diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1650b82a9abe25cb4a8175edb57a6f2af33d887d..0388ead7d8ab0d02b56bb9cb9ae585c64cd77a66 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-include:
-- local: "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml"
-
-variables:
-  GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
+stages:
+  - prepare
+  - build
+  - test
 
 trigger_prepare:
   stage: prepare
@@ -10,53 +9,43 @@ trigger_prepare:
     strategy: depend
     include: "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.prepare.gitlab-ci.yml"
 
-default:
+# Generate template instance in my_awesome_app directory
+build-template:
+  stage: build
+  image: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci-build-runner:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
   # Bootstrap Cookiecutter template to test provided ci pipeline template
-  before_script:
+  script:
     - python --version # For debugging
-    - git config --global user.name "unit test"
-    - git config --global user.email "info@astron.nl"
+    - git config --global user.email "ci-runner@example.com"
+    - git config --global user.name "CI Runner"
+    - git config --global init.defaultBranch main
     - cookiecutter --no-input --overwrite-if-exists --output-dir . .
     - cd my_awesome_app
-
-# Override semgrep-sast before script
-sast:
-  before_script:
-    - python --version # For debugging
-
-# Override unit test before script
-.run_unit_test_version_base:
-  before_script:
-    - pip install cookiecutter
-    - !reference [default, before_script]
-    - python --version # For debugging
-    - python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-    - pip install --upgrade tox twine
-
-# Override artifact directories
-package_docs:
-  stage: package
-  artifacts:
-    expire_in: 1w
-    paths:
-      - my_awesome_app/docs/build/*
-
-# override package files before script
-package_files:
-  before_script:
-    - pip install cookiecutter
-    - !reference [default, before_script]
+    - git init
+    - source ./setup.sh
+    - ls -lah
+    - tox --version
+    - pip install --upgrade tox
+    - tox -e fix
+    - rm -r .venv
+    - rm -r .tox
+  # cannot use needs, for artifacts on child pipeline so must regenerate template!
   artifacts:
-    expire_in: 1w
     paths:
-      - my_awesome_app/dist/*
-
-# Override artifact directories
-run_unit_tests_coverage:
-  artifacts:
-    reports:
-      coverage_report:
-        coverage_format: cobertura
-        path: my_awesome_app/coverage.xml
-    paths:
-      - my_awesome_app/htmlcov/*
+      - my_awesome_app/*
+      - project.gitlab-ci.yml
+
+# Spawn pipeline using the gitlab-ci.yml from generated template instance
+# use project.gitlab.ci.yml for necessary job overrides from this template instance
+# (due to changes in directories and paths etc)
+project-pipeline:
+  stage: test
+  trigger:
+    strategy: depend
+    include:
+      - artifact: my_awesome_app/.gitlab-ci.yml
+        job: build-template
+      - artifact: project.gitlab-ci.yml
+        job: build-template
+  variables:
+    PARENT_PIPELINE_ID: $CI_PIPELINE_ID
diff --git a/cookiecutter.json b/cookiecutter.json
index 1f29d355f8fcd56ebb3f1c5a3de8b49d748e60f6..8165b9764968afc310e18f5850f8b960c9c95a88 100644
--- a/cookiecutter.json
+++ b/cookiecutter.json
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 {
     "project_name": "My Awesome App",
     "project_slug": "{{ cookiecutter.project_name.lower()|replace(' ', '_')|replace('-', '_')|replace('.', '_')|trim() }}",
-    "project_url": "https://git.astron.nl/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}",
+    "project_package": "{{ cookiecutter.project_name.lower()|replace(' ', '-')|replace('_', '-')|replace('.', '-')|trim() }}",
+    "project_url": "https://git.astron.nl/{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}",
     "description": "An example package for CI/CD working group"
 }
diff --git a/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile b/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile
index 8b9621755a0653909c67cf1eda3ff2bfba87063c..207680767c3608025cc9db6efd16bca42e0abc20 100644
--- a/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-FROM python:3.11
+FROM python:3.13
 
-RUN python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-RUN pip install --upgrade cookiecutter tox twine cibuildwheel==2.13.1 cookiecutter
+RUN python -m pip install --upgrade cibuildwheel==2.23.0 cookiecutter pip tox twine
 RUN curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | sh
+
diff --git a/project.gitlab-ci.yml b/project.gitlab-ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..663b7b530b0b476902c3ffb0e18674d7bc16da2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/project.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+
+# This file overrides all the jobs defined in {{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab.ci-yml
+# this is to ensure they depend on the template installation artifact of the root
+# .gitlab-ci.yml from job `build-template`
+# The generated gitlab-ci.yml from this `build-template` job is used for the actual
+# trigger include to prevent including jobs that still contain template arguments
+
+
+trigger_prepare:
+  rules:
+    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "parent_pipeline"
+      when: never
+
+default:
+  # Bootstrap Cookiecutter template to test provided ci pipeline template
+  before_script:
+    - cd my_awesome_app
+
+run_lint:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+
+sast:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+
+dependency_scanning:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+
+secret_detection:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+
+.run_unit_test_version_base:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+
+# Run all unit tests for Python versions except the base image
+run_unit_tests:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+
+# Run code coverage on the base image thus also performing unit tests
+run_unit_tests_coverage:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+  artifacts:
+    reports:
+      coverage_report:
+        coverage_format: cobertura
+        path: my_awesome_app/coverage.xml
+    paths:
+      - my_awesome_app/htmlcov/*
+
+package_files:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+  artifacts:
+    expire_in: 1w
+    paths:
+      - my_awesome_app/dist/*
+
+package_docs:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+  artifacts:
+    expire_in: 1w
+    paths:
+      - my_awesome_app/docs/build/*
+
+#docker_build:
+#  needs:
+#    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+#      job: build-template
+#    - package_files
+#  before_script:
+#    - cd my_awesome_app
+
+run_integration_tests:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+    - package_files
+
+publish_on_gitlab:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+    - package_files
+
+publish_on_test_pypi:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+    - package_files
+
+publish_on_pypi:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+    - package_files
+
+publish_to_readthedocs:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
+    - package_docs
+
+release_job:
+  needs:
+    - pipeline: $PARENT_PIPELINE_ID
+      job: build-template
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.dockerignore b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..141f90da2fac6459ee10150e4cd3e12aff08a48b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+.tox
+build
+*.egg-info
+.venv
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitignore b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitignore
index 5513c1bf7cbca7a522e1ea44f306bda82a80975d..885470b5e93bf922433ae1741179f1c7ae07918a 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitignore
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitignore
@@ -1,13 +1,19 @@
 dist/*
 *.egg-info
 *.pyc
+.tox
+.venv
 
 .coverage
 coverage.xml
 htmlcov/*
+build
+dist
 
-# Tox
-.tox
+# Documentation
+docs/source/source_documentation
+!docs/source/source_documentation/index.rst
+docs/build
 
 # setuptools-scm
 src/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/_version.py
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 429482664900652365935d2c323b79eda4698a92..a08ac42cee44750882e09355b11c49321f1f5673 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ stages:
   - lint
   - test
   - package
+  - images
   - integration
   - publish # publish instead of deploy
 
@@ -35,22 +36,10 @@ trigger_prepare:
     strategy: depend
     include: .prepare.gitlab-ci.yml
 
-run_black:
+run_lint:
   stage: lint
   script:
-    - tox -e black
-  allow_failure: true
-
-run_flake8:
-  stage: lint
-  script:
-    - tox -e pep8
-  allow_failure: true
-
-run_pylint:
-  stage: lint
-  script:
-    - tox -e pylint
+    - tox -e lint
   allow_failure: true
 
 sast:
@@ -74,7 +63,7 @@ secret_detection:
   before_script:
     - python --version # For debugging
     - python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-    - pip install --upgrade tox twine
+    - python -m pip install --upgrade tox twine
 
 # Run all unit tests for Python versions except the base image
 run_unit_tests:
@@ -111,7 +100,7 @@ package_files:
       - dist/*
   script:
     - source scripts/setup-docker-host.sh
-    - cibuildwheel --platform linux --output-dir dist
+    - tox -e build-ci-linux
 
 package_docs:
   stage: package
@@ -156,8 +145,7 @@ publish_on_test_pypi:
     - package_files
   when: manual
   rules:
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
-  allow_failure: true
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG && $CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED == "true"'
   script:
     - echo "run twine for test pypi"
     # - |
@@ -175,8 +163,7 @@ publish_on_pypi:
     - package_files
   when: manual
   rules:
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
-  allow_failure: true
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG && $CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED == "true"'
   script:
     - echo "run twine for pypi"
     # - |
@@ -195,7 +182,7 @@ publish_to_readthedocs:
     - package_docs
   when: manual
   rules:
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG && $CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED == "true"'
   script:
     - echo "scp docs/* ???"
     - exit 1
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.pre-commit-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ce46e6463265d2ad9704a24ae7f467cb7b50d8d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+default_stages: [ pre-commit, pre-push ]
+default_language_version:
+  python: python3
+exclude: '^docs/.*\.py$'
+
+repos:
+  - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
+    rev: v4.5.0
+    hooks:
+      - id: end-of-file-fixer
+      - id: trailing-whitespace
+      - id: check-yaml
+      - id: check-toml
+      - id: detect-private-key
+  - repo: local
+    hooks:
+      - id: tox-lint
+        name: tox-lint (local)
+        entry: tox
+        language: python
+        types: [file, python]
+        args: ["-e",  "lint", "--"]
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CMakeLists.txt b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CMakeLists.txt
index ce8b8df75115ebd9a9fca2c573e62155c9316b22..3b8b18d44245570e86c55664f84148d1ab4c5f89 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ set(
     "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/cmake-extra-utils/cmake"
 )
 
+set(LARGEFILE_SOURCE)
+set(FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64)
+
 # Include script
 include(DynamicVersion)
 dynamic_version(
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/bin/install-hooks/pre-commit.sh b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/bin/install-hooks/pre-commit.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..792a3aabef83dc4ebf0c94635ae1de0e7412c479
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/bin/install-hooks/pre-commit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ ! -f "setup.sh" ]; then
+  echo "pre-commit.sh must be executed with repository root as working directory!"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+pre-commit install --hook-type pre-push
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/build-requirements.txt b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/build-requirements.txt
index 357a5ca22a4257b5aadfc73ae9ea9a3f97d12ef7..d2d6bde8d4c933d8debe5d02272df5fe446e288e 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/build-requirements.txt
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/build-requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-cibuildwheel >= 2.12.3 # BSD
+cibuildwheel==2.23.0 # BSD
 tox >= 4.0 # ?
 build >= 0.8.0 # MIT
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile
index 48d4586f1eb2c4755b370b9bb4c5fe079c97fed8..c984a99cffe069289e5377de2eeb03844f4f7ff8 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/ci-runner/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 FROM python:3.13
 
-RUN python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-RUN pip install --upgrade tox twine cibuildwheel==2.13.1
+RUN python -m pip install --upgrade cibuildwheel==2.23.0 pip tox twine
 RUN curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | sh
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1f7eb275020d13ed45cb7b0983949c12161ff953
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docker/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+ARG BUILD_ENV=no_copy
+
+FROM python:3.13 AS build_no_copy
+ADD ../../requirements.txt .
+COPY ../.. /work
+RUN rm -r /work/dist | true
+RUN python -m pip install --user tox
+WORKDIR /work
+RUN python -m tox -e build
+
+FROM python:3.13 AS build_copy
+COPY dist /work/dist
+
+FROM build_${BUILD_ENV} AS build
+
+FROM python:3.13-slim
+COPY --from=build /work/dist /dist
+RUN python -m pip install /dist/*.whl
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/cleanup.py b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/cleanup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3a4508d859234544bea35b1008e3c8e4f73d7cc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/cleanup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+#  Copyright (C) 2023 ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy)
+#  SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import os
+
+file_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+
+clean_dir = os.path.join(file_dir, "source", "source_documentation")
+print(f"Cleaning.. {clean_dir}/*")
+
+if not os.path.exists(clean_dir):
+    exit()
+
+for file_name in os.listdir(clean_dir):
+    file = os.path.join(clean_dir, file_name)
+    
+    if file_name == "index.rst":
+        continue
+
+    print(f"Removing.. {file}")
+    os.remove(file)
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/cleanup.sh b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/cleanup.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index aac4cef22a134a44b69e99369755a58507b3794f..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/docs/cleanup.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-FILE_DIR=$(dirname -- "$(readlink -f -- "${0}")")
-
-echo "Cleaning.. ${FILE_DIR}/source/source_documentation/*"
-
-for f in "${FILE_DIR}"/source/source_documentation/*
-do
-
-  case $f in
-    */index.rst) true;;
-    *) echo "Removing.. ${f}"; rm "${f}";;
-  esac
-done
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/pyproject.toml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/pyproject.toml
index db601f122b76f82a3f3037ee7524cfb28c4a75ff..9387c0154eca8246ceb08655539ae7427032d702 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/pyproject.toml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,13 +11,12 @@ name = "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}"
 dynamic = ["version"]
 description="{{cookiecutter.description}}"
 readme = "README.md"
-requires-python = ">=3.9"
+requires-python = ">=3.10"
 classifiers = [
   "Development Status :: 4 - Beta",
   "License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License",
   "Operating System :: OS Independent",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
-  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
@@ -46,20 +45,85 @@ archs = ["x86_64", "i686"]
 [tool.cibuildwheel.windows]
 archs = ["AMD64", "x86"]
 
-[tool.pylint]
-ignore = "_version.py"
-
-# This does nothing until the issue below is resolved:
-# https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8/issues/234
-[tool.flake8]
-max-line-length = 88
-extend-ignore = ["E203"]
-exclude = ["_version.py"]
-
-[tool.black]
-line-length = 88
-extend-exclude = '''
-(
-    _version.py
-)
-'''
+
+[tool.ruff]
+exclude = [
+    ".venv",
+    ".git",
+    ".tox",
+    "dist",
+    "docs",
+    "*lib/python*",
+    "*egg",
+    "_version.py"
+]
+
+[tool.ruff.lint]
+ignore = ["E203"]
+
+
+[tool.tox]
+# Generative environment list to test all supported Python versions
+requires = ["tox>=4.21", "tox-ignore-env-name-mismatch >= 0.2.0"]
+env_list = ["fix", "coverage", "lint", "format", "py{13, 12, 11, 10}"]
+
+[tool.tox.env_run_base]
+package = "editable"
+deps = [
+    "-r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt",
+    "-r{toxinidir}/tests/requirements.txt"]
+set_env = { LANGUAGE = "en_US", LC_ALL = "en_US.UTF-8", PYTHONWARNINGS = "default::DeprecationWarning", DYNAMIC_VERSION_SOURCE= "{toxinidir}" }
+commands = [["python", "--version"], ["python", "-m", "pytest", "tests/{posargs}"]]
+
+[tool.tox.env.fix]
+description = "format the code base to adhere to our styles, and complain about what we cannot do automatically"
+skip_install = true
+deps = ["pre-commit-uv>=4.1.1"]
+commands = [["pre-commit", "run", "--all-files", "--show-diff-on-failure"]]
+
+[tool.tox.env.coverage]
+commands = [
+    ["python", "--version"],
+    ["python", "-m", "pytest", "--cov-report", "term", "--cov-report", "xml", "--cov-report", "html", "--cov={{cookiecutter.project_slug}}", "tests/{posargs}"]]
+
+# Command prefixes to reuse the same virtualenv for all linting jobs.
+[tool.tox.env.lint]
+deps = [
+    "ruff",
+    "-r{toxinidir}/tests/requirements.txt"]
+commands = [
+    ["python", "-m", "ruff", "--version"],
+    ["python", "-m", "ruff", "check", { replace = "posargs", default = ["src", "tests"], extend = true }]
+]
+
+[tool.tox.env.format]
+deps = [
+    "ruff",
+    "-r{toxinidir}/tests/requirements.txt"]
+commands = [
+    ["python", "-m", "ruff", "format", "-v", { replace = "posargs", default = ["src", "tests"], extend = true }]
+]
+
+[tool.tox.env.docs]
+deps = [
+    "-r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt",
+    "-r{toxinidir}/docs/requirements.txt"]
+# unset LC_ALL / LANGUAGE from testenv, would fail sphinx otherwise
+set_env = ""
+changedir = "{tox_root}"
+commands = [
+    ["python", "docs/cleanup.py"],
+    ["sphinx-build", "-b", "html", "docs/source", "docs/build/html"]
+]
+
+[tool.tox.env.build-local]
+package = "wheel"
+deps = ["-r{toxinidir}/build-requirements.txt"]
+commands = [["python", "-m", "build"]]
+
+[tool.tox.env.build-ci-linux]
+package = "wheel"
+deps = ["-r{toxinidir}/build-requirements.txt"]
+allowlist_externals = ["docker", "which", "{work_dir}/.tox/bin/python"]
+pass_env = ["DOCKER_HOST", "DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY", "DOCKER_CERT_PATH"]
+commands = [["python", "-m", "cibuildwheel", "--platform", "linux", "--output-dir", "dist"]]
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.sh b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4548910b6ba00d9f564aea2ac5ddfab50c1d77db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2023 ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy)
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+
+# This file's directory is used to determine the station control directory
+# location.
+if [ -z ${BASH_SOURCE} ]; then
+  BASH_SOURCE=${(%):-%x}
+fi
+
+ABSOLUTE_PATH=$(realpath $(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE}))
+
+# Create a virtual environment directory if it doesn't exist
+VENV_DIR="${ABSOLUTE_PATH}/.venv"
+if [ ! -d "$VENV_DIR" ]; then
+    echo "Creating virtual environment..."
+    python3 -m venv "$VENV_DIR"
+fi
+
+# Activate the virtual environment
+source "$VENV_DIR/bin/activate"
+python -m pip install pre-commit
+python -m pip install "tox>=4.21.0"
+
+# Install git pre-commit pre-push hook
+if [ ! -f "${ABSOLUTE_PATH}/.git/hooks/pre-push.legacy" ]; then
+  source "${ABSOLUTE_PATH}/bin/install-hooks/pre-commit.sh"
+fi
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/requirements.txt b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/requirements.txt
index 82f1ee820e4b57fd3e720ad74078688cd87c2ead..b507faf8c6cc09660c41c58caa26d318e94cfd4d 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/requirements.txt
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/requirements.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,2 @@
-autopep8 >= 1.7.0 # MIT
-black >= 22.0.0 # MIT
-build >= 0.8.0 # MIT
-flake8 >= 5.0.0 # MIT
-pyproject-flake8 >= 5.0.4 # Unlicense
-pylint >= 2.15.0 # GPLv2
 pytest >= 7.0.0 # MIT
 pytest-cov >= 3.0.0 # MIT
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/test_cool_module.py b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/test_cool_module.py
index 19e5cd2bd0bff16fa00560bdb678f9345e4e79f4..2cacc8e76f00c2d40f10bf9ff2bd28f61ca6b59a 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/test_cool_module.py
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tests/test_cool_module.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+#  Copyright (C) 2025 ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy)
+#  SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
 """Testing of the Cool Module"""
 from unittest import TestCase
 
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini
deleted file mode 100644
index 37d15bad2be87979a4fdcde0a6a0b12de4ffb991..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-[tox]
-# Generative environment list to test all supported Python versions
-envlist = py3{9,10,11,12,13},black,pep8,pylint
-min_version = 4.3.3
-requires =
-    tox-ignore-env-name-mismatch >= 0.2.0
-
-[testenv]
-package = sdist  # 'Source' package required for binary extension
-use_develop = False  # use_develop implies 'editable' package, not possible
-
-setenv =
-    PYTHONWARNINGS=default::DeprecationWarning
-    DYNAMIC_VERSION_SOURCE={toxinidir}
-deps =
-    -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
-    -r{toxinidir}/tests/requirements.txt
-commands =
-    {envpython} --version
-    {envpython} -m pytest tests/{posargs}
-
-[testenv:coverage]
-commands =
-    {envpython} --version
-    {envpython} -m pytest --cov-report term --cov-report xml --cov-report html --cov={{cookiecutter.project_slug}} tests/{posargs}
-
-# Use generative name and command prefixes to reuse the same virtualenv
-# for all linting jobs.
-[testenv:{pep8,black,pylint,format}]
-usedevelop = False
-envdir = {toxworkdir}/linting
-commands =
-    pep8: {envpython} -m flake8 --version
-    pep8: {envpython} -m flake8 --exclude=_version.py --max-line-length 88 --extend-ignore=E203 src tests
-    black: {envpython} -m black --version
-    black: {envpython} -m black --check --diff src tests
-    pylint: {envpython} -m pylint --version
-    pylint: {envpython} -m pylint src tests
-    format: {envpython} -m autopep8 -v --max-line-length 88 -aa --in-place --recursive src
-    format: {envpython} -m autopep8 -v --max-line-length 88 -aa --in-place --recursive tests
-    format: {envpython} -m black -v src tests
-
-[testenv:docs]
-allowlist_externals =
-    sh
-; unset LC_ALL / LANGUAGE from testenv, would fail sphinx otherwise
-setenv =
-    PYTHONWARNINGS=default::DeprecationWarning
-    DYNAMIC_VERSION_SOURCE={toxinidir}
-deps =
-    -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
-    -r{toxinidir}/docs/requirements.txt
-changedir = {toxinidir}
-commands =
-    sh docs/cleanup.sh
-    sphinx-build -b html docs/source docs/build/html
-
-[testenv:{build-local,build-ci-linux}]
-deps =
-    -r{toxinidir}/tests/requirements.txt
-    -r{toxinidir}/build-requirements.txt
-skip_install = True
-commands =
-    build-local: {envpython} -m build
-    build-ci-linux: {envpython} -m cibuildwheel --platform linux --output-dir dist