diff --git a/spacy/cli/package.py b/spacy/cli/package.py
index 59b45ab5f..6a0f36ff9 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/package.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/package.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import json
 import shutil
+import requests
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from .. import about
@@ -14,7 +15,11 @@ def package(input_dir, output_dir, force):
     output_path = Path(output_dir)
     check_dirs(input_path, output_path)
 
+    template_setup = get_template('setup.py')
+    template_init = get_template('en_model_name/__init__.py')
+    template_manifest = 'include meta.json'
     meta = generate_meta()
+
     model_name = meta['lang'] + '_' + meta['name']
     model_name_v = model_name + '-' + meta['version']
     main_path = output_path / model_name_v
@@ -23,13 +28,13 @@ def package(input_dir, output_dir, force):
     create_dirs(package_path, force)
     shutil.copytree(input_path, package_path / model_name_v)
     create_file(main_path / 'meta.json', json.dumps(meta, indent=2))
-    create_file(main_path / 'setup.py', TEMPLATE_SETUP.strip())
-    create_file(main_path / 'MANIFEST.in', TEMPLATE_MANIFEST.strip())
-    create_file(package_path / '__init__.py', TEMPLATE_INIT.strip())
+    create_file(main_path / 'setup.py', template_setup)
+    create_file(main_path / 'MANIFEST.in', template_manifest)
+    create_file(package_path / '__init__.py', template_init)
 
     util.print_msg(
         main_path.as_posix(),
-        "To build the package, run python setup.py sdist in that directory.",
+        "To build the package, run `python setup.py sdist` in that directory.",
         title="Successfully created package {p}".format(p=model_name_v))
 
 
@@ -60,7 +65,7 @@ def generate_meta():
     settings = [('lang', 'Model language', 'en'),
                 ('name', 'Model name', 'model'),
                 ('version', 'Model version', '0.0.0'),
-                ('spacy_version', 'Required spaCy version', '>=2.0.0,<3.0.0'),
+                ('spacy_version', 'Required spaCy version', '>=1.7.0,<2.0.0'),
                 ('description', 'Model description', False),
                 ('author', 'Author', False),
                 ('email', 'Author email', False),
@@ -76,85 +81,11 @@ def generate_meta():
     return meta
 
 
-TEMPLATE_MANIFEST = """
-include meta.json
-"""
-
-
-TEMPLATE_SETUP = """
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-# coding: utf8
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-
-import io
-import json
-from os import path, walk
-from shutil import copy
-from setuptools import setup
-
-
-def load_meta(fp):
-    with io.open(fp, encoding='utf8') as f:
-        return json.load(f)
-
-
-def list_files(data_dir):
-    output = []
-    for root, _, filenames in walk(data_dir):
-        for filename in filenames:
-            if not filename.startswith('.'):
-                output.append(path.join(root, filename))
-    output = [path.relpath(p, path.dirname(data_dir)) for p in output]
-    output.append('meta.json')
-    return output
-
-
-def setup_package():
-    root = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))
-    meta_path = path.join(root, 'meta.json')
-    meta = load_meta(meta_path)
-    model_name = str(meta['lang'] + '_' + meta['name'])
-    model_dir = path.join(model_name, model_name + '-' + meta['version'])
-
-    copy(meta_path, path.join(root, model_name))
-    copy(meta_path, path.join(root, model_dir))
-
-    setup(
-        name=model_name,
-        description=meta['description'],
-        author=meta['author'],
-        author_email=meta['email'],
-        url=meta['url'],
-        version=meta['version'],
-        license=meta['license'],
-        packages=[model_name],
-        package_data={model_name: list_files(model_dir)},
-        install_requires=['spacy' + meta['spacy_version']],
-        zip_safe=False,
-    )
-
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    setup_package()
-"""
-
-
-TEMPLATE_INIT = """
-from pathlib import Path
-from spacy.util import get_lang_class
-import pkg_resources
-import json
-
-
-def load_meta():
-    with (Path(__file__).parent / 'meta.json').open() as f:
-        return json.load(f)
-
-
-def load(**kwargs):
-    meta = load_meta()
-    version = meta['version']
-    data_dir = pkg_resources.resource_filename(__name__, __name__ + '-' + version)
-    lang = get_lang_class(meta['lang'])
-    return lang(path=Path(data_dir), **kwargs)
-"""
+def get_template(filepath):
+    url = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/explosion/spacy-dev-resources/master/templates/model/'
+    r = requests.get(url + filepath)
+    if r.status_code != 200:
+        util.sys_exit(
+            "Couldn't fetch template files from GitHub.",
+            title="Server error ({c})".format(c=r.status_code))
+    return r.text