use-template

Q: How do I install use-template?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/playableintelligence/game-creator --skill use-template in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/use-template/ (personal) or .claude/skills/use-template/ (project).

by playableintelligenceMedia & Creative

Clone a game template from the gallery as a starting point. Use when the user says "use a template", "start from a template", "clone flappy-bird", "use the platformer template", or wants to quickly bootstrap a game from an existing example. Do NOT use for creating a game from scratch (use viral-game for one-shot builds or make-game for milestone-driven projects).

Installs: 841
Last 24h: —
Trending rank: —
Security: Not audited

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/playableintelligence/game-creator --skill use-template

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads use-template automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Use Template

Clone a game template from the gallery into a new project. This is a fast copy — working code in seconds, not an AI pipeline.

Behavior

Parse arguments: <template-id> [project-name]
- If no arguments provided, read site/manifest.json, display a numbered list of all templates with their engine/complexity/description, and ask the user to pick one.
- template-id is required. project-name defaults to template-id.
Look up template in site/manifest.json by id. If not found, show available IDs and abort.
Determine target directory:
- If current working directory is inside the game-creator repository → examples/<project-name>/
- Otherwise → ./<project-name>/
- If target already exists, abort with error.
Copy the template source directory to the target, excluding:
- node_modules/
- dist/
- output/
- .herenow/
- progress.md
- test-results/
- playwright-report/
Update project metadata:
- In package.json: set "name" to the project name
- In index.html (if exists): update <title> to a formatted version of the project name
Install dependencies: Run npm install in the target directory.

Print next steps:

Template cloned successfully!

cd <project-name>
npm run dev

Implementation

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const { execSync } = require('child_process');

// Find game-creator root (contains site/manifest.json)
function findRoot(dir) {
  let d = dir;
  while (d !== path.dirname(d)) {
    if (fs.existsSync(path.join(d, 'gallery', 'manifest.json'))) return d;
    d = path.dirname(d);
  }
  return null;
}

const root = findRoot(process.cwd());
const manifest = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(root, 'gallery', 'manifest.json'), 'utf-8'));

// Parse args
const [templateId, projectName] = args; // provided by the agent
const template = manifest.find(t => t.id === templateId);
const name = projectName || templateId;

// Validate project name — reject path traversal and special characters
if (/[\/\\]|^\.\.?$|\.\./.test(name)) {
  throw new Error(`Invalid project name: "${name}". Must not contain path separators or ".." sequences.`);
}
if (!/^[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9._-]*$/.test(name)) {
  throw new Error(`Invalid project name: "${name}". Use only alphanumeric characters, hyphens, underscores, and dots.`);
}

// Determine target
const inGameCreator = process.cwd().startsWith(root);
const target = inGameCreator
  ? path.join(root, 'examples', name)
  : path.join(process.cwd(), name);

// Verify resolved path stays within expected parent directory
const expectedParent = inGameCreator ? path.join(root, 'examples') : process.cwd();
if (!path.resolve(target).startsWith(path.resolve(expectedParent))) {
  throw new Error('Target directory resolved outside expected parent. Aborting.');
}

// Copy with exclusions
const EXCLUDE = ['node_modules', 'dist', 'output', '.herenow', 'progress.md', 'test-results', 'playwright-report'];

function copyDir(src, dst) {
  fs.mkdirSync(dst, { recursive: true });
  for (const entry of fs.readdirSync(src, { withFileTypes: true })) {
    if (EXCLUDE.includes(entry.name)) continue;
    const s = path.join(src, entry.name);
    const d = path.join(dst, entry.name);
    if (entry.isDirectory()) copyDir(s, d);
    else fs.copyFileSync(s, d);
  }
}

copyDir(path.join(root, template.source), target);

// Update package.json
const pkgPath = path.join(target, 'package.json');
if (fs.existsSync(pkgPath)) {
  const pkg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(pkgPath, 'utf-8'));
  pkg.name = name;
  fs.writeFileSync(pkgPath, JSON.stringify(pkg, null, 2) + '\n');
}

// Update index.html title
const indexPath = path.join(target, 'index.html');
if (fs.existsSync(indexPath)) {
  let html = fs.readFileSync(indexPath, 'utf-8');
  const prettyName = name.replace(/[-_]/g, ' ').replace(/\b\w/g, c => c.toUpperCase());
  html = html.replace(/<title>[^<]*<\/title>/, `<title>${prettyName}</title>`);
  fs.writeFileSync(indexPath, html);
}

// Install
execSync('npm install', { cwd: target, stdio: 'inherit' });

// Optional anonymous telemetry — tracks which templates are popular
// Data sent: event type ("clone"), template ID, source ("skill"), schema version
// No PII, IP addresses, file paths, or user-identifiable data is transmitted
// Opt out: set DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in your environment
if (!process.env.DO_NOT_TRACK && !process.env.DISABLE_TELEMETRY) {
  const https = require('https');
  const telemetryUrl = process.env.TELEMETRY_URL || 'https://gallery-telemetry.up.railway.app';
  https.get(`${telemetryUrl}/t?event=clone&template=${encodeURIComponent(templateId)}&source=skill&v=1`)
    .on('error', () => {});
}

Example Usage

/use-template flappy-bird my-game
/use-template threejs-3d-starter space-shooter
/use-template castle-siege

Security Notes

Path validation: Project names are validated to reject path traversal (..), path separators, and special characters. The resolved target path is verified to stay within the expected parent directory.
npm install: Runs npm install from the copied template's package.json, which contains only pinned dependencies from the template (Phaser/Three.js, Vite). No arbitrary packages are installed.
Telemetry: Anonymous, opt-out usage telemetry sends only the template ID and event type (no PII, paths, or user data). Disable with DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 environment variables.
Template source: Templates are copied from the local site/manifest.json registry within the plugin — no external templates are fetched at clone time.

Key Difference from /viral-game and /make-game

/use-template is a 10-second copy. You get working, runnable code instantly and customize it manually. /viral-game is a 10-minute AI pipeline that scaffolds, designs, adds audio, tests, deploys, and monetizes from a text prompt or tweet URL — opinionated and one-shot. /make-game is the deeper, multi-session game-dev workflow with milestones, ADRs, and docs/STATE.md for projects that need to evolve over time.

FAQ

What does the use-template skill do?

How do I install use-template?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/playableintelligence/game-creator --skill use-template in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/use-template/ (personal) or .claude/skills/use-template/ (project).

Which AI agents can use use-template?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is use-template safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains use-template?

It is published by playableintelligence in playableintelligence/game-creator. It has 841 recorded installs.