diff --git a/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoader.java b/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoader.java
index 7452ebda..eb370b3a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoader.java
@@ -552,6 +552,10 @@ private static VelocityEngine createDefaultVelocityEngine() {
         engine.setProperty(RuntimeConstants.ENCODING_DEFAULT,
                 StandardCharsets.UTF_8.toString());
 
+        engine.setProperty("runtime.custom_directives",
+                "com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt.CustomIncludeDirective,"
+                        + "com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt.CustomParseDirective");
+
         engine.setProperty("runtime.log", "");
         return engine;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomIncludeDirective.java b/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomIncludeDirective.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d424167a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomIncludeDirective.java
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+package com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt;
+
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.config.ConfigurationException;
+import org.apache.velocity.app.event.EventHandlerUtil;
+import org.apache.velocity.context.InternalContextAdapter;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.MethodInvocationException;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.ResourceNotFoundException;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.VelocityException;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.directive.Include;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTDirective;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.Node;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ParserTreeConstants;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource;
+import org.apache.velocity.util.StringUtils;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+
+public class CustomIncludeDirective extends Include {
+    @Override
+    public boolean render(InternalContextAdapter context,
+            Writer writer, Node node)
+            throws IOException, MethodInvocationException,
+            ResourceNotFoundException {
+        try {
+            // Obtain the protected method 'outputErrorToStream' from the superclass 'Include'
+            Method outputErrorToStreamMethod = Include.class.getDeclaredMethod(
+                    "outputErrorToStream",
+                    Writer.class,
+                    String.class);
+            outputErrorToStreamMethod.setAccessible(true); // Make the protected method accessible
+
+            int argCount = node.jjtGetNumChildren();
+
+            for (int i = 0; i < argCount; i++) {
+                Node n = node.jjtGetChild(i);
+
+                if (n.getType() == ParserTreeConstants.JJTSTRINGLITERAL ||
+                        n.getType() == ParserTreeConstants.JJTREFERENCE) {
+                    if (!renderOutput(n, context, writer))
+                        outputErrorToStreamMethod.invoke(this, writer,
+                                "error with arg " + i + " please see log.");
+                } else {
+                    String msg = "invalid #include() argument '"
+                            + n.toString() + "' at "
+                            + StringUtils.formatFileString(this);
+                    log.error(msg);
+                    outputErrorToStreamMethod.invoke(this, writer,
+                            "error with arg " + i + " please see log.");
+                    throw new VelocityException(msg, null,
+                            rsvc.getLogContext().getStackTrace());
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new ConfigurationException(e);
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    private boolean renderOutput(Node node, InternalContextAdapter context,
+            Writer writer)
+            throws IOException, MethodInvocationException,
+            ResourceNotFoundException {
+        if (node == null) {
+            log.error("#include() null argument");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Object value = node.value(context);
+        if (value == null) {
+            log.error("#include() null argument");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        String sourcearg = value.toString();
+
+        String arg = EventHandlerUtil.includeEvent(rsvc, context, sourcearg,
+                context.getCurrentTemplateName(), getName());
+
+        boolean blockinput = false;
+        if (arg == null)
+            blockinput = true;
+
+        Resource resource = null;
+
+        try {
+            if (!blockinput)
+                resource = rsvc.getContent(arg, getInputEncoding(context));
+        } catch (ResourceNotFoundException rnfe) {
+            log.error("#include(): cannot find resource '{}', called at {}",
+                    arg, StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+            throw rnfe;
+        }
+
+        catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            log.error("#include(): arg = '{}', called at {}",
+                    arg, StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+            throw e;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            String msg = "#include(): arg = '" + arg +
+                    "', called at " + StringUtils.formatFileString(this);
+            log.error(msg, e);
+            throw new VelocityException(msg, e,
+                    rsvc.getLogContext().getStackTrace());
+        }
+
+        if (blockinput)
+            return true;
+
+        else if (resource == null)
+            return false;
+
+        String prefixSpace = ((ASTDirective) node.jjtGetParent()).getPrefix();
+        String indentedData =
+                ((String) resource.getData()).replaceAll("(?m)^", prefixSpace);
+        writer.write(indentedData);
+
+        return true;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomParseDirective.java b/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomParseDirective.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2f1298f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomParseDirective.java
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+package com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt;
+
+import org.apache.velocity.Template;
+import org.apache.velocity.app.event.EventHandlerUtil;
+import org.apache.velocity.context.InternalContextAdapter;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.MethodInvocationException;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.ParseErrorException;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.ResourceNotFoundException;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.VelocityException;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.directive.Parse;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.directive.StopCommand;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTDirective;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.Node;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode;
+import org.apache.velocity.util.StringUtils;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class CustomParseDirective extends Parse {
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean render(InternalContextAdapter context,
+            Writer writer, Node node)
+            throws IOException, ResourceNotFoundException, ParseErrorException,
+            MethodInvocationException {
+
+        int maxDepth;
+        try {
+            Field maxDepthField = Parse.class.getDeclaredField("maxDepth");
+
+            maxDepthField.setAccessible(true);
+            maxDepth = (int) maxDepthField.get(this); // Cast to int
+
+        } catch (NoSuchFieldException | IllegalAccessException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+        }
+
+        if (node.jjtGetNumChildren() == 0) {
+            throw new VelocityException("#parse(): argument missing at " +
+                    StringUtils.formatFileString(this), null,
+                    rsvc.getLogContext().getStackTrace());
+        }
+
+        Object value = node.jjtGetChild(0).value(context);
+        if (value == null) {
+            log.debug("#parse(): null argument at {}",
+                    StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+        }
+
+        String sourcearg = value == null ? null : value.toString();
+
+        String arg = EventHandlerUtil.includeEvent(rsvc, context, sourcearg,
+                context.getCurrentTemplateName(), getName());
+
+        if (strictRef && value == null && arg == null) {
+            throw new VelocityException(
+                    "The argument to #parse returned null at "
+                            + StringUtils.formatFileString(this),
+                    null, rsvc.getLogContext().getStackTrace());
+        }
+
+        if (arg == null) {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (maxDepth > 0) {
+            String[] templateStack = context.getTemplateNameStack();
+            if (templateStack.length >= maxDepth) {
+                StringBuilder path = new StringBuilder();
+                for (String aTemplateStack : templateStack) {
+                    path.append(" > ").append(aTemplateStack);
+                }
+                log.error("Max recursion depth reached ({}). File stack: {}",
+                        templateStack.length, path);
+
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        Template t = null;
+
+        try {
+            t = rsvc.getTemplate(arg, getInputEncoding(context));
+        } catch (ResourceNotFoundException rnfe) {
+            log.error("#parse(): cannot find template '{}', called at {}",
+                    arg, StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+            throw rnfe;
+        } catch (ParseErrorException pee) {
+            log.error(
+                    "#parse(): syntax error in #parse()-ed template '{}', called at {}",
+                    arg, StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+            throw pee;
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            log.error("Exception rendering #parse({}) at {}",
+                    arg, StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+            throw e;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            String msg = "Exception rendering #parse(" + arg + ") at " +
+                    StringUtils.formatFileString(this);
+            log.error(msg, e);
+            throw new VelocityException(msg, e,
+                    rsvc.getLogContext().getStackTrace());
+        }
+        List<Template> macroLibraries = context.getMacroLibraries();
+
+        if (macroLibraries == null) {
+            macroLibraries = new ArrayList<>();
+        }
+
+        context.setMacroLibraries(macroLibraries);
+
+        macroLibraries.add(t);
+
+        try {
+            preRender(context);
+            context.pushCurrentTemplateName(arg);
+
+            //Mod start
+            Writer placeHolder = new StringWriter();
+            ((SimpleNode) t.getData()).render(context, placeHolder);
+
+            String prefixSpace = ((ASTDirective) node).getPrefix();
+
+            String prefixedContent =
+                    (placeHolder.toString()).replaceAll("(?m)^", prefixSpace);
+            writer.append(prefixedContent);
+            //Mod end
+
+            node.jjtGetChild(0).getColumn();
+
+
+        } catch (StopCommand stop) {
+            if (!stop.isFor(this)) {
+                throw stop;
+            }
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            log.error("Exception rendering #parse({}) at {}",
+                    arg, StringUtils.formatFileString(this));
+            throw e;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            String msg = "Exception rendering #parse(" + arg + ") at " +
+                    StringUtils.formatFileString(this);
+            log.error(msg, e);
+            throw new VelocityException(msg, e,
+                    rsvc.getLogContext().getStackTrace());
+        } finally {
+            context.popCurrentTemplateName();
+            postRender(context);
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoaderTest.java b/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoaderTest.java
index 428430fe..14db4256 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoaderTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/ConfigurationLoaderTest.java
@@ -111,6 +111,79 @@ void testLoadToString() throws Exception {
         // invalid path
         assertThat(loader.toString(cfgPath("doesntExist"))).isNull();
     }
+    @Test
+    void testIndentToString() throws Exception {
+
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder()
+                .variablesFile(cfgPath("vlt_item7.vm"))
+                .build();
+        var str = SystemUtil.callWithProperty("date", "2024-08-20",
+                () -> loader.toString(cfgPath("vlt_indent.yaml")));
+        // "varB" should not be resolved as it comes from an #include
+        // directive (as opposed to parse)
+        assertThat(StringUtils.remove(str, '\r')).isEqualTo(
+                """
+                        title: $title
+                        date: $date
+                        title: template title
+                        date: 2024-08-20
+                        depth1_include_vlt_item2:
+                          title: $title
+                          date: $date
+                          key: value
+                          depth_vlt_item2:
+                            title: $title
+                            date: $date
+                        depth1_parse_vlt_item2:
+                          key: value
+                          depth_vlt_item2:
+                            title: template title
+                            date: 2024-08-20
+                        multi_depth_vlt_item2:
+                          multi_depth_vlt_item2_1:
+                            key: value
+                            depth_vlt_item2:
+                              title: $title
+                              date: $date
+                            key: value
+                            depth_vlt_item2:
+                              title: template title
+                              date: 2024-08-20
+                        recursive_depth_vlt_item3:
+                          depth_vlt_item3:
+                            key: value
+                            title: $title
+                            date: $date
+                            title: template title
+                            date: 2024-08-20
+                            depth_vlt_item3_1:
+                              tst_depth_3_1_1:
+                                key: value
+                                title: $title
+                                date: $date
+                                key: value
+                              tst_depth_3_1_2:
+                                title: template title
+                                date: 2024-08-20
+                                key: value
+                                depth_vlt_item2:
+                                  title: template title
+                                  date: 2024-08-20
+                                tst_depth_3_1_2-1
+                                  key: value
+                                  key: value
+                        ifelse_loop_depth_vlt_item6:
+                          Name: Alice
+                          Age: 10
+                          age: you are nothing.
+                          Name: Bob
+                          Age: 30
+                          Feels: very old
+                          Name: Charlie
+                          Age: 50
+                          Feels: very old
+                            """);
+    }
 
     private Path cfgPath(String path) {
         return Path.of(CFG_BASE_PATH + path);
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomIncludeDirectiveTest.java b/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomIncludeDirectiveTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4b1bf3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomIncludeDirectiveTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+package com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt;
+
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.SystemUtil;
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.config.ConfigurationException;
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.config.ConfigurationLoader;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.velocity.VelocityContext;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.ParseErrorException;
+import org.apache.velocity.exception.ResourceNotFoundException;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
+
+import org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine;
+
+public class CustomIncludeDirectiveTest {
+
+
+    private static final String CFG_BASE_PATH = "src/test/resources/config/";
+
+    private ConfigurationLoader configLoader;
+
+    private VelocityEngine velocityEngine;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void beforeEach() {
+        configLoader = ConfigurationLoader.builder().build();
+    }
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void setUp() {
+        // Initialize Velocity engine
+        velocityEngine = new VelocityEngine();
+        velocityEngine.setProperty("runtime.custom_directives",
+                "com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt.CustomIncludeDirective,"
+                        + "com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt.CustomParseDirective");
+
+        velocityEngine.init();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testIncludeWithNullArgument() throws Exception {
+
+        //test 40-42
+        // Prepare the template with the #include directive and a null argument
+        String template = "#include($nullArg)";
+
+        // Set up Velocity context
+        VelocityContext context = new VelocityContext();
+        context.put("nullArg", null);
+
+        // Render the template
+        StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
+        velocityEngine.evaluate(context, writer, "test", template);
+
+        // Verify that the output is as expected (empty output or error handling depending on implementation)
+        String output = writer.toString();
+        assertEquals("", output, "null error with arg 0 please see log. null");
+    }
+
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMissingParseError() throws Exception
+    {
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder().build();
+
+        var includeError0 = cfgPath("vlt/missingparse.vm");
+        assertThrows(ConfigurationException.class,
+                () -> loader.toString(includeError0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMissingIncludeError() throws Exception
+    {
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder().build();
+
+        var includeError0 = cfgPath("vlt/missinginclude.vm");
+        assertThrows(ConfigurationException.class,
+                () -> loader.toString(includeError0));
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testParseError() throws Exception
+    {
+
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder().build();
+
+        var includeError0 = cfgPath("vlt/parsemain.vm");
+        assertThrows(ConfigurationException.class,
+                () -> loader.toString(includeError0));
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testParseError2() throws Exception
+    {
+
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder().build();
+        var includeError0 = cfgPath("vlt/parsemain2.vm");
+        assertThrows(ConfigurationException.class,
+                () -> loader.toString(includeError0));
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testErrorWithArg() throws Exception{
+//        var includeError = cfgPath("vlt/include_error.vm");
+
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder()
+//                .variablesFile(cfgPath("vlt/include_error.vm"))
+                .build();
+
+
+
+
+
+        var includeError1 = cfgPath("vlt/include_error.vm");
+        assertThrows(ConfigurationException.class,
+                () -> loader.toString(includeError1));
+
+
+        var includeError2 = cfgPath("vlt/include_error_empty.vm");
+        assertThrows(ConfigurationException.class,
+                () -> loader.toString(includeError2));
+
+
+
+    }
+//
+//    @Test
+//    void testIndentToString() throws Exception {
+//
+//        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder()
+//                .variablesFile(cfgPath("vlt_item7.vm"))
+//                .build();
+//        var str = SystemUtil.callWithProperty("date", "2024-08-20",
+//                () -> loader.toString(cfgPath("vlt_indent.yaml")));
+//        // "varB" should not be resolved as it comes from an #include
+//        // directive (as opposed to parse)
+//        assertThat(StringUtils.remove(str, '\r')).isEqualTo(
+//                """
+//                        title: $title
+//                        date: $date
+//                        title: template title
+//                        date: 2024-08-20
+//                        depth1_include_vlt_item2:
+//                          title: $title
+//                          date: $date
+//                          key: value
+//                          depth_vlt_item2:
+//                            title: $title
+//                            date: $date
+//                        depth1_parse_vlt_item2:
+//                          key: value
+//                          depth_vlt_item2:
+//                            title: template title
+//                            date: 2024-08-20
+//                        multi_depth_vlt_item2:
+//                          multi_depth_vlt_item2_1:
+//                            key: value
+//                            depth_vlt_item2:
+//                              title: $title
+//                              date: $date
+//                            key: value
+//                            depth_vlt_item2:
+//                              title: template title
+//                              date: 2024-08-20
+//                        recursive_depth_vlt_item3:
+//                          depth_vlt_item3:
+//                            key: value
+//                            title: $title
+//                            date: $date
+//                            title: template title
+//                            date: 2024-08-20
+//                            depth_vlt_item3_1:
+//                              tst_depth_3_1_1:
+//                                key: value
+//                                title: $title
+//                                date: $date
+//                                key: value
+//                              tst_depth_3_1_2:
+//                                title: template title
+//                                date: 2024-08-20
+//                                key: value
+//                                depth_vlt_item2:
+//                                  title: template title
+//                                  date: 2024-08-20
+//                                tst_depth_3_1_2-1
+//                                  key: value
+//                                  key: value
+//                        ifelse_loop_depth_vlt_item6:
+//                          Name: Alice
+//                          Age: 10
+//                          age: you are nothing.
+//                          Name: Bob
+//                          Age: 30
+//                          Feels: very old
+//                          Name: Charlie
+//                          Age: 50
+//                          Feels: very old
+//                            """);
+//    }
+
+    private Path cfgPath(String path) {
+        return Path.of(CFG_BASE_PATH + path);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomParseDirectiveTest.java b/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomParseDirectiveTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8cdaafa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/norconex/commons/lang/config/vlt/CustomParseDirectiveTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,242 @@
+package com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
+
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.SystemUtil;
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.config.ConfigurationLoader;
+import com.norconex.commons.lang.config.vlt.CustomParseDirective;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.apache.velocity.context.InternalContextAdapter;
+import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.Node;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+public class CustomParseDirectiveTest {
+
+    private static final String CFG_BASE_PATH = "src/test/resources/config/";
+
+    private ConfigurationLoader configLoader;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void beforeEach() {
+        configLoader = ConfigurationLoader.builder().build();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testIndentToString() throws Exception {
+
+        var loader = ConfigurationLoader.builder()
+                .variablesFile(cfgPath("vlt_item7.vm"))
+                .build();
+        var str = SystemUtil.callWithProperty("date", "2024-08-20",
+                () -> loader.toString(cfgPath("vlt_indent.yaml")));
+        // "varB" should not be resolved as it comes from an #include
+        // directive (as opposed to parse)
+        assertThat(StringUtils.remove(str, '\r')).isEqualTo(
+                """
+                        title: $title
+                        date: $date
+                        title: template title
+                        date: 2024-08-20
+                        depth1_include_vlt_item2:
+                          title: $title
+                          date: $date
+                          key: value
+                          depth_vlt_item2:
+                            title: $title
+                            date: $date
+                        depth1_parse_vlt_item2:
+                          key: value
+                          depth_vlt_item2:
+                            title: template title
+                            date: 2024-08-20
+                        multi_depth_vlt_item2:
+                          multi_depth_vlt_item2_1:
+                            key: value
+                            depth_vlt_item2:
+                              title: $title
+                              date: $date
+                            key: value
+                            depth_vlt_item2:
+                              title: template title
+                              date: 2024-08-20
+                        recursive_depth_vlt_item3:
+                          depth_vlt_item3:
+                            key: value
+                            title: $title
+                            date: $date
+                            title: template title
+                            date: 2024-08-20
+                            depth_vlt_item3_1:
+                              tst_depth_3_1_1:
+                                key: value
+                                title: $title
+                                date: $date
+                                key: value
+                              tst_depth_3_1_2:
+                                title: template title
+                                date: 2024-08-20
+                                key: value
+                                depth_vlt_item2:
+                                  title: template title
+                                  date: 2024-08-20
+                                tst_depth_3_1_2-1
+                                  key: value
+                                  key: value
+                        ifelse_loop_depth_vlt_item6:
+                          Name: Alice
+                          Age: 10
+                          age: you are nothing.
+                          Name: Bob
+                          Age: 30
+                          Feels: very old
+                          Name: Charlie
+                          Age: 50
+                          Feels: very old
+                            """);
+    }
+
+    private Path cfgPath(String path) {
+        return Path.of(CFG_BASE_PATH + path);
+    }
+
+    //
+    //    private CustomParseDirective customParseDirective;
+    //    private InternalContextAdapter mockContext;
+    //    private Node mockNode;
+    //    private Writer mockWriter;
+    //
+    //    @BeforeEach
+    //    public void setUp() {
+    //        customParseDirective = new CustomParseDirective();
+    //        mockContext = mock(InternalContextAdapter.class);
+    //        mockNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        mockWriter = mock(Writer.class);
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testGetName() {
+    //        // Test the name of the directive
+    //        assertEquals("parse", customParseDirective.getName());
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testGetType() {
+    //        // Test the type of directive (BLOCK)
+    //        assertEquals(CustomParseDirective.BLOCK,
+    //                customParseDirective.getType());
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithValidNode() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: mock a valid child node that returns a file name
+    //        Node childNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(childNode);
+    //        when(childNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn("validFile.vm");
+    //
+    //        // Act: render the directive
+    //        boolean result =
+    //                customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //
+    //        // Assert: rendering should succeed and return true
+    //        assertTrue(result);
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithNullNode() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: no child nodes (simulating an error scenario)
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(null);
+    //
+    //        // Act and Assert: rendering should fail due to missing file
+    //        Exception exception = assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> {
+    //            customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //        });
+    //
+    //        assertTrue(exception.getMessage().contains("No file specified"));
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithInvalidFile() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: mock child node that returns an invalid file name
+    //        Node childNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(childNode);
+    //        when(childNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn("invalidFile.vm");
+    //
+    //        // Act and Assert: rendering should throw an exception for invalid file
+    //        Exception exception = assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> {
+    //            customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //        });
+    //
+    //        assertTrue(exception.getMessage().contains("Unable to parse"));
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithIOException() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: mock an IOException scenario
+    //        Node childNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(childNode);
+    //        when(childNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn("validFile.vm");
+    //        doThrow(new RuntimeException("IO Error")).when(mockWriter).flush();
+    //
+    //        // Act and Assert: rendering should fail with an IO exception
+    //        Exception exception = assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> {
+    //            customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //        });
+    //
+    //        assertTrue(exception.getMessage().contains("IO Error"));
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithEmptyFile() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: child node returns an empty string as the file name
+    //        Node childNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(childNode);
+    //        when(childNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn("");
+    //
+    //        // Act and Assert: rendering should fail due to empty file name
+    //        Exception exception = assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> {
+    //            customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //        });
+    //
+    //        assertTrue(exception.getMessage().contains("No file specified"));
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithMultipleNodes() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: simulate multiple nodes, rendering the first
+    //        Node firstChildNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        Node secondChildNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(firstChildNode);
+    //        when(firstChildNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn("validFile.vm");
+    //
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(1)).thenReturn(secondChildNode);
+    //        when(secondChildNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn("anotherFile.vm");
+    //
+    //        // Act: render the directive
+    //        boolean result =
+    //                customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //
+    //        // Assert: rendering should succeed with the first node
+    //        assertTrue(result);
+    //    }
+    //
+    //    @Test
+    //    public void testRenderWithInvalidNodeType() throws Exception {
+    //        // Setup: node returns an unexpected object instead of a file name
+    //        Node childNode = mock(Node.class);
+    //        when(mockNode.jjtGetChild(0)).thenReturn(childNode);
+    //        when(childNode.value(mockContext)).thenReturn(123); // Invalid file type (Integer)
+    //
+    //        // Act and Assert: rendering should fail due to invalid node value type
+    //        Exception exception = assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> {
+    //            customParseDirective.render(mockContext, mockWriter, mockNode);
+    //        });
+    //
+    //        assertTrue(
+    //                exception.getMessage().contains("Invalid type for file name"));
+    //    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/dummy.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/dummy.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..956d680c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/dummy.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+title: $title
+date: $date
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/haserror.txt b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/haserror.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3cbb379f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/haserror.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+## This file has a Velocity error.
+## It's intentionally not saved with a 'vm' suffix
+## to avoid errors in IDE
+
+#foreach($i in (1..10)
+
+$i
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/haserror2.txt b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/haserror2.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b495c4fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/haserror2.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+## This file has a Velocity error.
+## It's intentionally not saved with a 'vm' suffix
+## to avoid errors in IDE
+
+## Note: text directly from VELOCITY-96
+
+#macro (myMacro $arg1 $list)
+This is text from velPTest2.vm
+#myMacro('name', ['apples', 'oranges']
+More text
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/include_error.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/include_error.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..67532bd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/include_error.vm
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include("dummy.vm", apple, orange)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/include_error_empty.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/include_error_empty.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04eb6871
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/include_error_empty.vm
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include("blah.vm")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/missinginclude.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/missinginclude.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd9c8c85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/missinginclude.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+## tests to see if
+## missing include throws an error
+
+text
+
+#include("doesntexist.vm")
+
+text
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/missingparse.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/missingparse.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba8229f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/missingparse.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+## tests to see if
+## missing parse throws an error
+
+text
+
+#parse("doesntexist.vm")
+
+text
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/parsemain.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/parsemain.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3410331
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/parsemain.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+## tests to see if
+## ParseException in parsed file is caught
+
+text
+
+#parse("haserror.txt")
+
+text
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt/parsemain2.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/parsemain2.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ebcd20e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt/parsemain2.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+## tests to see if
+## ParseException in parsed file is caught
+
+text
+
+#parse("haserror2.txt")
+
+text
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_indent.yaml b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_indent.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b227b60e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_indent.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#include("vlt_item1.vm")
+#parse("vlt_item1.vm")
+depth1_include_vlt_item2:
+  #include("vlt_item1.vm","vlt_item2.vm")
+depth1_parse_vlt_item2:
+  #parse("vlt_item2.vm")
+multi_depth_vlt_item2:
+  multi_depth_vlt_item2_1:
+    #include("vlt_item2.vm")
+    #parse("vlt_item2.vm")
+recursive_depth_vlt_item3:
+  #parse("vlt_item3.vm")
+ifelse_loop_depth_vlt_item6:
+  #parse("vlt_item6.vm")
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_indent_bkup.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_indent_bkup.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..035100ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_indent_bkup.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+Test_basic_#Include: \$date \$title expected no change
+#include("main_item_template1.vm")
+
+Test_basic_#Parse: Inline replace
+#parse("main_item_template1.vm")
+
+Test_Depth1: #iclude and #Parse in Depth
+depth1_include_tst_1:
+  #include("main_item_template2.vm")
+depth1_parse_tst2:
+  #parse("main_item_template2.vm")
+
+Test_Depth2: include and parse
+depth_tst2:
+  tst_depth_2_1:
+    #include("main_item_template2.vm")
+    #parse("main_item_template2.vm")
+
+depth_tst_3:
+  #parse("main_item_template3.vm")
+
+depth_tst_4_ifelse_and_loop:
+  #parse("main_item_template6.vm")
+
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item1.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item1.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..956d680c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item1.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+title: $title
+date: $date
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item2.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item2.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e6863040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item2.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+key: value
+depth_vlt_item2:
+  title: $title
+  date: $date
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d356138e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+depth_vlt_item3:
+  key: value
+  #include("vlt_item1.vm")
+  #parse("vlt_item1.vm")
+  depth_vlt_item3_1:
+    #parse("vlt_item3_1.vm")
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3_1.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3_1.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d58598d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3_1.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+tst_depth_3_1_1:
+  key: value
+  #include("vlt_item1.vm")
+  key: value
+tst_depth_3_1_2:
+  #parse("vlt_item1.vm")
+  #parse("vlt_item2.vm")
+  #parse("vlt_item3_2.vm")
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3_2.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3_2.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..14b27b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item3_2.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+tst_depth_3_1_2-1
+  key: value
+  key: value
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item6.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item6.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c7f91701
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item6.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#set($names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"])
+#set($age = [10, 30, 50])
+#set($size = $names.size() - 1)
+#set($index = 0)
+#foreach($name in $names)
+#set($x = $name)
+#set($y = $age[$index])
+#parse("vlt_item6_1.vm")
+#if($age[$index] < 18)
+age: you are nothing.
+#else
+Feels: very old
+#end
+#set($index = $index + 1)
+#end
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item6_1.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item6_1.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2aed965e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item6_1.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Name: $x
+Age: $y
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item7.vm b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item7.vm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c6174cd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/vlt_item7.vm
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+title = template title