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Learn KAOS

Add your own app template

Goal: make kaos-ui new <your-kind> <name> scaffold your project shape — a LaTeX report generator, a specific service layout, whatever your team standardizes on. The scaffolder is an extension point: register a TemplateManifest and your kind is available to the CLI and the MCP tools automatically.

Offline and deterministic.

Terminal window
uv run examples/add-template-kind.py
examples/add-template-kind.py
#!/usr/bin/env -S uv run --script
# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.13"
# dependencies = ["kaos-ui>=0.1.0a15,<0.2"]
# ///
"""Extend the scaffolder with your own template kind.


`kaos-ui` ships six template kinds, but it's an extension point: register a
`TemplateManifest` and your kind becomes available to the CLI *and* to the MCP
tools automatically — the registry is the single source of truth. Here we add a
custom kind and confirm it shows up.


Fully offline and deterministic.


Run it:


    uv run examples/add-template-kind.py
"""


from __future__ import annotations


import tempfile
from pathlib import Path


import kaos_ui




def main() -> list[str]:
    before = set(kaos_ui.kinds())


    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
        # A real template would have files in this dir; empty is fine to register.
        template_dir = Path(d)


        kaos_ui.register_template(
            kaos_ui.TemplateManifest(
                kind="report:latex",
                description="A LaTeX report generator wired to KAOS extraction.",
                stack="Python + LaTeX",
                template_dir=template_dir,
                required_env=(),
                post_install=("make install",),
                next_steps=("Edit report.tex", "make pdf"),
            )
        )


        kinds = kaos_ui.kinds()
        new = sorted(set(kinds) - before)
        print(f"registered new kind(s): {new}")
        print(f"all kinds now: {sorted(kinds)}")


        manifest = kaos_ui.get_manifest("report:latex")
        print(f"  report:latex -> {manifest.description}")
        return sorted(kinds)




if __name__ == "__main__":
    kinds = main()
    assert "report:latex" in kinds, "the new kind should be registered"
    # The built-ins are still there too.
    assert "web:spa" in kinds and "module" in kinds

Notes

  • The registry is the single source of truth (get_manifest, kinds, list_templates), so registering once exposes the kind everywhere — kaos-ui list, kaos-ui new, and the scaffold MCP tools all pick it up.
  • A real template points template_dir at a directory of template files (with a Makefile, .env.example, etc., following the conventions the built-in kinds use); post_install and next_steps drive the post-scaffold experience.
  • This is how an organization ships its own golden-path project layouts on top of KAOS without forking the scaffolder.