Templates

Templates allow you to create custom file creation logic, powered by Go templates.

Use templates to bundle docker-compose.yml files, environment configurations, and initialization scripts into a single reusable "stack" to get your applications started in seconds.

Setup

1. Create a folder named templates in your project root.
2. Dockman automatically scans this folder for template files.

important

Dockman only reads top-level files within the templates folder. Subdirectories are currently ignored.

Extensions

Templates are plain text files. While you can use any extension, we recommend .tmpl for clarity. Dockman will process the content regardless of the extension used.

Generating Multiple Files

A single template can generate multiple output files using Go's {{ define }} blocks. This allows you to create a directory structure (like a service folder and its config) from one single template file.

Directory Context

Files are created relative to the folder where the creation dialog was opened. You do not need to specify absolute paths.

Dockman will automatically create any missing subdirectories defined in your template.

If a file is found with the same name while running the template, it will be overwritten with the new content.

Example

Below is an example of a template (templates/web.tmpl) that generates a service folder containing both a Compose file and an .env file.

{{ define "$DIR$/compose.yml" }}
services:
  {{ .Name }}:
    image: {{ .Image }}
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file: .env
    volumes:
      - {{ .Volume }}:/data
volumes:
  {{ .Volume }}: {}
{{ end }}

{{ define "$DIR$/.env" }}
PORT={{ .Port }}
APP_NAME={{ .Name }}
{{ end }}

Syntax

There are two layers of logic in a Dockman template: Path Placeholders (for filenames) and Go Template Logic ( for file content).

1. Path Placeholders

Because Go Templates do not allow dynamic logic inside a {{ define }} statement, Dockman uses a placeholder syntax for filenames.

• Use $variable$ (e.g., $DIR$).
• Standard Go templating (like {{ .Name }}) is not allowed inside the define quotes.
• Dockman replaces these placeholders before rendering the file to disk.

2. File Body

Everything between the {{ define "..." }} and {{ end }} tags is the content of your file.

• Full Go Template syntax.
• You can access all application variables (e.g., {{ .Name }}, {{ .Image }}, {{ .Port }}).
• A define block can be empty if you simply want to create the file.
• Anything outside the {{define}}/{{end}} blocks is not parsed by Dockman.