diff --git a/apply-templates.sh b/apply-templates.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..40d8b4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apply-templates.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -Eeuo pipefail
+
+[ -f versions.json ] # run "versions.sh" first
+
+jqt='.jq-template.awk'
+if [ -n "${BASHBREW_SCRIPTS:-}" ]; then
+  jqt="$BASHBREW_SCRIPTS/jq-template.awk"
+elif [ "$BASH_SOURCE" -nt "$jqt" ]; then
+  wget -qO "$jqt" 'https://github.com/docker-library/bashbrew/raw/5f0c26381fb7cc78b2d217d58007800bdcfbcfa1/scripts/jq-template.awk'
+fi
+
+# if no versions passed we load from versions.json
+if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
+  versions="$(jq -r 'keys | map(@sh) | join(" ")' versions.json)"
+  eval "set -- $versions"
+fi
+
+# the warning message to not update the docker files directly
+generated_warning() {
+  cat <<-EOH
+		#
+		# NOTE: THIS DOCKERFILE IS GENERATED VIA "apply-templates.sh"
+		#
+		# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT IT DIRECTLY.
+		#
+
+	EOH
+}
+
+# set the Joomla maintainers of these docker images
+joomlaMaintainers="$( jq -cr '. | map(.firstname + " " + .lastname + " <" + .email + "> (@" + .github + ")") | join(", ")' maintainers.json)"
+export joomlaMaintainers
+
+# loop over the version set above
+for version; do
+  export version
+  # get this Joomla version details
+  joomlaVersionDetails="$(jq -r '.[env.version]' versions.json)"
+  # get this Joomla version
+  joomlaVersion="$(echo "${joomlaVersionDetails}" | jq -r '.version')"
+  export joomlaVersion
+  # get the PHP version
+  phpVersions="$(echo "${joomlaVersionDetails}" | jq -r '.phpVersions | map(@sh) | join(" ")')"
+  eval "phpVersions=( $phpVersions )"
+  # get the variants
+  variants="$(echo "${joomlaVersionDetails}" | jq -r '.variants | map(@sh) | join(" ")')"
+  eval "variants=( $variants )"
+  # get this version Joomla Sha512
+  joomlaSha512="$(echo "${joomlaVersionDetails}" | jq -r '.sha512')"
+  export joomlaSha512
+
+  for phpVersion in "${phpVersions[@]}"; do
+    export phpVersion
+
+    # get the pecl values (we may want to move this to versions.json)
+    peclValues="$(jq -r '.[env.version].phpVersions[env.phpVersion].pecl' versions-helper.json)"
+    # get the APCu values
+    pecl_APCu="$(echo "${peclValues}" | jq -r '.APCu')"
+    export pecl_APCu
+    # get the memcached values
+    pecl_memcached="$(echo "${peclValues}" | jq -r '.memcached')"
+    export pecl_memcached
+    # get the redis values
+    pecl_redis="$(echo "${peclValues}" | jq -r '.redis')"
+    export pecl_redis
+    # get the mcrypt values
+    pecl_mcrypt="$(echo "${peclValues}" | jq -r '.mcrypt')"
+    export pecl_mcrypt
+
+    for variant in "${variants[@]}"; do
+      export variant
+
+      # the path to this variant folder
+      dir="$version/php$phpVersion/$variant"
+      mkdir -p "$dir"
+
+      echo "processing $dir ..."
+
+      # move the entrypoint file into place
+      cp -a "docker-entrypoint.sh" "$dir/docker-entrypoint.sh"
+      # move the make database file into place
+			cp -a "makedb.php" "$dir/makedb.php"
+
+      {
+        generated_warning
+        gawk -f "$jqt" Dockerfile.template
+      } >"$dir/Dockerfile"
+    done
+  done
+done