--- a/makeitso/python.py	Tue Jul 30 15:20:38 2013 -0700
+++ b/makeitso/python.py	Tue Jul 30 15:29:56 2013 -0700
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@
 
 class PythonTemplate(MakeItSoTemplate):
   """abstract base class for python-type templates"""
+  vars = [Variable('description'),
+          Variable('author', 'author of the package'),
+          Variable('email', "author's email"),
+          Variable('url', 'project url'),
+          Variable('repo', 'project repository'),
+          ]
 
   def path2name(self, path):
     return os.path.basename(path.rstrip(os.path.sep))
@@ -33,7 +39,7 @@
 class PythonScriptTemplate(PythonTemplate):
   """template for a single python script"""
   templates = [('python_package', '{{package}}', '{{main}}.py')]
-
+  vars = [Variable('description')]
 
 class PythonModuleTemplate(PythonTemplate):
   """single module python package"""