diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dad3ed0..39c3088 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,6 +168,12 @@ dist/yourpackage-0.1.0.tar.gz
 dist/yourpackage-0.1.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl
 ```
 
+> [!IMPORTANT]  
+> This template makes use of [PEP-735 `dependency-groups`](https://peps.python.org/pep-0735/)
+> which are only supported in versions of hatch [greater than v1.16.0](https://hatch.pypa.io/dev/blog/2025/11/24/hatch-v1160/#dependency-groups).
+> To see which version of hatch you have installed use `hatch --version`,
+> and to update hatch use [`hatch self update`](https://hatch.pypa.io/dev/cli/reference/#hatch-self-update).
+
 To use the hatch build environment run:
 
 `hatch run build:check`
diff --git a/copier.yml b/copier.yml
index 2bf7d4e..05491cb 100644
--- a/copier.yml
+++ b/copier.yml
@@ -167,5 +167,10 @@ use_test:
   default: "yes"
   help: "Do you want to test your code? We strongly recommend that you add tests to your package."
 
+deps:
+  when: false
+  type: yaml
+  multiselect: false
+  default: !include data/dependencies.yml
 
 _subdirectory: "template"
diff --git a/data/dependencies.yml b/data/dependencies.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f1e131
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/dependencies.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Deps are specified as dicts of dicts
+#
+# The top-level key is the key that will be used within the pyproject.toml file,
+# unless "key" is specified in the render_deps macro
+#
+# Within each group, 
+# the key is the package name, and the value, if present, is the version constraint.
+# Use empty values to indicate no version constraint.
+
+
+build:
+  pip-audit:
+  twine:
+
+dev:
+  hatch: ">=1.16.0"
+  pre-commit:
+
+mkdocs:
+  mkdocs-material: '~=9.5'
+  mkdocstrings[python]: '~=0.24'
+  mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin: '~=2.9'
+
+sphinx:
+  sphinx: '~=8.0'
+  myst-parser: '>=4.0'
+  pydata-sphinx-theme: '~=0.16'
+  sphinx-autobuild: '>=2024.10.3'
+  sphinx-autoapi: '>=3.6.0'
+  sphinx_design: '>=0.6.1'
+  sphinx-copybutton: '>=0.5.2'
+
+style:
+  pydoclint:
+  ruff:
+
+tests:
+  pytest:
+  pytest-cov:
+  pytest-raises:
+  pytest-randomly:
+  pytest-xdist:
+
+types:
+  mypy:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/includes/dependencies.toml.jinja b/includes/dependencies.toml.jinja
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..001b7b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/includes/dependencies.toml.jinja
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{# Import this macro like `from .. import render_deps with context` to give it access to the deps data #}
+{% macro render_deps(group, inner=False, key=None) %}
+{#- for some reason copier insists on loading things as nested lists inconsistently across versions #}
+{%- if not deps[0] is mapping %}
+  {%- set d=deps[0][0] %}
+{%- else -%}
+  {%- set d=deps[0] %}
+{%- endif -%}
+{%- if group and group in d -%}
+{%- if not inner -%}
+{{ group if not key else key }} = [
+{%- endif %}
+{%- for package in d[group]|sort %}
+    "{{ package }}{% if d[group][package] %}{{ d[group][package] }}{% endif %}",
+{%- endfor %}
+{%- if not inner %}
+]
+{%- endif -%}
+{%- endif -%}
+{% endmacro %}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/template/pyproject.toml.jinja b/template/pyproject.toml.jinja
index 74a340a..d2f6ade 100644
--- a/template/pyproject.toml.jinja
+++ b/template/pyproject.toml.jinja
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{%- from pathjoin("includes", "dependencies.toml.jinja") import render_deps with context -%}
 ################################################################################
 # Build Configuration
 ################################################################################
@@ -69,67 +70,27 @@ Documentation = "{{ dev_platform_url }}/{{ username }}/{{ project_slug }}/blob/m
 {%- endif %}
 Download = "https://pypi.org/project/{{ project_slug }}/#files"
 
-[project.optional-dependencies]
-# The groups below should be in the [development-groups] table
-# They are here now because hatch hasn't released support for them but plans to
-# in Mid November 2025.
+[dependency-groups]
 dev = [
-    "hatch",
-    "pre-commit",
-    {%- if not use_hatch_envs %}
-    "{{ package_name }}[
-        {%- if documentation!="" %}docs,{% endif -%}
-        {%- if use_test %}tests,{% endif -%}
-        {%- if use_lint %}style,{% endif -%}
-        {%- if use_types %}types,{% endif -%}
-    audit]",
+{{- render_deps("dev", inner=True) }}
+    {%- if documentation in ("sphinx", "mkdocs") %}
+    {include-group = "docs"},
+    {%- endif %}
+    {%- if use_test %}
+    {include-group = "tests"},
+    {%- endif -%}
+    {%- if use_lint %}
+    {include-group = "style"},
+    {%- endif -%}
+    {%- if use_types %}
+    {include-group = "types"},
     {%- endif %}
 ]
-
-docs = [
-{%- if documentation == "sphinx" %}
-    "sphinx~=8.0",
-    "myst-parser>=4.0",
-    "pydata-sphinx-theme~=0.16",
-    "sphinx-autobuild>=2024.10.3",
-    "sphinx-autoapi>=3.6.0",
-    "sphinx_design>=0.6.1",
-    "sphinx-copybutton>=0.5.2",
-{%- elif documentation == "mkdocs" %}
-    "mkdocs-material ~=9.5",
-    "mkdocstrings[python] ~=0.24",
-    "mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin ~=2.9",
-{% endif %}
-]
-
-build = [
-    "pip-audit",
-    "twine",
-]
-
-{%- if use_test %}
-tests = [
-    "pytest",
-    "pytest-cov",
-    "pytest-raises",
-    "pytest-randomly",
-    "pytest-xdist",
-]
-{%- endif %}
-
-{%- if use_lint %}
-style = [
-    "pydoclint",
-    "ruff",
-]
-{%- endif %}
-
-{%- if use_types %}
-types = [
-    "mypy",
-]
-{%- endif %}
-
+{{ render_deps(documentation, key="docs") }}
+{{ render_deps("build") }}
+{%- if use_test %}{{ "\n" }}{{ render_deps("tests") }}{% endif %}
+{%- if use_lint %}{{ "\n" }}{{ render_deps("style") }}{% endif %}
+{%- if use_types %}{{ "\n" }}{{ render_deps("types") }}{% endif %}
 
 ################################################################################
 # Tool Configuration
@@ -276,10 +237,12 @@ installer = "uv"
 # This table installs the tools you need to test and build your package
 [tool.hatch.envs.build]
 description = """Test the installation the package."""
-features = [
+dependency-groups = [
     "build",
 ]
+{{ render_deps("build", key="dependencies") }}
 detached = true
+builder = true
 
 # This table installs created the command hatch run install:check which will build and check your package.
 [tool.hatch.envs.build.scripts]
@@ -293,7 +256,7 @@ check = [
 {%- if use_test %}
 [tool.hatch.envs.test]
 description = """Run the test suite."""
-features = [
+dependency-groups = [
     "tests",
 ]
 
@@ -310,10 +273,10 @@ run = "pytest {args:--cov={{ package_name }} --cov-report=term-missing --cov-rep
 [tool.hatch.envs.docs]
 description = """Build or serve the documentation."""
 # Install optional dependency test for docs
-features = [
+dependency-groups = [
     "docs",
 ]
-
+builder = true
 # This table contains the scripts that you can use to build and serve your docs
 # hatch run docs:build will build your documentation
 # hatch run docs:serve will serve them 'live' on your computer locally
@@ -333,7 +296,7 @@ serve = ["sphinx-autobuild docs --watch src/{{ package_name }} {args:-b html doc
 
 [tool.hatch.envs.style]
 description = """Check the code and documentation style."""
-features = [
+dependency-groups = [
     "style",
 ]
 detached = true
@@ -349,9 +312,10 @@ check = ["docstrings", "code"]
 
 [tool.hatch.envs.audit]
 description = """Check dependencies for security vulnerabilities."""
-features = [
+dependency-groups = [
     "build",
 ]
+builder = true
 
 [tool.hatch.envs.audit.scripts]
 check = ["pip-audit"]
@@ -361,7 +325,8 @@ check = ["pip-audit"]
 #--------------- Typing ---------------#
 [tool.hatch.envs.types]
 description = """Check the static types of the codebase."""
-features = ["types"]
+dependency-groups = ["types"]
+builder = true
 
 [tool.hatch.envs.types.scripts]
 check = "mypy src/{{ package_name }}"
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 659a3e8..5bac47f 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
 """Provide fixtures to the entire test suite."""
 
 import shutil
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Generator
+from pathlib import Path, PurePosixPath
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Generator
 
 import pytest
+from funcy import lflatten
 from _pytest.monkeypatch import MonkeyPatch
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader
-from ruamel.yaml import YAML
+from ruamel.yaml import YAML, Loader
+from ruamel.yaml.constructor import Constructor
+from ruamel.yaml.nodes import ScalarNode
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from _pytest.config.argparsing import Parser
@@ -16,9 +19,25 @@
 COPIER_CONFIG_PATH = Path(__file__).parents[1] / "copier.yml"
 INCLUDES_PATH = Path(__file__).parents[1] / "includes"
 
+# handle copier's !include tags - 
+# they went and did us the favor of making their entire package private,
+# so to respect their wishes to touch nothing we copy it here
+# with mild modifications for our use case and for ruamel.yaml
+# https://github.com/copier-org/copier/blob/24e842d838cf41b90a024ae4f80834add0ea95c2/copier/_template.py#L86
+def _include(loader: Constructor, node: ScalarNode) -> Any:
+    if not isinstance(node, ScalarNode):
+        raise ValueError(f"Unsupported YAML node: {node!r}")
+    include_file = str(loader.construct_scalar(node))
+    if PurePosixPath(include_file).is_absolute():
+        raise ValueError("YAML include file path must be a relative path")
+    path = next(COPIER_CONFIG_PATH.parent.glob(include_file))
+    return [YAML(typ="safe").load(path.read_bytes())]
+
 
 def _load_copier_config() -> dict:
     yaml = YAML(typ="safe")
+    yaml.constructor.add_constructor("!include", _include)
+
     with COPIER_CONFIG_PATH.open("r") as yfile:
         return yaml.load(yfile)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_template_init.py b/tests/test_template_init.py
index 9e6a13f..a42c756 100644
--- a/tests/test_template_init.py
+++ b/tests/test_template_init.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import pytest
 from copier import run_copy
 from git import Repo
+from ruamel.yaml import YAML
 from validate_pyproject import api as validator_api
 
 try:
@@ -169,7 +170,7 @@ def test_template_suite(
     project_dir = generated()
 
     # Run the local test suite.
-    run_command("hatch build --clean", project_dir)
+    run_command("hatch run build:check", project_dir)
     run_command(f"hatch run +py={sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor} test:run", project_dir)
     run_command("hatch run style:check", project_dir)
 
@@ -242,7 +243,7 @@ def test_non_hatch_deps(
     # validate pyproject.toml file if present
     validator_api.Validator()(pyproject)
 
-    optional_deps = pyproject["project"]["optional-dependencies"]
+    optional_deps = pyproject["dependency-groups"]
     groups = ("dev", "tests", "style", "types", "build")
     assert all(group in optional_deps for group in groups)
 
@@ -254,3 +255,21 @@ def test_non_hatch_deps(
     if documentation != "no":
         assert "docs" in optional_deps
         assert any(dep.startswith(documentation) for dep in optional_deps["docs"])
+
+def test_deps_sorted(generated: Callable[..., Path]):
+    """Dependencies in dep groups are sorted when rendering."""
+    unsorted = {"z": None, "x": None, "y": None}
+    with (TEMPLATE / "data" / "dependencies.yml").open() as f:
+        deps = YAML(typ="safe").load(f)
+
+    deps["tests"] = unsorted
+    project = generated(
+        use_test=True,
+        deps=[deps],
+    )
+    pyproject_file = project / "pyproject.toml"
+    with pyproject_file.open("rb") as pfile:
+        pyproject = tomllib.load(pfile)
+
+    assert "tests" in pyproject["dependency-groups"]
+    assert pyproject["dependency-groups"]["tests"] == ["x", "y", "z"]