Templatejen

Templatejen is a coined term in the field of template-based content generation. It describes a class of templates that interleave static text with dynamic placeholders and simple transformation rules, enabling multi-layer rendering of complex documents. The name blends 'template' with the suffix 'jen', used by some communities to signal modular, extensible templating.

Core features of templatejen include placeholders that draw values from a provided context, the ability to nest sections for hierarchical data, conditional blocks that render only when certain criteria are met, and iteration over lists. Rendering can occur in multiple passes to apply formatting, localization, and transformations. Many implementations support default values for missing context keys, escaping of special characters, and customizable rendering order to balance readability with performance.

Common applications include software configuration templates, automated reports, multilingual document generation, email and notification templates, and infrastructure-as-code artifacts. The approach is valued for separating content from presentation and for enabling reuse of a single template across different data sets and locales.

Templatejen is a flexible pattern rather than a formal standard. As a coined concept, implementations vary in syntax and feature set. It remains most common in niche tooling and research communities that emphasize modular composition, transformation pipelines, and clear separation of concerns in template-driven workflows.