diff --git a/pkg/text/template/manual.go b/pkg/text/template/manual.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3895917
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/text/template/manual.go
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+// Copyright 2018 The CUE Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package template
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"text/template"
+
+	"cuelang.org/go/cue"
+)
+
+// Execute executes a Go-style template.
+func Execute(templ string, data cue.Value) (string, error) {
+	t, err := template.New("").Parse(templ)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	buf := &bytes.Buffer{}
+	if err := t.Execute(buf, data); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return buf.String(), nil
+}