diff --git a/data/templates/rust/Cargo.toml.tpl b/data/templates/rust/Cargo.toml.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8df4afe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/templates/rust/Cargo.toml.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[package]
+name = "{crate_name}"
+version = "{upstream_version}"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[dependencies]
diff --git a/data/templates/rust/main.rs.tpl b/data/templates/rust/main.rs.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5e4b5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/templates/rust/main.rs.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+// Placeholder for {name}, generated by `pkh new`.
+fn main() {
+	println!("Hello from {command}!");
+}
diff --git a/data/templates/rust/manifest.yml b/data/templates/rust/manifest.yml
index ebb7aaf..260687b 100644
--- a/data/templates/rust/manifest.yml
+++ b/data/templates/rust/manifest.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 ## The `rust` template: a vendored Cargo build (see the module docs of
-## src/new/templates/rust.rs for the vendoring strategy). The logic half —
-## the cargo vendor post-write hook, the Cargo.toml/src skeletons with
-## their crate-name sanitizing, and the `{locked}` / `{artifact}` values of
-## rules.extra.tpl — lives in that module.
+## src/new/templates/rust.rs for the vendoring strategy). The skeleton
+## bodies and the vendored-build rules overrides below are static data; the
+## logic half — the cargo vendor post-write hook, the project probe, and
+## the `{crate_name}` / `{locked}` / `{artifact}` values of the bodies —
+## lives in that module (dpkg package names may carry `+`/`.`, which cargo
+## rejects in crate names, so the skeleton crate name is a derived
+## placeholder, not the raw `{name}`).
 ##
 ## Schema: see src/new/templates/mod.rs.
 
@@ -23,4 +26,8 @@ rules_extra_file: rules.extra.tpl
 gitignore_entries:
   - vendor/
   - .cargo/config.toml
-files: []
+files:
+  - path: Cargo.toml
+    template: Cargo.toml.tpl
+  - path: src/main.rs
+    template: main.rs.tpl
diff --git a/src/new/templates/mod.rs b/src/new/templates/mod.rs
index d5d1360..48b3607 100644
--- a/src/new/templates/mod.rs
+++ b/src/new/templates/mod.rs
@@ -141,10 +141,11 @@ pub struct ProbeResult {
 /// The manifest-driven files are the base of both file lists; a hook's
 /// [`skeleton_files`](TemplateHooks::skeleton_files) /
 /// [`debian_files`](TemplateHooks::debian_files) entries are merged over
-/// them by [`merge_files`]: an entry whose path a manifest file already
-/// uses replaces it, anything else is appended. That is how a body needing
-/// conditionals stays in Rust without giving up the data half — the hook
-/// file shadows the manifest body it supersedes.
+/// them by [`merge_files`]. The convention is *manifest unless it needs
+/// branching*: a conditional body lives in the hook alone, and the
+/// registry tests reject a hook file whose path a manifest entry also
+/// carries — a path with two homes would be one dead body silently
+/// shadowing the other.
 pub trait TemplateHooks: Sync {
     /// Extra defaults derived from the project metadata in `dir`
     /// (detect.rs pre-fills the wizard answers); `None` when the project
@@ -336,10 +337,20 @@ static TEMPLATE_SOURCES: &[TemplateSources] = &[
     TemplateSources {
         id: TemplateId::RUST,
         manifest: include_str!("../../../data/templates/rust/manifest.yml"),
-        tpls: &[(
-            "rules.extra.tpl",
-            include_str!("../../../data/templates/rust/rules.extra.tpl"),
-        )],
+        tpls: &[
+            (
+                "rules.extra.tpl",
+                include_str!("../../../data/templates/rust/rules.extra.tpl"),
+            ),
+            (
+                "Cargo.toml.tpl",
+                include_str!("../../../data/templates/rust/Cargo.toml.tpl"),
+            ),
+            (
+                "main.rs.tpl",
+                include_str!("../../../data/templates/rust/main.rs.tpl"),
+            ),
+        ],
         hooks: Some(&rust::HOOKS),
     },
     TemplateSources {
@@ -727,10 +738,11 @@ impl Template {
 }
 
 /// Merge `overrides` into `files`: an entry whose path is already there
-/// replaces the earlier entry in place, anything else is appended. Hook
-/// files thereby both shadow manifest bodies needing logic and add extra
-/// ones — and the merged list never carries a path twice (the scaffold's
-/// collision check would reject that as an internal error).
+/// replaces the earlier entry in place, anything else is appended, and
+/// the merged list never carries a path twice (the scaffold's collision
+/// check would reject that as an internal error). The registry tests pin
+/// the built-in templates to appending only — a hook file shadowing a
+/// manifest body would leave one of the two dead (the no-drift invariant).
 fn merge_files(files: &mut Vec<OutputFile>, overrides: Vec<OutputFile>) {
     for file in overrides {
         match files.iter().position(|existing| existing.path == file.path) {
@@ -1022,6 +1034,41 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(files[2].contents, "extra");
     }
 
+    /// The no-drift invariant of the "manifest unless it needs branching"
+    /// convention: no hook renders a file whose path a manifest entry also
+    /// carries. A path with two homes would be one dead body silently
+    /// shadowing the other — a body needing conditionals belongs to the
+    /// hook alone. (Since every template's bodies are manifest data, the
+    /// hooks render no files at all; this test locks that in.)
+    #[test]
+    fn hook_files_never_shadow_manifest_bodies() {
+        let o = opts(TemplateId::EMPTY);
+        for template in all() {
+            let Some(hooks) = template.hooks else {
+                continue;
+            };
+            let manifest_paths: Vec<&str> = template
+                .manifest
+                .files
+                .iter()
+                .map(|file| file.path.as_str())
+                .collect();
+            let hook_files = hooks
+                .skeleton_files(&o)
+                .into_iter()
+                .chain(hooks.debian_files(&o));
+            for file in hook_files {
+                assert!(
+                    !manifest_paths.contains(&file.path.as_str()),
+                    "{}: hook body '{}' is also a manifest path — a body has \
+                     one home (manifest unless it needs branching)",
+                    template.id(),
+                    file.path
+                );
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /// The empty template is pure data: a stub `README` skeleton, no extra
     /// debian/ files (the metapackage `Depends` payload travels in the
     /// options, not in the template).
diff --git a/src/new/templates/rust.rs b/src/new/templates/rust.rs
index 110b203..9d0752b 100644
--- a/src/new/templates/rust.rs
+++ b/src/new/templates/rust.rs
@@ -10,16 +10,17 @@
 //! [`ScaffoldOutcome::vendoring_failed`] to the flow — the package will not
 //! build until the user vendors manually.
 //!
-//! The metadata is manifest data (`data/templates/rust/manifest.yml`),
-//! including the `debian/rules` overrides of `rules.extra.tpl`; the logic
-//! half here fills that template's `{locked}`/`{artifact}` placeholders,
-//! renders the crate-name-sanitized skeleton and runs the vendoring.
+//! The metadata and bodies are manifest data
+//! (`data/templates/rust/manifest.yml`: the skeleton `Cargo.toml` /
+//! `src/main.rs` and the `debian/rules` vendored-build overrides), rendered
+//! through the placeholders this module supplies; the logic half here is
+//! the project probe and the vendoring hook.
 
 use std::path::Path;
 
 use serde_json::Value;
 
-use super::{OutputFile, ProbeResult, ScaffoldOutcome, TemplateHooks, find_on_path, source_dir_of};
+use super::{ProbeResult, ScaffoldOutcome, TemplateHooks, find_on_path, source_dir_of};
 use crate::new::options::{NewOptions, SourceDir};
 
 /// The logic half of the rust template.
@@ -39,42 +40,14 @@ fn crate_name(opts: &NewOptions) -> String {
 }
 
 impl TemplateHooks for Hooks {
-    /// A zero-dependency `Cargo.toml` and the matching `src/main.rs`.
-    fn skeleton_files(&self, opts: &NewOptions) -> Vec<OutputFile> {
-        vec![
-            OutputFile::new(
-                "Cargo.toml",
-                format!(
-                    "[package]\n\
-                     name = \"{name}\"\n\
-                     version = \"{version}\"\n\
-                     edition = \"2021\"\n\
-                     \n\
-                     [dependencies]\n",
-                    name = crate_name(opts),
-                    version = opts.upstream_version,
-                ),
-            ),
-            OutputFile::new(
-                "src/main.rs",
-                format!(
-                    "// Placeholder for {name}, generated by `pkh new`.\n\
-                     fn main() {{\n\
-                     \tprintln!(\"Hello from {command}!\");\n\
-                     }}\n",
-                    name = opts.name,
-                    command = opts.command,
-                ),
-            ),
-        ]
-    }
-
-    /// The `{locked}`/`{artifact}` values of `rules.extra.tpl`: `--locked`
-    /// is used only when the packaged tree already carries a `Cargo.lock`
-    /// (fresh skeletons have none yet — the vendoring hook patches the flag
-    /// in once `cargo vendor` created it); the built artifact of a skeleton
-    /// is named after its crate (a sanitized package name), an existing
-    /// project's under the (probed or answered) command.
+    /// The placeholder values of the manifest bodies: `{crate_name}` names
+    /// the skeleton crate (a sanitized package name — see [`crate_name`]);
+    /// `{locked}` is ` --locked` only when the packaged tree already
+    /// carries a `Cargo.lock` (fresh skeletons have none yet — the
+    /// vendoring hook patches the flag in once `cargo vendor` created it);
+    /// `{artifact}` is the built binary of the rules install override —
+    /// a skeleton's is named after its crate, an existing project's under
+    /// the (probed or answered) command.
     fn context(&self, opts: &NewOptions) -> Vec<(String, String)> {
         let locked = if lockfile_present(opts) {
             " --locked"
@@ -86,6 +59,7 @@ impl TemplateHooks for Hooks {
             _ => opts.command.clone(),
         };
         vec![
+            ("crate_name".to_string(), crate_name(opts)),
             ("locked".to_string(), locked.to_string()),
             ("artifact".to_string(), artifact),
         ]
@@ -492,14 +466,33 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(template.rules_dh_line(), "dh $@");
         assert!(template.debian(&o).is_empty());
 
-        // Skeleton: Cargo.toml + src/main.rs.
+        // Skeleton (manifest data): Cargo.toml + src/main.rs, byte-exact.
         let skeleton = template.skeleton(&o);
-        assert!(
-            skeleton
-                .iter()
-                .any(|f| f.path == "Cargo.toml" && f.contents.contains("name = \"mytool\""))
+        assert_eq!(skeleton.len(), 2);
+        let cargo_toml = skeleton
+            .iter()
+            .find(|f| f.path == "Cargo.toml")
+            .expect("Cargo.toml skeleton");
+        assert_eq!(
+            cargo_toml.contents,
+            "[package]\n\
+             name = \"mytool\"\n\
+             version = \"0.1.0\"\n\
+             edition = \"2021\"\n\
+             \n\
+             [dependencies]\n"
+        );
+        let main_rs = skeleton
+            .iter()
+            .find(|f| f.path == "src/main.rs")
+            .expect("src/main.rs skeleton");
+        assert_eq!(
+            main_rs.contents,
+            "// Placeholder for mytool, generated by `pkh new`.\n\
+             fn main() {\n\
+             \tprintln!(\"Hello from mytool!\");\n\
+             }\n"
         );
-        assert!(skeleton.iter().any(|f| f.path == "src/main.rs"));
 
         // Fresh skeleton: no Cargo.lock, so no --locked flag anywhere.
         let extra = template.rules_extra(&o);
@@ -553,7 +546,15 @@ mod tests {
             .iter()
             .find(|f| f.path == "Cargo.toml")
             .expect("Cargo.toml skeleton");
-        assert!(cargo_toml.contents.contains("name = \"my_tool_\""));
+        assert_eq!(
+            cargo_toml.contents,
+            "[package]\n\
+             name = \"my_tool_\"\n\
+             version = \"0.1.0\"\n\
+             edition = \"2021\"\n\
+             \n\
+             [dependencies]\n"
+        );
 
         let extra = template.rules_extra(&o);
         assert!(