Templates

AppKit uses a template system powered by the Databricks CLI's databricks apps init command. Templates define the project structure, and .tmpl files are processed with Go's text/template engine to generate customized output.

How `.tmpl` files work

Any file ending in .tmpl is processed by the CLI during databricks apps init:

The .tmpl suffix is stripped (e.g. .env.tmpl → .env)
Go template expressions are evaluated and substituted
The rendered file is written to the output directory

Files named with a _ prefix are renamed to . prefix (e.g. _gitignore → .gitignore).

Template variables

Variable	Description
`.projectName`	Project name from `--name` or interactive prompt
`.workspaceHost`	Databricks workspace URL
`.profile`	Databricks CLI profile name (empty if using host-based auth)
`.appDescription`	App description
`.plugins.<name>`	Non-nil for each selected plugin, enabling conditionals
`.dotEnv.content`	Generated `.env` content from plugin resources
`.dotEnv.example`	Generated `.env.example` content with placeholders
`.bundle.*`	Generated `databricks.yml` sections (variables, resources, target variables)
`.appEnv`	Generated `app.yaml` env entries

Conditional content

Use Go template conditionals to include/exclude code based on selected plugins:

{{- if .plugins.analytics}}
import { analytics } from '@databricks/appkit';
{{- end}}

`appkit.plugins.json`

The plugin manifest drives the CLI's behavior during databricks apps init:

Plugin selection UI — selectable plugins shown in the interactive prompt
Resource prompts — required/optional resources prompt the user for values (e.g. SQL Warehouse ID)
.dotEnv population — resource fields with an env property are written to .env
app.yaml generation — resource fields produce env + valueFrom entries
databricks.yml generation — resource fields produce bundle variables and app resource entries

Resource field properties

Each resource field in the manifest can have these properties:

Property	Description
`env`	Environment variable name written to `.env` and `app.yaml`
`description`	Shown in the interactive prompt and bundle variable description
`localOnly`	Only written to `.env` for local dev; excluded from `app.yaml` and bundle variables
`bundleIgnore`	Excluded from `databricks.yml` variables (but still in `.env`)
`value`	Default value used when no user input is provided
`resolve`	Auto-populated by CLI from API calls instead of prompting (see below)
`examples`	Example values shown in field descriptions

Resolvers

Fields with a resolve property are auto-populated by the CLI from API calls rather than user prompts. The format is <type>:<field>.

Currently only the postgres resource type has a resolver. Given the user-provided branch and database resource names, it derives:

Resolve key	Description
`postgres:host`	Postgres host from the branch's read-write endpoint
`postgres:databaseName`	Postgres database name from the database resource
`postgres:endpointPath`	Lakebase endpoint resource name from the branch's endpoints

Example field definition:

{
  "host": {
    "env": "PGHOST",
    "localOnly": true,
    "resolve": "postgres:host",
    "description": "Postgres host for local development."
  }
}

How .tmpl files work​

Template variables​

Conditional content​

appkit.plugins.json​

Resource field properties​

Resolvers​

See also​