Feature Templates¶

behave-gen add feature generates .feature files from templates. Two templates are built-in.

default¶

The default template produces a single scenario with placeholder steps:

behave-gen add feature login

Feature: Login
  Description for Login.

  Scenario: Login scenario
    Given a precondition for Login
    When an action is performed
    Then the result is observed

With tags:

behave-gen add feature login --tags smoke,auth

@auth @smoke
Feature: Login
  Description for Login.

  Scenario: Login scenario
    Given a precondition for Login
    When an action is performed
    Then the result is observed

The placeholder steps (Given a precondition for..., When an action is performed, Then the result is observed) are intentionally generic. Replace them with steps from a step library or your own definitions.

crud¶

The crud template produces a scenario outline with create, read, update, and delete steps, plus an examples table:

behave-gen add feature checkout --template crud

Feature: Checkout
  CRUD scenarios for Checkout.

  Background:
    Given a clean state for Checkout

  Scenario Outline: create, read, update, and delete Checkout
    When I create a Checkout with "<value>"
    Then I can read the Checkout with "<value>"
    When I update the Checkout to "<new_value>"
    Then I can read the Checkout with "<new_value>"
    When I delete the Checkout
    Then the Checkout no longer exists

    Examples:
      | value   | new_value  |
      | alpha   | alpha-upd  |
      | beta    | beta-upd   |

The CRUD steps are also generic placeholders. Implement them in features/steps/ or use the HTTP step library for API-backed CRUD operations.

Custom templates¶

Place custom .feature templates in your project's templates_dir (default: templates/). behave-gen add feature --template NAME looks for templates/NAME.feature first and falls back to the built-ins. The template engine is configured via template_engine in pyproject.toml.

string engine¶

${tags}Feature: $feature_name
  Description for $feature_name.

  Scenario: $feature_name scenario
    Given a precondition for $feature_name

jinja2 engine¶

{{ tags }}Feature: {{ feature_name }}
  Description for {{ feature_name }}.

  Scenario: {{ feature_name }} scenario
    Given a precondition for {{ feature_name }}

The jinja2 engine also substitutes $name placeholders for variables present in the context, so built-in templates keep working when it is selected. Unknown $name placeholders are left untouched.

behave-gen init --template also accepts a path to a directory containing a custom project template set.

Tags include a trailing newline

The tags variable already contains a trailing \n when tags are present (e.g. @auth @smoke\n). This means ${tags}Feature: renders as two lines — tags on their own line, then Feature: on the next — which is valid Gherkin. When no tags are provided, tags is empty and the line collapses to just Feature:.

Template variables¶

Variable	Description
`feature_name`	Humanized feature name (e.g. `user_login` → `User Login`).
`name`	Raw feature name as passed on the CLI.
`tags`	Sorted tag line including trailing newline (e.g. `@auth @smoke\n`), or empty string when no tags are set.