# module-zero-core-template: one repository, two startup front ends

> The aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template repository ships a server rendered ASP.NET Core MVC project and a single page Angular project for teams starting on ASP.NET Boilerplate. It saves the initial wiring, but it hands you an AdminLTE interface and a very thin README along with it.

**aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template** — ASP.NET Core MVC / Angular Startup Project For ASP.NET Boilerplate

- Repository: https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template
- Website: https://aspnetboilerplate.com/Templates
- Stars: 963 · Forks: 573
- Language: C#
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-10-20 · Updated: 2026-10-20 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/aspnetboilerplate-module-zero-core-template

## Two startup shapes shipped from one repository

The template answers a narrow question: what does a fresh ASP.NET Boilerplate application look like before anyone writes a feature. The README describes two variants. One is an ASP.NET Core MVC project paired with jQuery, described as a server rendered multi page application. The other is ASP.NET Core with Angular, described as a single page application. The repository description itself names the second pair only, calling the project an ASP.NET Core MVC and Angular startup project, which is a fair summary but not a complete one, since the MVC and jQuery variant is the other half of what ships here.

The layout reflects that split. At the top level you find separate client folders for angular, reactjs and vue, an aspnet-core folder for the server side, plus _screenshots, a rename.ps1 script, and the usual .gitignore and .gitattributes. The aspnet-core folder is the part that cannot be swapped out, because both documented variants are ASP.NET Core applications on the server. Which client folder you actually use is a decision the reader has to make from the outside, because the README documents the MVC with jQuery route and the Angular route in detail but says nothing about the reactjs and vue folders.

That gap matters more than it first appears. A directory named reactjs or vue in a repository described as an MVC and Angular project is either an unfinished experiment or a variant the documentation has not caught up with. Either way, a team that wants React here will get no instructions.

## The AdminLTE shell comes built in, and you inherit it

The user interface is based on the AdminLTE theme, and the screenshots make the consequence obvious. There is a sample dashboard page, a user creation modal and a login page. That is not a library of neutral components but a finished administrative look: a backend console with a sidebar, a header and modals for creating records.

For a team that has never run ASP.NET Boilerplate, this is the fastest possible demonstration of what the framework does out of the box. The login screen and the user creation modal show the authentication and user management parts of the stack already working, so you can evaluate them before writing a line of your own.

For a product team, it is also a liability that has to be priced in. AdminLTE is a specific visual identity, and replacing it means touching every page that was handed to you. The screens are also rendered with the framework's default styling, so they will not match any existing design system your company already has. Decide early whether you are using the look or discarding it, because the cost of the second option grows with every screen you add on top.

## The template gallery is the only documented way in

There is no install command, and no build step is described. The README points you at the project's own template page and tells you to create and download your project from there, so the flow is a browser step rather than a command line one. The address to open is:

```bash
https://aspnetboilerplate.com/Templates
```

Pick one of the two documented variants there, ASP.NET Core MVC with jQuery or ASP.NET Core with Angular, and the gallery produces the project for you. From that point the two documentation links in the README become your reference, one per variant, hosted on the same site.

What you do not get is a written first run. There is no instruction for restoring a database, no seed data walkthrough, no note about which connection string to change, and no guidance on running the client side build for the Angular variant. The screenshots show what the finished application looks like, which means the visual result is known, but the path from an empty machine to that result is not documented anywhere in the repository. Budget time for that reverse engineering yourself, or accept that the first afternoon with the template will be spent finding the database configuration.

## rename.ps1 hints at a Windows only renaming workflow

One file at the root stands out because nothing else explains it: rename.ps1. A PowerShell script sitting beside the project folders is the standard way people rename a template so it stops calling itself Sample or whatever the generator left behind. The README never mentions the file, so the exact steps it performs, which identifiers it rewrites, and whether it touches both the aspnet-core folder and the client folders are all unconfirmed. Treat it as a hint about the intended workflow rather than a documented tool.

The extension matters for one group of readers in particular. A .ps1 script runs in PowerShell, and PowerShell is available on Linux and macOS, but developers arriving from the .NET world on Unix often meet it first in the context of Windows only tooling. If your team standardises on shell scripts, be prepared to translate the renaming logic yourself, and verify the result by searching for the old project name across the solution and the client packages.

The larger issue is that renaming is where templates usually break. A project renamed halfway leaves stale namespace references or a client build that still points at the old bundle. There is no test script or verification step documented, so the check falls to you.

## Bug reports for this template belong to another repository

The very first line of the README is an important one, and it is easy to skim past. Issues of this repository are tracked on the aspnetboilerplate/aspnetboilerplate repository, and the README asks you to create your issues there instead of here. The address to use is:

```bash
https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/aspnetboilerplate/issues
```

So this repository is a template and a set of front end assets, while the framework itself lives in a different place and owns the tracker. In practice this means two things. A defect you find in the template's server side code has to be filed against the framework repository, which means telling reviewers which variant and which part of the template produced it. And the template repository itself carries no issue history of its own, so you cannot use its tracker to judge whether a problem you are hitting is known.

The README also links out to the framework documentation and to the two template documents, so the project is deliberately documentation light. That is a deliberate trade-off, but it moves the cost onto the reader, who has to reconstruct the setup from screenshots and framework pages.

## Tags stop short of the last push, so read both dates

The project is not archived. The last push was on 2026-10-02, which is recent enough that the repository is being worked on, and it is worth separating that fact from the release list. The recorded releases are v10.0.0 on 2024-11-21, v10.0.1 on 2025-01-15 and v10.2.0 on 2025-06-02. So the newest tag predates the newest commit by more than sixteen months.

That gap tells you that the tags are not the source of truth for what is in the tree. If you clone the default branch, master, you are getting code that has not been cut as a release. If you pin a tag for reproducibility, you are pinning something several months older than the work in progress. Either choice is defensible, but pick it deliberately, and expect to test the master branch harder than a tag would require.

Licensing is simpler. The project uses the MIT license, and the README points to the LICENSE file in the repository root. MIT is permissive and carries no copyleft obligation, so you can take the template into a proprietary product without source disclosure duties for the template itself. That is a statement about the licence terms only, not about the third party assets the template pulls in, such as the AdminLTE theme, which carry their own licences.

## Against starting from the framework documentation alone

The realistic alternative to this template is not another template but the framework itself, worked from the ASP.NET Boilerplate documentation that the README links to. The difference in approach is concrete. The framework documentation explains how the framework works and what you can build with it. The template gives you a project that already has a login page, a user creation modal, a dashboard and a client side setup wired to the server, with the AdminLTE look applied. Starting from the documentation means assembling those parts yourself; starting from the template means deleting the parts you do not want.

For a first ASP.NET Boilerplate application, the template is the faster route, because the framework's own learning curve sits on top of .NET and client side tooling. The template also shortens the path to a demo, which matters when you need to show a non engineering stakeholder something that runs.

For a long lived product, the trade-off flips. The generated project carries a UI you did not choose and a set of dependencies you did not pick, and the documentation gives you no guidance on pruning them. Teams with an existing front end stack, or with a design system already in place, usually get further by using the framework documentation and their own UI. The other alternative, the reactjs and vue folders in the repository, is not an option you can evaluate, because the README does not describe them.

## Conclusion

Adopt this template when you want a working ASP.NET Boilerplate application shell today and do not mind an AdminLTE interface you will replace later. Skip it if your team needs Vue or React, needs documented database and seeding steps, or expects a project you can rename from the command line on Linux. Before you commit, check that the generated project builds against the ASP.NET Boilerplate version you plan to use, because the newest tag here is v10.2.0 from 2025-06-02 while the last push was on 2026-10-02.

## FAQ

### How do I create a new project from module-zero-core-template?

The README tells you to create and download the project from the template gallery at https://aspnetboilerplate.com/Templates. You choose either the ASP.NET Core MVC with jQuery variant or the ASP.NET Core and Angular variant there, and the repository itself is not cloned and built as a normal app.

### Which front end frameworks does module-zero-core-template support?

The README documents two versions, ASP.NET Core MVC with jQuery and ASP.NET Core with Angular. The repository also contains reactjs and vue folders at the top level, but the README does not describe them or how to use them.

### Where do I report a bug in module-zero-core-template?

Issues of this repository are tracked on the aspnetboilerplate/aspnetboilerplate repository, and the README asks you to create your issues on https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/aspnetboilerplate/issues rather than in the template repository.

### What licence does module-zero-core-template use?

The project is published under the MIT licence, and the README links to the LICENSE file in the repository root. The README does not list licences for the AdminLTE theme it uses for the interface.

## Sources

- [aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template on GitHub](https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template)
- [License: MIT](https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template/blob/master/LICENSE)
- [Project website](https://aspnetboilerplate.com/Templates)
- [README](https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template/blob/master/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/module-zero-core-template/releases)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/aspnetboilerplate-module-zero-core-template