diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 include(FeatureSummary)
 include(ECMOptionalAddSubdirectory)
 include(ECMQtDeclareLoggingCategory)
+include(KDEPackageAppTemplates)
 
 find_package(KF5Activities ${KF5_MIN_VERSION})
 set_package_properties(KF5Activities PROPERTIES DESCRIPTION "management of Plasma activities"
@@ -164,4 +165,7 @@
 ecm_optional_add_subdirectory(xembed-sni-proxy)
 
 add_subdirectory(soliduiserver)
+
+add_subdirectory(templates)
+
 feature_summary(WHAT ALL INCLUDE_QUIET_PACKAGES FATAL_ON_MISSING_REQUIRED_PACKAGES)
diff --git a/templates/CMakeLists.txt b/templates/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+set(apptemplate_DIRS
+    ion-dataengine
+)
+
+kde_package_app_templates(TEMPLATES ${apptemplate_DIRS} INSTALL_DIR ${KDE_INSTALL_KTEMPLATESDIR})
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/CMakeLists.txt b/templates/ion-dataengine/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.12 FATAL_ERROR)
+
+project(plasma-%{APPNAMEID})
+
+set(QT_MIN_VERSION "5.5.0")
+set(KF5_MIN_VERSION "5.18.0")
+
+find_package(ECM 1.8.0 REQUIRED NO_MODULE)
+set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake ${ECM_MODULE_PATH} ${ECM_KDE_MODULE_DIR})
+
+find_package(Qt5 ${QT_MIN_VERSION} CONFIG REQUIRED
+    COMPONENTS
+        Gui
+        Network
+)
+
+find_package(KF5 ${KF5_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED
+    COMPONENTS
+        Plasma
+        UnitConversion
+)
+
+find_package(PlasmaWeatherIon REQUIRED)
+set_package_properties(PlasmaWeatherIon PROPERTIES
+    DESCRIPTION "Plasma Weather Ion library"
+    TYPE REQUIRED
+)
+
+include(KDEInstallDirs)
+include(KDECMakeSettings)
+include(KDECompilerSettings NO_POLICY_SCOPE)
+
+add_subdirectory(src)
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/Messages.sh b/templates/ion-dataengine/Messages.sh
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/Messages.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+$XGETTEXT `find . -name \*.cpp` -o $podir/plasma_engine_ion_%{APPNAMELC}.pot
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/README b/templates/ion-dataengine/README
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/README
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+Plasma Weather Ion Dataengine
+-----------------------------
+
+-- Note --
+
+Remember that this dataengine relies on a semi-public API,
+as exposed by the "plasma/weather/ion.h" header.
+While this API has been the same for some time, there is no guarantee
+that it will be stable for all future versions of the weather dataengine
+as part of Plasma Workspace.
+
+The main purpose of having this interface semi-public is to allow everyone
+to easily develop adapters to more weather data providers,
+without needing to work directly in the module plasma-workspace.
+
+Once your ion dataengine is nicely working, please consider to merge
+it into the KDE module plasma-workspace with the existing ion dataengines.
+Looking forward to cover another weather data providers with your help :)
+
+
+-- Build instructions --
+
+cd /where/your/ion/is/generated
+mkdir build
+cd build
+cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=MYPREFIX ..
+make
+make install
+
+(MYPREFIX is where you install your Plasma setup, replace it accordingly)
+
+
+-- Test instructions --
+
+Test your ion dataengine with
+plasmaengineexplorer --engine weather
+where you should see your ion listed in the default data "ions".
+You then can test the ion itself by entering into the field for "Source name" e.g.
+%{APPNAMELC}|weather|foo
+or
+%{APPNAMELC}|validate|foo
+with "foo" being some location term which makes sense for your ion dataengine,
+and triggering the button "Request Source".
+
+
+Or try to use it from the Plasma Addons Weather widget.
+Start the widget in a test window with
+plasmawindowed org.kde.plasma.weather
+and then see to use your ion dataengine by configuring the widget to use
+a weatherstation provided via your ion dataengine
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/cmake/FindPlasmaWeatherIon.cmake b/templates/ion-dataengine/cmake/FindPlasmaWeatherIon.cmake
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/cmake/FindPlasmaWeatherIon.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# - Try to find the Plasma Weather Ion library
+# Once done this will define
+#
+#  PlasmaWeatherIon_FOUND - system has Plasma Weather Ion
+#  PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR - the Plasma Weather Ion include directory
+#  PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARIES - Plasma Weather Ion library
+
+if (PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR AND PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY)
+    # Already in cache, be silent
+    set(PlasmaWeatherIon_FIND_QUIETLY TRUE)
+endif (PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR AND PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY)
+
+find_path(PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR NAMES plasma/weather/ion.h)
+find_library(PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY weather_ion)
+
+if (PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR AND PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY)
+    set(PlasmaWeatherIon_FOUND TRUE)
+    set(PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARIES ${PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY})
+endif (PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR AND PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY)
+
+if (PlasmaWeatherIon_FOUND)
+    if (NOT PlasmaWeatherIon_FIND_QUIETLY)
+        message(STATUS "Found Plasma Weather Ion library: ${PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARIES}")
+    endif (NOT PlasmaWeatherIon_FIND_QUIETLY)
+else (PlasmaWeatherIon_FOUND)
+    if (PlasmaWeatherIon_FIND_REQUIRED)
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Plasma Weather Ion library was not found")
+    endif(PlasmaWeatherIon_FIND_REQUIRED)
+endif (PlasmaWeatherIon_FOUND)
+
+mark_as_advanced(PlasmaWeatherIon_INCLUDE_DIR PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARY)
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/ion-dataengine.kdevtemplate b/templates/ion-dataengine/ion-dataengine.kdevtemplate
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/ion-dataengine.kdevtemplate
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# KDE Config File
+[General]
+Name=Plasma Weather Ion Dataengine
+Comment=A special Plasma sub-dataengine for the Plasma Weather dataengine, providing access to one weather data service provider.
+ShowFilesAfterGeneration=%{PROJECTDIR}/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.cpp
+Category=KDE/Plasma Dataengine
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/src/CMakeLists.txt b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+add_definitions(-DTRANSLATION_DOMAIN=\"plasma_engine_ion_%{APPNAMELC}\")
+
+add_library(ion_%{APPNAMELC} MODULE ion-%{APPNAMELC}.cpp)
+
+target_link_libraries (ion_%{APPNAMELC}
+    ${PlasmaWeatherIon_LIBRARIES}
+    KF5::Plasma
+    KF5::UnitConversion
+)
+
+kcoreaddons_desktop_to_json(ion_%{APPNAMELC} ion-%{APPNAMELC}.desktop)
+
+install (FILES ion-%{APPNAMELC}.desktop DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_KSERVICES5DIR})
+
+install (TARGETS ion_%{APPNAMELC} DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_PLUGINDIR}/plasma/dataengine)
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.h b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.h
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ *   Copyright (C) %{CURRENT_YEAR} by %{AUTHOR} <%{EMAIL}>                      *
+ *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *   it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as
+ *   published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or
+ *   (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *   GNU General Public License for more details
+ *
+ *   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
+ *   License along with this program; if not, write to the
+ *   Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ *   51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
+ */
+
+#ifndef ION%{APPNAMEUC}_H
+#define ION%{APPNAMEUC}_H
+
+#include <plasma/weather/ion.h>
+
+class Q_DECL_EXPORT %{APPNAME}Ion : public IonInterface
+{
+    Q_OBJECT
+
+public:
+    %{APPNAME}Ion(QObject *parent, const QVariantList &args);
+    ~%{APPNAME}Ion();
+
+public: // IonInterface API
+    bool updateIonSource(const QString& source) override;
+    void reset() override;
+
+private:
+    void fetchValidateData(const QString &source);
+    void fetchWeatherData(const QString &source);
+
+    void onValidateReport(const QString &source);
+    void onWeatherDataReport(const QString &source);
+
+};
+
+#endif
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.cpp b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.cpp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/*
+ *   Copyright (C) %{CURRENT_YEAR} by %{AUTHOR} <%{EMAIL}>                      *
+ *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *   it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as
+ *   published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or
+ *   (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *   GNU General Public License for more details
+ *
+ *   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
+ *   License along with this program; if not, write to the
+ *   Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ *   51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
+ */
+
+#include "ion-%{APPNAMELC}.h"
+
+#include <KUnitConversion/Converter>
+
+
+%{APPNAME}Ion::%{APPNAME}Ion(QObject *parent, const QVariantList &args)
+  : IonInterface(parent, args)
+{
+    // call whenever the ion is ready
+    setInitialized(true);
+}
+
+%{APPNAME}Ion::~%{APPNAME}Ion()
+{
+}
+
+bool %{APPNAME}Ion::updateIonSource(const QString& source)
+{
+    // We expect the applet to send the source in the following tokenization:
+    // ionname:validate:place_name - Triggers validation of place
+    // ionname:weather:place_name - Triggers receiving weather of place
+
+    const QStringList sourceAction = source.split(QLatin1Char('|'));
+
+    // Guard: if the size of array is not 2 then we have bad data, return an error
+    if (sourceAction.size() < 2) {
+        setData(source, QStringLiteral("validate"), "%{APPNAMELC}|malformed");
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    if (sourceAction.at(1) == QLatin1String("validate") && sourceAction.size() > 2) {
+        fetchValidateData(source);
+        return true;
+    } 
+
+    if (sourceAction.at(1) == QLatin1String("weather") && sourceAction.size() > 2) {
+        fetchWeatherData(source);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    setData(source, QStringLiteral("validate"), "%{APPNAMELC}|malformed");
+    return true;
+}
+
+void %{APPNAME}Ion::reset()
+{
+}
+
+// purpose: fetch/use data from provider and trigger processing of returned data in a handler
+void %{APPNAME}Ion::fetchValidateData(const QString &source)
+{
+
+    // here called directly for a start
+    onValidateReport(source);
+}
+
+// purpose: process data from provider and turn into DataEngine data
+void %{APPNAME}Ion::onValidateReport(const QString &source)
+{
+
+    const QStringList sourceAction = source.split(QLatin1Char('|'));
+
+    QStringList placeList;
+    placeList.append(QStringLiteral("place|").append(QStringLiteral("Some example place")));
+
+    if (placeList.size() == 1) {
+        setData(source, QStringLiteral("validate"), QStringLiteral("%{APPNAMELC}|valid|single|").append(placeList.at(0)));
+        return;
+    }
+    if (placeList.size() > 1) {
+        setData(source, QStringLiteral("validate"), QStringLiteral("%{APPNAMELC}|valid|multiple|").append(placeList.join(QLatin1Char('|'))));
+        return;
+    }
+    if (placeList.size() == 0) {
+        setData(source, QStringLiteral("validate"), QStringLiteral("%{APPNAMELC}|invalid|single|").append(sourceAction.at(2)));
+        return;
+    }
+}
+
+// purpose: fetch data from provider and trigger processing of returned data in a handler
+void %{APPNAME}Ion::fetchWeatherData(const QString &source)
+{
+    // here called directly for a start
+    onWeatherDataReport(source);
+}
+
+
+// purpose: process data from provider and turn into DataEngine data for the given source key
+void %{APPNAME}Ion::onWeatherDataReport(const QString &source)
+{
+    Plasma::DataEngine::Data data;
+
+    // examples, see the existing ion dataengines for other keys in use:
+    // plasma-workspace/dataengines/weather/ions/
+    // an overview document with all common keys and value types is yet to be written
+    data.insert(QStringLiteral("Place"), "Some %{APPNAME} place");
+    data.insert(QStringLiteral("Station"), "Some %{APPNAME} station");
+    data.insert(QStringLiteral("Credit"), "%{APPNAME} weather data provider");
+    data.insert(QStringLiteral("Temperature"), "23.4");
+    data.insert(QStringLiteral("Temperature Unit"), QString::number(KUnitConversion::Celsius));
+
+    // finally set the created data for the given source key, so it will be pushed out to all consumers
+    setData(source, data);
+}
+
+
+K_EXPORT_PLASMA_DATAENGINE_WITH_JSON(%{APPNAMELC}, %{APPNAME}Ion, "ion-%{APPNAMELC}.json")
+
+#include "ion-%{APPNAMELC}.moc"
diff --git a/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.desktop b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.desktop
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/ion-dataengine/src/ion-%{APPNAMELC}.desktop
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[Desktop Entry]
+Name=%{APPNAME} Weather Data Provider
+Comment=Access to the weather data provider %{APPNAME}
+X-KDE-ServiceTypes=Plasma/DataEngine
+X-KDE-ParentApp=weatherengine
+Type=Service
+Icon=noneyet
+X-KDE-Library=ion_%{APPNAMELC}
+X-KDE-PluginInfo-Name=%{APPNAMELC}