`dotnet new -i *.nupkg` doesn't install the template

I have a solution which I wish turn it into a template. I added .template.config, template.json and TemplatePack.csproj and I can install the template using file path, e.g dotnet new -i C:\MyTemplate. but I can not install it using generated .nupkg.

I could not find any way to tell dotnet new to show me the possible error(s).

BTW, after running dotnet new -i MyTemplate.nupkg the list of templates shown in the terminal.

TemplatePack.csproj:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <PackageType>Template</PackageType>
    <PackageVersion>1.0</PackageVersion>
    <PackageId>MyTemplate</PackageId>
    <Title>MyTemplate</Title>
    <Authors>Me</Authors>
    <Description>MyTemplate.</Description>
    <PackageTags>dotnet-new;templates</PackageTags>

    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>

    <IncludeContentInPack>true</IncludeContentInPack>
    <IncludeBuildOutput>false</IncludeBuildOutput>
    <ContentTargetFolders>content</ContentTargetFolders>
    <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);NU5128</NoWarn>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="templates\**\*" Exclude="templates\**\bin\**;templates\**\obj\**" />
    <Compile Remove="**\*" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

template.json:

{
  "$schema": "http://json.schemastore.org/template",
  "author": "Me",
  "classifications": [
    "Web",
    "ASP.NET"
  ],
  "tags": {
    "language": "C#"
  },
  "identity": "MyTemplate",
  "name": "MyTemplate",
  "shortName": "mywebapp",
  "sourceName": "MyTemplate",
  "preferNameDirectory": true
}

MyTemplate is not real, in the actual files I wrote something else.

[AR-May]

@dehghani-mehdi This is the line you need to fix, it now includes the template folder (excluding bin and obj internal folders) to nuget content:

<Content Include="templates\**\*" Exclude="templates\**\bin\**;templates\**\obj\**" />

just add folder .template.config to include there too.

Only small amount of all nuget packages consists templates, so no reason to have a warning.

Some docs about writing a .csproj for packing: one, two.

[AR-May]

@dehghani-mehdi The number of templates does not matter in the example, it might be 1,2, etc. I am more or less confident that fixing folders structure would resolve your problem. Here is reasoning:

The main problem with your nuget package is complete absence of .template.config folder in it. It is not included into package by given templatepack.csproj. Thus, the nuget package has 0 templates, nothing is installed, and that is correct behavior.

The miscommunication between folders structure and what is in .csproj file is the reason for absence of .template.config folder in nuget.

What I suggested is not the only way to fix, right, so your previous working version could have been indeed different. You can also fix it in .csproj file. Or you can move .template.config to templates folder. But I’d better keep the folders structure as what is in documentation.