Cloud Deployment Manager will reach end of support on December 31, 2025.
If you currently use Deployment Manager, please migrate to Infrastructure Manager or an alternative deployment technology by
December 31, 2025 to ensure your services continue without interruption.

For more information on the deprecation and shutdown, see Deployment Manager deprecation .

Using Template Modules

Template modules are helper files that perform specific functions that can make your templates more efficient. For example, you can have a module that generates unique names for your resources. Deployment Manager can execute any module written in Python or Jinja.

Before you begin

If you want to use the command-line examples in this guide, install the `gcloud` command-line tool .
If you want to use the API examples in this guide, set up API access .
Understand how to create a basic template .
Understand how to create a configuration

Creating a template module

A template module is treated as a regular template file and can be written in Jinja or Python.

For example, the following is a helper template that generates a name given a prefix and suffix.

Jinja

In Jinja, this helper template (in this example, named helpers/common.jinja) would look like the following:

   
 {% 
- macro 
 GenerateMachineName 
 ( 
 prefix 
 = 
 '' 
 , 
 suffix 
 = 
 '' 
 ) 
- %} 
 {{ prefix + "-" + suffix }} 
 {% 
- endmacro 
 %}

You can then import this template and use it as a module. In your Jinja template, you could use the module like so:

  # Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved. 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 {% 
 import 
 'helpers/common.jinja' 
 as 
 common 
 %} 
 resources: 
 - name: {{ common.GenerateMachineName("myfrontend", "prod") }} 
 type: compute.v1.instance 
 properties: 
 zone: us-central1-f 
 machineType: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/{{ env['project'] }}/zones/us-central1-f/machineTypes/f1-micro 
 disks: 
 - deviceName: boot 
 type: PERSISTENT 
 boot: true 
 autoDelete: true 
 initializeParams: 
 sourceImage: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-11 
 networkInterfaces: 
 - network: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/{{ env['project'] }}/global/networks/default 
 accessConfigs: 
 - name: External NAT 
 type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT

The configuration must then import both files (including the helpers/common.jinja file):

  # Copyright 2015 Google Inc. All rights reserved. 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 imports 
 : 
 - 
  
 path 
 : 
  
 helpers/common.jinja 
 - 
  
 path 
 : 
  
 vm-instance-example.jinja 
 resources 
 : 
 - 
  
 name 
 : 
  
 my-vm 
  
 type 
 : 
  
 vm-instance-example.jinja

The Deployment Manager service will expand the configuration and the final configuration looks like this:

  resources: 
 - name: myfrontend-prod 
 type: compute.v1.instance 
 properties: 
 zone: us-central1-f 
 machineType: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/myproject/zones/us-central1-f/machineTypes/f1-micro 
 disks: 
 - deviceName: boot 
 type: PERSISTENT 
 boot: true 
 autoDelete: true 
 initializeParams: 
 sourceImage: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-9 
 networkInterfaces: 
 - network: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/myproject/global/networks/default 
 accessConfigs: 
 - name: External NAT 
 type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT

Python

In Python, the helper template (in this example, named helpers/common.py) would look like this:

  # Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved. 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 """Generates name of a VM.""" 
 def 
  
 GenerateMachineName 
 ( 
 prefix 
 , 
 suffix 
 ): 
 return 
 prefix 
 + 
 "-" 
 + 
 suffix

To use it in your Python template:

  # Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved. 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 """Constructs a VM with imported module.""" 
 from 
  
 helpers 
  
 import 
 common 
 COMPUTE_URL_BASE 
 = 
 'https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/' 
 def 
  
 GenerateConfig 
 ( 
 context 
 ): 
  
 """Generates configuration of a VM.""" 
 resources 
 = 
 [{ 
 'name' 
 : 
 common 
 . 
 GenerateMachineName 
 ( 
 'myfrontend' 
 , 
 'prod' 
 ), 
 'type' 
 : 
 'compute.v1.instance' 
 , 
 'properties' 
 : 
 { 
 'zone' 
 : 
 'us-central1-f' 
 , 
 'machineType' 
 : 
 COMPUTE_URL_BASE 
 + 
 'projects/' 
 + 
 context 
 . 
 env 
 [ 
 'project' 
 ] 
 + 
 '/zones/us-central1-f/machineTypes/f1-micro' 
 , 
 'disks' 
 : 
 [{ 
 'deviceName' 
 : 
 'boot' 
 , 
 'type' 
 : 
 'PERSISTENT' 
 , 
 'boot' 
 : 
 True 
 , 
 'autoDelete' 
 : 
 True 
 , 
 'initializeParams' 
 : 
 { 
 'sourceImage' 
 : 
 COMPUTE_URL_BASE 
 + 
 'projects/' 
 'debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-11' 
 } 
 }], 
 'networkInterfaces' 
 : 
 [{ 
 'network' 
 : 
 COMPUTE_URL_BASE 
 + 
 'projects/' 
 + 
 context 
 . 
 env 
 [ 
 'project' 
 ] 
 + 
 '/global/networks/default' 
 , 
 'accessConfigs' 
 : 
 [{ 
 'name' 
 : 
 'External NAT' 
 , 
 'type' 
 : 
 'ONE_TO_ONE_NAT' 
 }] 
 }] 
 } 
 }] 
 return 
 { 
 'resources' 
 : 
 resources 
 }

The configuration must then import both files (including the helpers/common.py file):

  # Copyright 2015 Google Inc. All rights reserved. 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 imports 
 : 
 - 
  
 path 
 : 
  
 helpers/common.py 
 - 
  
 path 
 : 
  
 vm-instance-example.py 
 resources 
 : 
 - 
  
 name 
 : 
  
 my-vm 
  
 type 
 : 
  
 vm-instance-example.py

Here is a more complicated helper module:

  # Copyright 2015 Google Inc. All rights reserved. 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 """Helper methods for working with containers in config.""" 
 import 
  
 common 
 import 
  
 default 
 import 
  
 yaml 
 # Specific properties for this component, also see container_instance 
 DCKRENV 
 = 
 default 
 . 
 DCKRENV 
 DCKRIMAGE 
 = 
 default 
 . 
 DCKRIMAGE 
 MANIFEST 
 = 
 """ 
 version: v1beta2 
 containers: 
 - name: 
 %(name)s 
 image: 
 %(dockerImage)s 
 ports: 
 - name: 
 %(name)s 
 -port 
 hostPort: 
 %(port)i 
 containerPort: 
 %(port)i 
  
 %(env)s 
 """ 
 def 
  
 GenerateManifest 
 ( 
 context 
 ): 
  
 """Generates a Container Manifest given a Template context. 
 Args: 
 context: Template context, which must contain dockerImage and port 
 properties, and an optional dockerEnv property. 
 Returns: 
 A Container Manifest as a YAML string. 
 """ 
 env 
 = 
 "" 
 env_list 
 = 
 [] 
 if 
 DCKRENV 
 in 
 context 
 . 
 properties 
 : 
 for 
 key 
 , 
 value 
 in 
 context 
 . 
 properties 
 [ 
 DCKRENV 
 ] 
 . 
 iteritems 
 (): 
 env_list 
 . 
 append 
 ({ 
 "name" 
 : 
 key 
 , 
 "value" 
 : 
 value 
 }) 
 if 
 env_list 
 : 
 env 
 = 
 "env: " 
 + 
 yaml 
 . 
 dump 
 ( 
 env_list 
 , 
 default_flow_style 
 = 
 True 
 ) 
 manifest_yaml_string 
 = 
 MANIFEST 
 % 
 { 
 "name" 
 : 
 context 
 . 
 env 
 [ 
 "name" 
 ], 
 "dockerImage" 
 : 
 context 
 . 
 properties 
 [ 
 DCKRIMAGE 
 ], 
 "port" 
 : 
 context 
 . 
 properties 
 [ 
 default 
 . 
 PORT 
 ], 
 "env" 
 : 
 env 
 } 
 return 
 common 
 . 
 GenerateEmbeddableYaml 
 ( 
 manifest_yaml_string 
 )

What's next

Use template properties to abstract your content.
Populate information about your projects and deployments using environment variables .
Add a template permanently to your project as a composite type .

Using Template Modules Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.