It's impossible to pass ERB variables to #template (the only way to "pass" variables is to define methods)

[carllerche]

This doesn't work with quick one off template generation tasks.

[devboy]

I am having the same problem, it seems to work in Bundler though.
See my question on StackOverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6498058/passing-options-to-template-function-in-thor

[workergnome]

I'm sure I'm missing something in the documentation, but I can get it to work if I reference it like so:

in install.thor

def  install
    opts = {:name => 'Workergnome'}
    template "templates/install.tt", "install.txt", opts 
end

in templates/install.tt

My name is <%= config[:name] %>