diff --git a/packages/cli/lib/commands/create.js b/packages/cli/lib/commands/create.js
index d420dd81a..b399b5e1d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/lib/commands/create.js
+++ b/packages/cli/lib/commands/create.js
@@ -8,7 +8,15 @@ const { green } = require('kleur');
 const { resolve, join } = require('path');
 const { prompt } = require('prompts');
 const isValidName = require('validate-npm-package-name');
-const { info, isDir, hasCommand, error, trim, warn } = require('../util');
+const {
+	info,
+	isDir,
+	hasCommand,
+	error,
+	trim,
+	warn,
+	dirExists,
+} = require('../util');
 const { addScripts, install, initGit } = require('../lib/setup');
 
 const ORG = 'preactjs-templates';
@@ -16,14 +24,6 @@ const RGX = /\.(woff2?|ttf|eot|jpe?g|ico|png|gif|webp|mp4|mov|ogg|webm)(\?.*)?$/
 const isMedia = str => RGX.test(str);
 const capitalize = str => str.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + str.substring(1);
 
-function directoryExists(workingDir, destDir) {
-	if (workingDir && destDir) {
-		const target = resolve(workingDir, destDir);
-		return isDir(target);
-	}
-	return false;
-}
-
 // Formulate Questions if `create` args are missing
 function requestParams(argv) {
 	const cwd = resolve(argv.cwd);
@@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ function requestParams(argv) {
 			message: 'Directory to create the app',
 		},
 		{
-			type: prev =>
-				!directoryExists(cwd, prev || argv.dest) ? null : 'confirm',
+			type: prev => (!dirExists(cwd, prev || argv.dest) ? null : 'confirm'),
 			name: 'force',
 			message: 'The destination directory exists. Overwrite?',
 			initial: false,
@@ -222,12 +221,20 @@ module.exports = async function(repo, dest, argv) {
 
 	if (keeps.length) {
 		// eslint-disable-next-line
-		let dict = new Map();
+		const dict = new Map();
+		const templateVar = str => new RegExp(`{{\\s?${str}\\s}}`, 'g');
+
+		dict.set(templateVar('pkg-install'), isYarn ? 'yarn' : 'npm install');
+		dict.set(templateVar('pkg-run'), isYarn ? 'yarn' : 'npm run');
+		dict.set(templateVar('pkg-add'), isYarn ? 'yarn add' : 'npm install');
+		dict.set(templateVar('now-year'), new Date().getFullYear());
+		dict.set(templateVar('license'), argv.license || 'MIT');
+
 		// TODO: concat author-driven patterns
 		['name'].forEach(str => {
 			// if value is defined
 			if (argv[str] !== void 0) {
-				dict.set(new RegExp(`{{\\s?${str}\\s}}`, 'g'), argv[str]);
+				dict.set(templateVar(str), argv[str]);
 			}
 		});
 		// Update each file's contents
diff --git a/packages/cli/lib/index.js b/packages/cli/lib/index.js
index 97f32799c..04a270308 100755
--- a/packages/cli/lib/index.js
+++ b/packages/cli/lib/index.js
@@ -61,11 +61,12 @@ prog
 	.describe('Create a new application')
 	.option('--name', 'The application name')
 	.option('--cwd', 'A directory to use instead of $PWD', '.')
-	.option('--force', 'Force destination output; will override!')
+	.option('--force', 'Force destination output; will override!', false)
 	.option('--install', 'Install dependencies', true)
-	.option('--yarn', 'Use `yarn` instead of `npm`')
-	.option('--git', 'Initialize git repository')
-	.option('-v, --verbose', 'Verbose output')
+	.option('--yarn', 'Use `yarn` instead of `npm`', false)
+	.option('--git', 'Initialize git repository', false)
+	.option('--license', 'License type', 'MIT')
+	.option('-v, --verbose', 'Verbose output', false)
 	.action(commands.create);
 
 prog
diff --git a/packages/cli/lib/util.js b/packages/cli/lib/util.js
index 555db47d6..8e8a5b40d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/lib/util.js
+++ b/packages/cli/lib/util.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const { blue, yellow, red } = require('kleur');
-const { normalize } = require('path');
+const { normalize, resolve } = require('path');
 const { statSync, existsSync } = require('fs');
 const symbols = require('./symbols');
 const which = require('which');
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ exports.isDir = function(str) {
 	return existsSync(str) && statSync(str).isDirectory();
 };
 
+exports.dirExists = function(workingDir, destDir) {
+	if (workingDir && destDir) {
+		const target = resolve(workingDir, destDir);
+		return exports.isDir(target);
+	}
+	return false;
+};
+
 exports.hasCommand = function(str) {
 	return !!which.sync(str, { nothrow: true });
 };