diff --git a/libs/template/templates/default-python/databricks_template_schema.json b/libs/template/templates/default-python/databricks_template_schema.json
index 711576247..6f457a6ae 100644
--- a/libs/template/templates/default-python/databricks_template_schema.json
+++ b/libs/template/templates/default-python/databricks_template_schema.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
         "project_name": {
             "type": "string",
             "default": "my_project",
-            "description": "Please provide the following details to tailor the template to your preferences.\n\nUnique name for this project",
+            "description": "\nPlease provide a unique name for this project.\nproject_name",
             "order": 1,
             "pattern": "^[A-Za-z0-9_]+$",
             "pattern_match_failure_message": "Name must consist of letters, numbers, and underscores."
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
             "type": "string",
             "default": "yes",
             "enum": ["yes", "no"],
-            "description": "Include a stub (sample) notebook in '{{.project_name}}{{path_separator}}src'",
+            "description": "\n\nInclude a stub (sample) notebook in '{{.project_name}}{{path_separator}}src'",
             "order": 2
         },
         "include_dlt": {
diff --git a/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/apply_defaults.ipynb.tmpl b/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/apply_defaults.ipynb.tmpl
deleted file mode 100644
index a68e7d822..000000000
--- a/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/apply_defaults.ipynb.tmpl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,83 +0,0 @@
-{
- "cells": [
-  {
-   "cell_type": "markdown",
-   "metadata": {
-    "application/vnd.databricks.v1+cell": {
-     "cellMetadata": {},
-     "inputWidgets": {},
-     "nuid": "9a626959-61c8-4bba-84d2-2a4ecab1f7ec",
-     "showTitle": false,
-     "title": ""
-    }
-   },
-   "source": [
-    "# helper notebook: apply_defaults\n",
-    "\n",
-    "This helper notebook is used to create widgets that configure the default catalog\n",
-    "and schema.\n",
-    "\n",
-    "Usage:\n",
-    "\n",
-    "```\n",
-    "% run ../relative/path/to/apply_defaults\n",
-    "```"
-   ]
-  },
-  {
-   "cell_type": "code",
-   "execution_count": 0,
-   "metadata": {
-    "application/vnd.databricks.v1+cell": {
-     "cellMetadata": {},
-     "inputWidgets": {},
-     "nuid": "9198e987-5606-403d-9f6d-8f14e6a4017f",
-     "showTitle": false,
-     "title": ""
-    }
-   },
-   "outputs": [],
-   "source": [
-    "# Load default catalog and schema as widget and set their values as the default catalog / schema\n",
-    "dbutils.widgets.text('catalog', '{{.default_catalog}}')\n",
-    "dbutils.widgets.text('schema', 'default')\n",
-    "catalog = dbutils.widgets.get('catalog')\n",
-    "schema = dbutils.widgets.get('schema')\n",
-    "spark.sql(f'USE {catalog}.{schema}')"
-   ]
-  },
-  {
-   "cell_type": "code",
-   "execution_count": 2,
-   "metadata": {},
-   "outputs": [],
-   "source": [
-    "# Automatically reload imported modules when they change\n",
-    "%load_ext autoreload\n",
-    "%autoreload 2"
-   ]
-  }
- ],
- "metadata": {
-  "application/vnd.databricks.v1+notebook": {
-   "dashboards": [],
-   "language": "python",
-   "notebookMetadata": {
-    "pythonIndentUnit": 2
-   },
-   "notebookName": "dlt_pipeline",
-   "widgets": {}
-  },
-  "kernelspec": {
-   "display_name": "Python 3",
-   "language": "python",
-   "name": "python3"
-  },
-  "language_info": {
-   "name": "python",
-   "version": "3.11.4"
-  }
- },
- "nbformat": 4,
- "nbformat_minor": 0
-}
diff --git a/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/notebook.ipynb.tmpl b/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/notebook.ipynb.tmpl
index 95f6b16a3..4d3c398c9 100644
--- a/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/notebook.ipynb.tmpl
+++ b/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/notebook.ipynb.tmpl
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# Load default catalog and schema as widget and set their values as the default catalog / schema\n",
-    "%run ./apply_defaults"
+    "catalog = dbutils.widgets.get('catalog')\n",
+    "schema = dbutils.widgets.get('schema')\n",
+    "spark.sql(f'USE {catalog}.{schema}')"
    ]
   },
   {
@@ -62,7 +64,64 @@
     "pythonIndentUnit": 2
    },
    "notebookName": "notebook",
-   "widgets": {}
+   "widgets": {
+    "catalog": {
+     "currentValue": "{{.default_catalog}}",
+     "nuid": "3965fc9c-8080-45b1-bee3-f75cef7685b4",
+     "typedWidgetInfo": {
+      "autoCreated": false,
+      "defaultValue": "{{.default_catalog}}",
+      "label": null,
+      "name": "catalog",
+      "options": {
+       "widgetDisplayType": "Text",
+       "validationRegex": null
+      },
+      "parameterDataType": "String"
+     },
+     "widgetInfo": {
+      "widgetType": "text",
+      "defaultValue": "{{.default_catalog}}",
+      "label": null,
+      "name": "catalog",
+      "options": {
+       "widgetType": "text",
+       "autoCreated": null,
+       "validationRegex": null
+      }
+     }
+    },
+{{- $dev_schema := .shared_schema }}
+{{- if (regexp "^yes").MatchString .personal_schemas}}
+  {{- $dev_schema = "{{short_name}}"}}
+{{- end}}
+    "schema": {
+     "currentValue": "{{$dev_schema}}",
+     "nuid": "6ec0d70f-39bf-4859-a510-02c3e3d59bff",
+     "typedWidgetInfo": {
+      "autoCreated": false,
+      "defaultValue": "{{$dev_schema}}",
+      "label": null,
+      "name": "schema",
+      "options": {
+       "widgetDisplayType": "Text",
+       "validationRegex": null
+      },
+      "parameterDataType": "String"
+     },
+     "widgetInfo": {
+      "widgetType": "text",
+      "defaultValue": "{{$dev_schema}}",
+      "label": null,
+      "name": "schema",
+      "options": {
+       "widgetType": "text",
+       "autoCreated": null,
+       "validationRegex": null
+      }
+     }
+    }
+   }
   },
   "kernelspec": {
    "display_name": "Python 3",
diff --git a/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/{{.project_name}}/main.py.tmpl b/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/{{.project_name}}/main.py.tmpl
index 80d447f6c..45af6fa86 100644
--- a/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/{{.project_name}}/main.py.tmpl
+++ b/libs/template/templates/default-python/template/{{.project_name}}/src/{{.project_name}}/main.py.tmpl
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from pyspark.sql import SparkSession, DataFrame
+import argparse
 
 def get_spark() -> SparkSession:
   """