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Configure Templates

Before we can run Monstarillo, we need to configure the template paths for your local environment. This involves updating two key settings in the templates.json file.

📁 Required Setup

If you haven't already, clone the Monstarillo templates repository:

git clone https://github.com/monstarillo/monstarillo-templates
cd monstarillo-templates/tutorial-database-documenter

⚙️ Configuration Variables

We need to update two tags (configuration variables) in the templates.json file:

1. TemplateRoot

Purpose: Points to where your templates are located

Current value: 

"value": "/home/patrick/code/templates"

Update to: The absolute path to your monstarillo-templates folder

{
  "tagName": "TemplateRoot",
  "value": "/Users/yourname/code/monstarillo-templates"
}

{
  "tagName": "TemplateRoot", 
  "value": "C:\\Users\\YourName\\code\\monstarillo-templates"
}

2. OutputPath

Purpose: Where generated files will be saved

Current value: 

"value": "/home/patrick/code-gen-output/postgres-chinhook-db-md"

Update to: Any folder where you want the markdown files generated

{
  "tagName": "OutputPath",
  "value": "/Users/yourname/monstarillo-output"
}

{
  "tagName": "OutputPath",
  "value": "C:\\Users\\YourName\\monstarillo-output"
}

📝 Edit the Configuration

Open tutorial-database-documenter/templates.json in your editor and update both paths:

{
  "templates": [...],
  "tags": [
    {
      "tagName": "TemplateRoot",
      "value": "/path/to/your/monstarillo-templates"
    },
    {
      "tagName": "OutputPath", 
      "value": "/path/to/your/output/folder"
    }
  ]
}

Important Path Requirements

  • TemplateRoot: Must point to the root monstarillo-templates folder
  • OutputPath: Folder will be created if it doesn't exist
  • Use absolute paths (starting with / on Unix or C:\ on Windows)

✅ Verify Configuration

Test that your paths are correct:

# Check TemplateRoot points to template file
ls "[TemplateRoot]/tutorial-database-documenter/table.tmpl"

# Check OutputPath directory exists (create if needed)
mkdir -p "[OutputPath]"

🎯 What Gets Generated

After configuration, Monstarillo will:

  1. Read templates from: [TemplateRoot]/tutorial-database-documenter/
  2. Generate markdown files in: [OutputPath]/tables/
  3. Create one file per table with naming pattern: TableName.md

🚀 Next Steps

Configuration complete! Now let's explore what the templates actually do:

Explore Templates →