miniplate

miniplate is a lightweight, size-optimized drop-in replacement for gomplate, designed for use in minimal Docker images where binary size matters. It implements the most commonly used template functions while deliberately omitting cloud provider integrations, remote datasource fetching, and other heavy dependencies that inflate the compiled binary.

YAML and TOML support are opt-in via build tags, keeping the default binary as small as possible. Templates written for gomplate are compatible with miniplate as long as they only use supported functions.

Requirements

• Go: Version 1.25 or higher.
• UPX (optional): Used by the default make target to further compress the binary.

Installation

go install -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" github.com/spacecafe/miniplate/cmd/miniplate@latest

To include TOML and/or YAML support (adds to binary size):

go install -tags=toml,yaml -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" github.com/spacecafe/miniplate/cmd/miniplate@latest

Or build from source with maximum compression via UPX:

make

Usage

miniplate accepts the same flags as gomplate:

Flag	Aliases	Description
--in <file>	-i, --file, -f	Input template file (- for stdin, default)
--out <file>	-o	Output file (- for stdout, default)
--input-dir <dir>		Process all files in a directory recursively
--output-dir <dir>		Write output to this directory (requires --input-dir)
--exclude <pattern>		Exclude files matching a glob pattern (repeatable)
--context <name=URL>		Add a data source as .<name> in templates (repeatable)

Examples:

# Render a template from stdin
echo '{{ env.Getenv "HOME" }}' | miniplate

# Render a file with a JSON context
miniplate --in config.tmpl --out config.yaml --context cfg=data.json

# Process a directory of templates
miniplate --input-dir templates/ --output-dir output/ --exclude '*.skip'

# Read a secret from a file via _FILE suffix
SECRET_FILE=/run/secrets/token miniplate --in app.tmpl

Compatibility

The table below compares miniplate against gomplate v4. Function name links point to the gomplate documentation. ⚠️ indicates opt-in support via build tags.

Group	Function (aliases)	gomplate	miniplate	Notes
base64	base64.Decode base64.DecodeBytes base64.Encode	✅	✅
coll	coll.Dict (dict) coll.Keys coll.Slice	✅	✅
coll	coll.Append coll.Flatten coll.GoSlice coll.Has coll.Index coll.JQ coll.JSONPath coll.Merge coll.Omit coll.Pick coll.Prepend coll.Reverse coll.Set coll.Sort coll.Uniq coll.Unset coll.Values	✅	❌
conv	conv.Atoi conv.Bool (bool) conv.Default (default) conv.Join (join) conv.ParseInt conv.ParseFloat conv.ToBool conv.ToBools conv.ToInt conv.ToInt64 conv.ToInt64s conv.ToInts conv.ToFloat64 conv.ToFloat64s conv.ToString conv.ToStrings conv.URL (urlParse)	✅	✅
conv	conv.ParseUint	✅	❌
conv	conv.Float (float) conv.Int (int) conv.String (string)	❌	✅	Convenience aliases for ToFloat64, ToInt, ToString
crypto	crypto.AESEncrypt crypto.AESDecrypt crypto.ECDSAGenerateKey crypto.Ed25519GenerateKey crypto.RSAGenerateKey crypto.RSAEncrypt crypto.RSADecrypt crypto.RSADerivePublicKey crypto.PBKDF2 crypto.WPAPSK	✅	❌
crypto	crypto.Bcrypt crypto.SHA224 crypto.SHA256 crypto.SHA384 crypto.SHA512 crypto.SHA224Bytes crypto.SHA256Bytes crypto.SHA384Bytes crypto.SHA512Bytes	✅	✅
crypto	crypto.MD5 crypto.MD5Bytes	❌	✅
data	data.JSON (json) data.JSONArray (jsonArray) data.ToJSON (toJSON) data.ToJSONPretty (toJSONPretty)	✅	✅
data	data.YAML (yaml) data.YAMLArray (yamlArray) data.ToYAML (toYAML)	✅	⚠️	Requires -tags=yaml
data	data.TOML (toml) data.ToTOML (toTOML)	✅	⚠️	Requires -tags=toml
data	data.XML (xml) data.ToXML (toXML) data.ToXMLPretty (toXMLPretty)	❌	✅
data	data.CSV data.CSVByRow data.CSVByColumn datasource (ds) datasourceExists datasourceReachable defineDatasource listDatasources include	✅	❌	Remote datasources not supported
env	env.Getenv (getenv)	✅	✅	Also supports VAR_FILE suffix: if SECRET_FILE is set, reads the value from the file at that path
env	env.MustGetenv	❌	✅	Like env.Getenv but fails if the variable is unset or empty
env	env.Env env.ExpandEnv env.HasEnv	✅	❌
file	file.Exists file.IsDir file.Read file.ReadDir file.Stat file.Write	✅	✅
file	file.IsFile	❌	✅
file	file.Walk	✅	❌
human	human.Bytes human.ParseBytes human.ToBytes	❌	✅	Human-readable byte sizes via go-humanize
math	math.Abs math.Add (add) math.Ceil math.Div (div) math.Floor math.IsFloat math.IsInt math.IsNum math.Max math.Min math.Mul (mul) math.Pow (pow) math.Rem (rem) math.Round math.Seq (seq) math.Sub (sub)	✅	✅
strings	strings.Contains strings.HasPrefix strings.HasSuffix strings.Quote (quote) strings.Repeat strings.ReplaceAll (replaceAll) strings.ShellQuote (shellQuote) strings.Slug strings.Split strings.SplitN strings.Squote (squote) strings.Title (title) strings.ToLower (toLower) strings.ToUpper (toUpper) strings.Trim strings.TrimLeft strings.TrimRight strings.TrimPrefix strings.TrimSuffix strings.TrimSpace (trimSpace) strings.Trunc	✅	✅
strings	strings.Abbrev strings.CamelCase strings.Indent (indent) strings.KebabCase strings.RuneCount strings.SkipLines strings.SnakeCase strings.WordWrap	✅	❌
tmpl	tmpl.Exec tmpl.Inline (tpl) tmpl.Path tmpl.PathDir	✅	✅
uuid	uuid.IsValid uuid.Nil uuid.V1 uuid.V4	✅	✅
uuid	uuid.Parse	✅	❌
uuid	uuid.V6 uuid.V7	❌	✅	RFC 9562 UUID versions
aws	aws.*	✅	❌	Cloud integrations not included
gcp	gcp.*	✅	❌	Cloud integrations not included
filepath	filepath.*	✅	❌
net	net.*	✅	❌	DNS lookups, CIDR helpers
path	path.*	✅	❌
random	random.*	✅	❌
regexp	regexp.*	✅	❌
semver	semver.*	✅	❌
sockaddr	sockaddr.*	✅	❌
test	test.*	✅	❌
time	time.*	✅	❌