Templates¶

Templates are YAML files that describe a complete development environment. They tell dXon which packages to install, which setup commands to run, and optionally which questions to ask you before creating the container.

Template format¶

Templates use the dxon/v1 schema and are standard YAML files with a .yaml or .yml extension.

A minimal template looks like this:

schema: dxon/v1
name: myenv
description: My development environment

base: arch

packages:
  arch:
    - git
    - curl
    - nodejs
    - npm

steps:
  - name: Enable corepack
    run: corepack enable

What a template contains¶

base — the suggested base distro for the container (arch, debian, alpine)
packages — distribution-specific packages installed before any steps run
options — interactive prompts shown to the user before container creation
steps — ordered setup commands run inside the container after packages are installed
env — environment variables set inside the container
run — commands run after all steps complete

Using templates¶

From the registry¶

Reference a template by name and dXon fetches it from the official registry:

dxon create mynode --template nodejs
dxon create myrust --template rust --distro arch

From a local file¶

dxon create myenv --template ./myenv.yaml

From a URL¶

dxon create myenv --template https://example.com/templates/myenv.yaml

Templates from sources other than the official registry will show a trust warning before proceeding.

Official templates¶

The official registry includes templates for common environments:

Name	Description
`nodejs`	Node.js with optional package manager (npm, pnpm, yarn, bun)
`python`	Python 3 with pip
`rust`	Rust via rustup with clippy and rustfmt
`go`	Go development environment
`cpp`	C/C++ with build tools and optional cmake/ninja

Pull the full list with:

dxon template list

Writing your own template¶

Create a file with a .yaml extension
Set schema: dxon/v1 and give it a name
Define packages, options, and steps as needed
Test locally: dxon create test --template ./mytemplate.yaml

The Template Specification documents every field in detail.