diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 12f4d491..588a92db 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ nuxt add nuxt-shiki
 nuxt add nuxt-seo-kit
 ```
 
+## Custom templates
+
+To override a built-in `add-template` template, add a matching file to the project `stubs` directory. For example, `stubs/component.vue` is used instead of the default component contents when running `nuxt add-template component <name>`.
+
 ## Update Notifications
 
 Once a day, `nuxt/cli` checks in the background whether a newer version of Nuxt has been released and, if so, prints a short nudge to run `nuxt upgrade` after the command finishes. The `latest` dist-tag is read from the registry configured in your `.npmrc` and cached in your user-level `.nuxtrc`.
diff --git a/packages/nuxt-cli/src/commands/add-template.ts b/packages/nuxt-cli/src/commands/add-template.ts
index bdb3c19d..077c5f73 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt-cli/src/commands/add-template.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt-cli/src/commands/add-template.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { styleText } from 'node:util'
 
 import { intro, outro } from '@clack/prompts'
 import { defineCommand } from 'citty'
-import { dirname, resolve } from 'pathe'
+import { dirname, extname, resolve } from 'pathe'
 
 import { loadKit } from '../utils/kit'
 import { logger } from '../utils/logger'
@@ -99,6 +99,16 @@ export default defineCommand({
     const kit = await loadKit(cwd)
     const config = await kit.loadNuxtConfig({ cwd })
     const res = templates[templateName]({ name, args: ctx.args, nuxtOptions: config })
+    const stubPath = resolve(config.rootDir, 'stubs', `${templateName}${extname(res.path)}`)
+    let contents = `${res.contents.trim()}\n`
+    try {
+      contents = await fsp.readFile(stubPath, 'utf8')
+    }
+    catch (error) {
+      if (!(error instanceof Error && 'code' in error && error.code === 'ENOENT')) {
+        throw error
+      }
+    }
     const parentDir = dirname(res.path)
     const createdDir = await fsp.mkdir(parentDir, { recursive: true })
     if (createdDir) {
@@ -109,7 +119,7 @@ export default defineCommand({
     }
 
     try {
-      await fsp.writeFile(res.path, `${res.contents.trim()}\n`, { flag: ctx.args.force ? 'w' : 'wx' })
+      await fsp.writeFile(res.path, contents, { flag: ctx.args.force ? 'w' : 'wx' })
     }
     catch (error) {
       if (!ctx.args.force && (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === 'EEXIST') {
diff --git a/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/commands/add-template.spec.ts b/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/commands/add-template.spec.ts
index 2ccd2042..03b77e5c 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/commands/add-template.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt-cli/test/unit/commands/add-template.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { mkdtemp, readFile, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, readFile, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
@@ -33,6 +33,24 @@ describe('add-template command', () => {
     expect(await readFile(path, 'utf8')).toMatch(/\n$/)
   })
 
+  it('preserves project stub contents exactly', async () => {
+    await mkdir(join(cwd, 'stubs'))
+    await writeFile(join(cwd, 'stubs/component.vue'), '  <template>custom component</template>\n\n')
+
+    await run('component', 'user-card')
+
+    await expect(readFile(join(cwd, 'components/user-card.vue'), 'utf8')).resolves.toBe('  <template>custom component</template>\n\n')
+  })
+
+  it('preserves an empty project stub', async () => {
+    await mkdir(join(cwd, 'stubs'))
+    await writeFile(join(cwd, 'stubs/component.vue'), '')
+
+    await run('component', 'empty-card')
+
+    await expect(readFile(join(cwd, 'components/empty-card.vue'), 'utf8')).resolves.toBe('')
+  })
+
   it('exposes template-specific options', async () => {
     await run('api', 'users', '--method', 'get')
     await run('component', 'island', '--mode', 'client')