diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1413d60..5e581a5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@ venv.bak/
 .spyderproject
 .spyproject
 
+# Pycharm project settings
+.idea
+
 # Rope project settings
 .ropeproject
 
diff --git a/cookiecutter.json b/cookiecutter.json
index af770e2..d370543 100644
--- a/cookiecutter.json
+++ b/cookiecutter.json
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     "short_description": "",
     "author_name": "",
     "author_email": "",
+    "project_url": "",
     "license": [
         "BSD 3-Clause",
         "GNU GPL v3+",
@@ -11,7 +12,6 @@
         "BSD 2-Clause",
         "Other"
     ],
-    "project_url": "",
     "minimum_python_version": [
         "3.9",
         "3.10",
@@ -21,11 +21,13 @@
     "use_compiled_extensions": "n",
     "enable_dynamic_dev_versions": "n",
     "include_example_code": "n",
+    "include_cruft_update_github_workflow": "n",
     "_sphinx_theme": "alabaster",
     "_parent_project": "",
     "_install_requires": "",
     "_copy_without_render": [
         "docs/_templates",
-        "docs/_static"
+        "docs/_static",
+        ".github/workflows/sub_package_update.yml"
     ]
 }
diff --git a/docs/docs.rst b/docs/docs.rst
index 7beb130..36c3cdb 100644
--- a/docs/docs.rst
+++ b/docs/docs.rst
@@ -119,10 +119,11 @@ mentioned in ``dependencies``):
 .. code-block:: toml
 
     [project.optional-dependencies]
-    docs =
+    docs = [
         sphinx
         sphinx-automodapi
         numpydoc
+    ]
 
 This will then allow contributors to type::
 
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 2ec8637..c988500 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -22,7 +22,22 @@ Using the Template
 
 With this guide is a `cookiecutter <https://cookiecutter.readthedocs.io/>`__ template which allows you to get started quickly with a package as described in this guide.
 
-To get started run:
+To create a new package based on the template run:
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+   $ pip install cookiecutter cruft
+   $ cruft create https://github.com/OpenAstronomy/packaging-guide
+
+and go through the steps offered in the cli naming your package and filling in your details.
+Cruft is built on cookiecutter, and enables the updating of the template from the source.
+This takes the form of pull requests to the repository that the new package is pushed to.
+If a package already has a cookiecutter template, it can be linked to the parent repository using ``cruft link url-to-template``.
+
+To manually check whether the current environment matches with the template then ``cruft check`` will tell you what the current status is.
+``cruft update`` will manually trigger an updating of the package to the template.
+
+If you would like to stick to simply the cookiecutter approach, the template still supports that functionality thusly:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
diff --git a/hooks/post_gen_project.py b/hooks/post_gen_project.py
index 098fc45..94ff8ab 100644
--- a/hooks/post_gen_project.py
+++ b/hooks/post_gen_project.py
@@ -34,9 +34,16 @@ def process_version(enable_dynamic_dev_versions):
         remove_dir(os.path.join(PROJECT_DIRECTORY, '{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}', '_dev'))
         remove_file(os.path.join(PROJECT_DIRECTORY, '{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}', 'version.py'))
 
+
+def process_github_workflow(include_cruft_update_github_workflow):
+    if include_cruft_update_github_workflow != "y":
+        remove_dir(os.path.join(PROJECT_DIRECTORY,  '.github'))
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     process_license('{{ cookiecutter.license }}')
     process_version('{{ cookiecutter.enable_dynamic_dev_versions }}')
+    process_github_workflow('{{ cookiecutter.include_cruft_update_github_workflow }}')
     include_examples = '{{ cookiecutter.include_example_code }}' == 'y'
     use_compiled = '{{ cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions }}' == 'y'
 
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.github/workflows/sub_package_update.yml b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.github/workflows/sub_package_update.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9946610
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.github/workflows/sub_package_update.yml	
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+"""
+This template is taken from the cruft example code, for further information please see:
+https://cruft.github.io/cruft/#automating-updates-with-github-actions
+"""
+name: Automatic Update from package template
+permissions:
+    contents: write
+    pull-requests: write
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      main
+jobs:
+  update:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: true
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - add-paths: .
+            body: Use this to merge the changes to the repo
+            branch: cruft/update
+            commit-message: "Automate package template update"
+            title: Incoming updates from package template
+          - add-paths: .cruft.json
+            body: Use this to reject changes in the repo
+            branch: cruft/reject
+            commit-message: "Chore: reject this cruft update"
+            title: Reject new updates from package template
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.10"
+
+      - name: Install Cruft
+        run: pip3 install cruft
+
+      - name: Check if update is available
+        continue-on-error: false
+        id: check
+        run: |
+          CHANGES=0
+          if [ -f .cruft.json ]; then
+            if ! cruft check; then 
+              CHANGES=1
+            fi
+          else
+            echo "No .cruft.json file"
+          fi
+          
+          echo "has_changes=$CHANGES" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Run update if available
+        if: steps.check.outputs.has_changes == '1'
+        run: |
+          git config --global user.email "gromit@cruft.com"
+          git config --global user.name "Gromit"
+          
+          cruft update --skip-apply-ask --refresh-private-variables
+          git restore --staged
+
+      - name: Create pull request
+        if: steps.check.output.has_changes == '1'
+        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          add-paths: ${{ matrix.add-paths }}
+          commit-message: ${{ matrix.commit-message }}
+          branch: ${{ matrix.branch }}
+          delete-branch: true
+          branch-suffix: timestamp
+          title: ${{ matrix.title }}
+          body: |
+            This is an autogenerated PR. ${{ matrix.body }}
+              [Cruft](https://cruft.github.io/cruft/) has detected updates from the Package Template 
+
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.gitignore b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.gitignore
index 68bc17f..8fb9b8a 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.gitignore	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/.gitignore	
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ share/python-wheels/
 .installed.cfg
 *.egg
 MANIFEST
+{%- if cookiecutter.enable_dynamic_dev_versions == 'y' %}
+{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}/_version.py
+{% else %}
+{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}/version.py
+{% endif -%}
 
 # PyInstaller
 #  Usually these files are written by a python script from a template
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/MANIFEST.in b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/MANIFEST.in
index b85dfb5..93b7800 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/MANIFEST.in	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/MANIFEST.in	
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ prune build
 prune docs/_build
 prune docs/api
 global-exclude *.pyc *.o
-{% if cookiecutter.enable_dynamic_dev_versions == 'y' %}
+{%- if cookiecutter.enable_dynamic_dev_versions == 'y' %}
 
 # This subpackage is only used in development checkouts
 # and should not be included in built tarballs
 prune {{ cookiecutter.module_name }}/_dev
-{% endif %}
\ No newline at end of file
+{% endif -%}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/pyproject.toml b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/pyproject.toml
index 52c34fa..35dd992 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/pyproject.toml	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/pyproject.toml	
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 [build-system]
 requires = [
-  "setuptools>=61.2",
+  "setuptools>=62.1",
   "setuptools_scm[toml]>=6.2",
   "wheel",
-{% if cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions == 'y' %}
+{%- if cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions == 'y' %}
   "extension-helpers",
   "oldest-supported-numpy",
   "cython"
-{% endif %}
+{% endif -%}
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
@@ -17,16 +17,21 @@ description = "{{ cookiecutter.short_description }}"
 readme = "README.rst"
 requires-python = ">={{ cookiecutter.minimum_python_version }}"
 license = { file = "licenses/LICENSE.rst", content-type = "text/plain" }
-{% if cookiecutter.author_name and cookiecutter.author_email %}
+{%- if cookiecutter.author_name and cookiecutter.author_email %}
 authors = [
   { name = "{{ cookiecutter.author_name }}", email = "{{ cookiecutter.author_email }}" },
 ]
-{% endif %}
+{%- endif %}
 dependencies = [
-  {{ cookiecutter._install_requires }}
+  {{- cookiecutter._install_requires -}}
 ]
 dynamic = ["version"]
 
+{% if cookiecutter.include_example_code == 'y' -%}
+[project.scripts]
+open_astronomy_package_template_example = "{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}.example_mod:main"
+
+{% endif -%}
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 test = [
     "pytest",
@@ -38,15 +43,10 @@ docs = [
     "tomli; python_version <\"3.11\"",
 ]
 
-{% if cookiecutter.include_example_code == 'y' %}
-[project.scripts]
-astropy_package_template_example = "{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}.example_mod:main"
-{% endif %}
-
-{% if cookiecutter.project_url %}
+{% if cookiecutter.project_url -%}
 [project.urls]
 repository = "{{ cookiecutter.project_url }}"
-{% endif %}
+{%- endif %}
 
 [tool.setuptools]
 zip-safe = false
@@ -55,12 +55,11 @@ include-package-data = true
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 
 [tool.setuptools_scm]
-{% if cookiecutter.enable_dynamic_dev_versions == 'y' %}
+{% if cookiecutter.enable_dynamic_dev_versions == 'y' -%}
 write_to = "{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}/_version.py"
-{% else %}
+{%- else -%}
 write_to = "{{ cookiecutter.module_name }}/version.py"
-{% endif %}
-
+{%- endif %}
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 testpaths = [
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/setup.py b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/setup.py
index 2f51fe7..c98cd51 100755
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/setup.py	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/setup.py	
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 from setuptools import setup
-{% if cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions == 'y' %}
+{%- if cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions == 'y' %}
 from extension_helpers import get_extensions
-{% endif %}
+{%- endif %}
 
-setup(
-{% if cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions == 'y' %}
+setup( {%- if cookiecutter.use_compiled_extensions == 'y' -%}
     ext_modules=get_extensions()
-{% endif %}
-)
+{%- endif -%} )
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/tox.ini b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/tox.ini
index 58f8528..549c04e 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/tox.ini	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.package_name }}/tox.ini	
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ commands =
 description = invoke sphinx-build to build the HTML docs
 change_dir =
     docs
-extras = 
+extras =
     docs
 commands =
     sphinx-build -j auto --color -W --keep-going -b html -d _build/.doctrees . _build/html {posargs}