Template for NREL's Python packages

This is an opinionated template for creating Python packages at NREL, intended for a wide range of users. If you are new to NREL or don't have much experience building Python packages, this template is a good option to provide you a scaffolding to get started quickly. It also sets up several support tools for you, such as automated checks on your code, automatic documentation generation, and tests validation on every pull request. If you're an experienced Python developer, you still have some control by answering a few questions during the initialization process, which helps avoid a plain copy and paste from your other projects. We use this template ourselves.

Quickstart

1) Install Copier

This template is based on Copier, a tool to copy files and directories from a template repository to a destination directory, while allowing you to answer questions to customize the destination. You can install copier in several ways, depending on your environment and preferences. Here are some common methods, please choose one that suits you best:

Homebrew (OSX)

If you are on OSX and have Homebrew, you can install copier globally with the following command:

bash brew install copier

Pixi (contributors)

Install Pixi and:

• Clone this repository and activate it's environment: bash git clone https://github.com/castelao/NREL-pypackage-template.git cd NREL-pypackage-template pixi shell

• Or create your own environment: bash pixi init my_project_creator pixi add copier pixi shell

We use pixi for development. If you would like to contribute to this repository or want to build your own template, we strongly recommend using Pixi.

uv

If you prefer using uv, you can install copier with the following command:

bash uv tool install copier

Note: If you use poetry, you might want to consider moving to uv.

pipx

If you have pipx installed, you can install copier with the following command:

bash pipx install copier

Nix flake

If you are using Nix flakes, you can install copier with the following command:

bash nix profile install 'https://flakehub.com/f/copier-org/copier/*.tar.gz'

2) Build your package

bash copier copy https://github.com/castelao/NREL-pypackage-template ../my_new_project cd ../my_new_project

You should see several files and directories created from the information that you gave. For instance, take a look at the pyproject.toml file. Your package will probably depend on other libraries. Let's assume that you'll use xarray, so you can run bash pixi add xarray which will update the pyproject.toml and pixi.lock files with the new dependency.