Add component category field to template manifest

[nick-pape]

Description

Adds a required category field to the template.json manifest schema, enabling templates to be grouped and filtered by component type. This implements issue #97.

Categories: webpart, extension, ace, library

Changes:

• Added SPFX_TEMPLATE_CATEGORIES const array and SPFxTemplateCategory type
• Added category to ISPFxTemplateJson interface and SPFxTemplateDefinitionSchema (Zod enum, required)
• Added category getter to SPFxTemplateJsonFile and SPFxTemplate
• Updated SPFxTemplate.toString() to include the category line
• Exported new symbols from the public API barrel
• Updated all 17 template.json files with appropriate category values
• Updated API reference in README

How was this tested

• rush build — all 22 projects build cleanly with no warnings
• rushx build in api/spfx-template-api — all 220 unit tests pass (including new category getter tests, schema validation tests for valid/invalid/missing categories)
• rushx build in apps/spfx-cli — all 46 CLI tests pass
• Template integration tests (tests/spfx-template-test) — all 19 tests pass with updated snapshots

Type of change

• New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)

Closes #97

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a required category field to SPFx template.json manifests and surfaces it through the @microsoft/spfx-template-api object model, enabling templates to be grouped/filtered by component type.

Changes:

• Introduces SPFX_TEMPLATE_CATEGORIES + SPFxTemplateCategory, and makes category required in ISPFxTemplateJson + Zod schema validation.
• Exposes category on SPFxTemplateJsonFile and SPFxTemplate and includes it in SPFxTemplate.toString() output.
• Updates all template manifests and refreshes unit/integration test snapshots and API docs/README.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 31 out of 31 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tests/spfx-template-test/test-template/template.json	Adds category to the test template manifest.
tests/spfx-template-test/src/tests/snapshots/templates.test.ts.snap	Updates snapshots to include the new “Category” line in template output.
tests/spfx-template-test/src/tests/snapshots/multi-component.test.ts.snap	Updates multi-component snapshots to include the new “Category” line.
templates/ace-data-visualization/template.json	Adds category: "ace" to the template manifest.
templates/ace-generic-card/template.json	Adds category: "ace" to the template manifest.
templates/ace-generic-image-card/template.json	Adds category: "ace" to the template manifest.
templates/ace-generic-primarytext-card/template.json	Adds category: "ace" to the template manifest.
templates/ace-search-card/template.json	Adds category: "ace" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-application-customizer/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-fieldcustomizer-minimal/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-fieldcustomizer-noframework/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-fieldcustomizer-react/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-formcustomizer-noframework/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-formcustomizer-react/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-listviewcommandset/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/extension-search-query-modifier/template.json	Adds category: "extension" to the template manifest.
templates/library/template.json	Adds category: "library" to the template manifest.
templates/webpart-minimal/template.json	Adds category: "webpart" to the template manifest.
templates/webpart-noframework/template.json	Adds category: "webpart" to the template manifest.
templates/webpart-react/template.json	Adds category: "webpart" to the template manifest.
common/changes/@microsoft/spfx-cli/add-template-category_2026-03-24.json	Adds a Rush change file for the PR.
api/spfx-template-api/src/templating/test/SPFxTemplateJsonFile.test.ts	Updates tests for required category + adds schema/category test coverage.
api/spfx-template-api/src/templating/test/SPFxTemplate.test.ts	Updates template tests to require/expose category and validates toString() output.
api/spfx-template-api/src/templating/index.ts	Re-exports new public category symbols from the templating barrel.
api/spfx-template-api/src/templating/SPFxTemplateJsonFile.ts	Defines category constants/types; makes category required and validates via Zod enum; adds getter.
api/spfx-template-api/src/templating/SPFxTemplate.ts	Adds category getter and includes it in toString().
api/spfx-template-api/src/repositories/test/SPFxTemplateRepositoryManager.test.ts	Updates repository manager tests to include required category.
api/spfx-template-api/src/repositories/test/SPFxTemplateCollection.test.ts	Updates template collection tests to include required category.
api/spfx-template-api/src/index.ts	Exports new category symbols from the public API entrypoint.
api/spfx-template-api/etc/spfx-template-api.api.md	Updates API Extractor output to include new category API surface.
api/spfx-template-api/README.md	Updates the API reference table to document category and category-related exports.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 31 out of 31 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

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[nick-pape]

Manual Test Results

Ran a manual test pass against the built artifacts on this branch. All tests pass.

Schema Validation

• PASS — SPFX_TEMPLATE_CATEGORIES exports correctly as ['webpart', 'extension', 'ace', 'library']
• PASS — All 4 valid category values accepted by SPFxTemplateDefinitionSchema
• PASS — Invalid category ('widget') rejected by schema
• PASS — Missing category field rejected by schema

Property Getters

• PASS — SPFxTemplateJsonFile.category returns correct value
• PASS — SPFxTemplate.category delegates correctly to definition

toString() Output

• PASS — SPFxTemplate.toString() includes Category: line between Name and Description
• PASS — SPFxTemplateCollection.toString() includes Category for all 17 templates
• PASS — All 4 category values appear in collection output

Public API Exports

• PASS — SPFX_TEMPLATE_CATEGORIES exported from package index
• PASS — SPFxTemplate prototype has category getter
• PASS — SPFxTemplateJsonFile prototype has category getter

Template Loading (all 17 templates from disk)

• PASS — 3 webpart templates → category: 'webpart'
• PASS — 8 extension templates → category: 'extension'
• PASS — 5 ace templates → category: 'ace'
• PASS — 1 library template → category: 'library'

End-to-End Rendering

• PASS — SPFxTemplate.fromFolderAsync() loads template with category, renders 23 files
• PASS — SPFxTemplate.fromMemoryAsync() works with category field
• PASS — fromMemoryAsync rejects missing category
• PASS — fromMemoryAsync rejects invalid category

Note on CLI

The spfx list-templates CLI command currently always includes the default GitHub remote source. Since this PR hasn't been merged yet, the remote templates on main don't have the category field and fail validation — this is expected and will resolve once the PR is merged.