Why repository template instead of package like rhino?

Short answer - template is enough

Template is much more lightweight and easier to maintain than a package. From the user’s perspective, it’s easier to adjust the template to their needs.

Long(er) answer - Python ecosystem can do more than R’s

Although this may change in the future, currently tapyr doesn’t have features that would require it to be a package. This is partially because pytest already supports the end-to-end testing.

Maybe one day we will include building js bundles into tapyr and then it will make sense to have a package. But for now, a template is enough.