Covers starting research software projects from maintained templates and keeping them in sync: choosing a generator (Copier, cookiecutter), scaffolding a Python package, retrofitting template structure, pulling template upgrades into generated projects, and picking a pyproject build backend. Use when the user starts a new research software codebase, asks for a template or boilerplate, wants a src/ layout or pyproject.toml scaffold, mentions copier or cookiecutter, or chooses between setuptools, hatchling, poetry or PDM. For hand-rolled layout see rseng-code-quality; for the management side see rseng-project-kickoff.
