diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4ac63866a..a640d2ac3 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ authors = ["konstin <konstin@mailbox.org>"]
 name = "maturin"
 version = "0.12.2-beta.3"
 description = "Build and publish crates with pyo3, rust-cpython and cffi bindings as well as rust binaries as python packages"
-exclude = ["test-crates/**/*", "sysconfig/*", "test-data/*", "ci/*", "tests/*"]
+exclude = ["test-crates/**/*", "sysconfig/*", "test-data/*", "ci/*", "tests/*", "templates/*"]
 homepage = "https://github.com/pyo3/maturin"
 readme = "Readme.md"
 repository = "https://github.com/pyo3/maturin"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7f0b5d7d9..eaba11d71 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -19,3 +19,7 @@ bindings = "bin"
 
 [tool.black]
 target_version = ['py36']
+extend-exclude = '''
+# Ignore cargo-generate templates
+^/templates
+'''
diff --git a/templates/.gitignore b/templates/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8f044299
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/target
+
+# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
+__pycache__/
+.pytest_cache/
+*.py[cod]
+
+# C extensions
+*.so
+
+# Distribution / packaging
+.Python
+.venv/
+env/
+bin/
+build/
+develop-eggs/
+dist/
+eggs/
+lib/
+lib64/
+parts/
+sdist/
+var/
+include/
+man/
+venv/
+*.egg-info/
+.installed.cfg
+*.egg
+
+# Installer logs
+pip-log.txt
+pip-delete-this-directory.txt
+pip-selfcheck.json
+
+# Unit test / coverage reports
+htmlcov/
+.tox/
+.coverage
+.cache
+nosetests.xml
+coverage.xml
+
+# Translations
+*.mo
+
+# Mr Developer
+.mr.developer.cfg
+.project
+.pydevproject
+
+# Rope
+.ropeproject
+
+# Django stuff:
+*.log
+*.pot
+
+.DS_Store
+
+# Sphinx documentation
+docs/_build/
+
+# PyCharm
+.idea/
+
+# VSCode
+.vscode/
+
+# Pyenv
+.python-version
diff --git a/templates/Cargo.toml b/templates/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c977fdf2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[package]
+name = "{{project-name}}"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2018"
+description = "{{description}}"
+
+# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+
+[lib]
+name = "{{crate_name}}"
+crate-type = ["cdylib"]
+
+[dependencies]
+{% case binding -%}
+{%- when "pyo3" -%}
+pyo3 = { version = "0.15.1", features = ["extension-module"] }
+{%- when "rust-cpython" -%}
+cpython = { version = "0.7.0", features = ["extension-module"] }
+{%- else -%}
+{%- endcase %}
diff --git a/templates/cargo-generate.toml b/templates/cargo-generate.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..22d00065d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/cargo-generate.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[placeholders.mixed_layout]
+type = "bool"
+prompt = "Use mixed Rust/Python project layout?"
+default = false
+
+[placeholders.binding]
+type = "string"
+prompt = "What binding to use?"
+choices = ["pyo3", "rust-cpython", "cffi", "bin"]
+default = "pyo3"
+
+[conditional.'mixed_layout != true']
+ignore = [ "{{crate_name}}/" ]
+
+[conditional.'binding != "bin"']
+ignore = [ "src/main.rs" ]
+
+[conditional.'binding == "bin"']
+ignore = [ "src/lib.rs" ]
diff --git a/templates/pyproject.toml b/templates/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..397439554
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["maturin>=0.12,<0.13"]
+build-backend = "maturin"
+
+[project]
+name = "{{project-name}}"
+requires-python = ">=3.6"
+classifiers = [
+    "Programming Language :: Rust",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy",
+]
+{% if binding == "cffi" -%}
+dependencies = ["cffi"]
+{%- endif %}
+[tool.maturin]
+bindings = "{{binding}}"
diff --git a/templates/src/lib.rs b/templates/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..777ef9dac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{%- case binding -%}
+{%- when "pyo3" -%}
+use pyo3::prelude::*;
+
+#[pymodule]
+fn {{crate_name}}(_py: Python, m: &PyModule) -> PyResult<()> {
+    Ok(())
+}
+{%- when "rust-cpython" -%}
+use cpython::py_module_initializer;
+
+py_module_initializer!({{crate_name}}, |py, m| {
+    m.add(py, "__doc__", "Module documentation string")?;
+    Ok(())
+});
+{%- else -%}
+{% endcase %}
diff --git a/templates/src/main.rs b/templates/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3033f6266
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+fn main() {
+
+}
diff --git a/templates/{{crate_name}}/__init__.py b/templates/{{crate_name}}/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..374627e07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/{{crate_name}}/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+from .{{crate_name}} import *
+
+
+__doc__ = {{crate_name}}.__doc__