Why miki-template?¶

There are plenty of template engines for Node.js. Here is why miki-template stands out.

Django Syntax You Already Know¶

If you have used Django, you already know miki-template. The syntax is intentionally aligned:

{% if user.is_admin %}
  <p>Welcome, {{ user.name|title }}!</p>
{% elif user.is_staff %}
  <p>Staff dashboard</p>
{% else %}
  <p>Please log in.</p>
{% endif %}

No new DSL to learn. No context switching between backend and frontend templating styles.

Built for HTMX and Partial Responses¶

Modern web apps increasingly use HTMX, Turbo, or custom AJAX. miki-template makes partial rendering trivial:

app.get('/card/:id', (req, res) =>
  res.render(`home#card`, { title: 'Hello', body: '...' })
);

No extra middleware. No manual view resolution. Just view#partial.

Smart Template Discovery¶

Forget Failed to lookup view errors. miki-template searches your project structure intelligently:

views/
app/templates/
packages/*/templates/
Any custom folder name you configure

This mirrors Django's APP_DIRS behavior and means templates can live where they make sense in your codebase.

Performance That Scales¶

miki-template's compiled AST approach is especially fast on realistic templates — the ones with loops, conditionals, filters, and partials that make up real pages.

Template	miki-template	pug	handlebars	ejs
Small	~115k rps	1.7M rps	417k rps	182k rps
Medium	~454k rps	625k rps	48k rps	29k rps
Large	~476k rps	3.1k rps	661 rps	290 rps

On large templates, miki-template is ~150× faster than pug, handlebars, and ejs.

Security by Default¶

Auto-escaping enabled by default.
SafeString wrapper for explicit bypass.
CSRF and CSP tags included.
No eval() or unsafe code execution.

First-Class Express Integration¶

One function wires everything:

miki.setupExpress(app, { extension: 'html', views: './views' });

That is it. No app.engine() boilerplate. No manual res.render patching. Partial responses work out of the box.

Extensible and Future-Proof¶

Need a custom tag? A custom filter? The API is clean and well-documented. miki-template is built to grow with your app, not lock you into a fragile abstraction.