 3.13 projects managed with uv.

Create a Project

$ uv tool install copier
$ copier copy --trust gh:karshosphere/template-python path/to/project

Copier asks for:

• Project Name and an optional Project Description.
• Library Packs, any of:
  • Data: matplotlib, numpy and pandas.
  • Dantic: pydantic.
  • GUI: PySide6.
  • Serial: pyserial.
  • SQL: SQLAlchemy.
  • WebServer: FastAPI and uvicorn.

--trust lets the template run git and uv lock. Without uv installed, run uv lock in the dev container afterwards and commit uv.lock.

Your name, email and GitHub user come from ~/.config/copier/settings.yml, and are left empty without it:

defaults:
  user_name: "karsh"
  user_email: "karshmail@icloud.com"
  github_user: "karnull"

Update a Project

From the project root:

$ copier update --defaults --answers-file .copier-py-answers.yml

Older projects need a one-off step:

• Before 2.1.0: move the answers file to the root first, with git mv .copier-generic-project/.copier-py-answers.yml .copier-py-answers.yml.
• Before 2.2.0: run uv lock after the update and commit uv.lock, as the lock still holds the old fixed version.

Updating to 4.0.0 removes VERSION; the project's existing tags carry on as before.

What a Project Gets

• A Makefile:
  • make build installs the locked dependencies and byte-compiles the package.
  • make format formats the sources with ruff; make format-dry-run fails if any need it.
  • make test runs the tests with pytest.
  • make release builds a wheel and an sdist into dist/.
• A package version taken from the release tags by setuptools-scm, so there is nothing to bump.
• A dev container with Python, uv and make.
• The shared CI from template-github-ci: it runs the four make targets in the dev container, works out each release's version from the commit messages, and publishes a GitHub release on each merge to main.
• A renovate.json using the shared Renovate settings. The project owns it; updates never overwrite it.

Maintaining the Template

• There is no VERSION file or changelog. CI works out each release's version from the commit messages: X for a change that breaks copier update in existing projects, marked with ! after the type as in feat!:, Y for feat:, and Z for anything else. Each merge to main is published as a GitHub release tagged vX.Y.Z, with the pull request's description as its notes.
• Renovate keeps the pinned actions and images current in one weekly pull request, which merges as a Z release with no other change.
• Bring in a newer release of the shared CI from the repository root with copier update -a .github/.copier-ci-answers.yml template.