{{Stub category
|article=
|newstub=
|category=
|category type=
|WikiProject=
|message=
}}

For example:

{{Stub category
|article=people in Japanese [[football (soccer)]], including football players, managers, coaches, etc.
|newstub=Japan-footy-bio-stub
|category=Japanese footballers
|message=
}}

will show:

This category is for stub articles relating to people in Japanese football (soccer), including football players, managers, coaches, etc.. You can help by expanding them. To add an article to this category, use {{Japan-footy-bio-stub}} instead of {{stub}}.

The |category type= parameter inserts additional text between the phrases "This category is for" and "stub articles relating to ...", so using |category type=biographical will give "This category is for biographical stub articles relating to ...".

|WikiProject= links to a relevant WikiProject page. For example:

{{Stub category
|article=the [[Commonwealth of Massachusetts]]
|newstub=Massachusetts-stub
|category=Massachusetts
|category type=biographical
|WikiProject=Massachusetts
}}

will show:

This category is for biographical stub articles relating to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You can help by expanding them. Please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Massachusetts. To add an article to this category, use {{Massachusetts-stub}} instead of {{stub}}.

|message= adds a message displayed below the main output of the template, but above the table of contents (TOC) which will be automatically generated by {{CatAutoTOC}} if the category contains enough pages.

This ensures that the message doesn't get tangled up in the TOC.

{{Stub category
|article=people in Japanese [[football (soccer)]], including football players, managers, coaches, etc.
|newstub=Japan-footy-bio-stub
|category=Japanese footballers
|message=This category is only people involved in association football (soccer). Please do NOT use this stub tag for players of other types of football, e.g. Gaelic football, Australian rules football, rugby union.
}}

Certain cases of incorrect usage are tracked:

• the |newstub= parameter is blank or absent;
• the |category= parameter is blank or absent.

See Category:Stub categories needing attention (population: 6,019)

Usage of the {{{message}}} parameter is also tracked.
See Category:Stub categories with message parameter (population: 55)

Purge this page to update the totals

These are categories that lack a 'primary category' that is not a stub category. To fix this, add the primary category to the "category" parameter in the template; this will place the category into the newly specified parent category and remove the category from the "P" subsection in the "Stub categories needing attention" category. Simply adding the new category to the existing list of categories will properly categorize the category, but it will not remove the category from the "attention" category.