diff --git a/src/template_parser.rs b/src/template_parser.rs
index a34e793f9..6679f5883 100644
--- a/src/template_parser.rs
+++ b/src/template_parser.rs
@@ -399,9 +399,21 @@ fn parse_string_method<'a, I: 'a>(
     self_property: impl TemplateProperty<I, Output = String> + 'a,
     name: Pair<Rule>,
     args_pair: Pair<Rule>,
-    _parse_keyword: &impl Fn(Pair<Rule>) -> TemplateParseResult<PropertyAndLabels<'a, I>>,
+    parse_keyword: &impl Fn(Pair<Rule>) -> TemplateParseResult<PropertyAndLabels<'a, I>>,
 ) -> TemplateParseResult<Property<'a, I>> {
     let property = match name.as_str() {
+        "contains" => {
+            let [needle_pair] = expect_exact_arguments(args_pair)?;
+            // TODO: or .try_into_string() to disable implicit type cast?
+            let needle_property =
+                parse_template_rule(needle_pair, parse_keyword)?.into_plain_text();
+            Property::Boolean(chain_properties(
+                (self_property, needle_property),
+                TemplatePropertyFn(|(haystack, needle): &(String, String)| {
+                    haystack.contains(needle)
+                }),
+            ))
+        }
         "first_line" => {
             expect_no_arguments(args_pair)?;
             Property::String(chain_properties(
diff --git a/tests/test_templater.rs b/tests/test_templater.rs
index 70c2380f7..d32419ced 100644
--- a/tests/test_templater.rs
+++ b/tests/test_templater.rs
@@ -148,6 +148,15 @@ fn test_templater_parse_error() {
       = Method "foo" doesn't exist for type "String"
     "###);
 
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(render_err(r#"description.contains()"#), @r###"
+    Error: Failed to parse template:  --> 1:22
+      |
+    1 | description.contains()
+      |                      ^
+      |
+      = Expected 1 arguments
+    "###);
+
     insta::assert_snapshot!(render_err(r#"description.first_line("foo")"#), @r###"
     Error: Failed to parse template:  --> 1:24
       |
@@ -206,8 +215,15 @@ fn test_templater_string_method() {
     let test_env = TestEnvironment::default();
     test_env.jj_cmd_success(test_env.env_root(), &["init", "repo", "--git"]);
     let repo_path = test_env.env_root().join("repo");
+    test_env.jj_cmd_success(&repo_path, &["commit", "-m=description 1"]);
     let render = |template| get_template_output(&test_env, &repo_path, "@-", template);
 
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(render(r#""fooo".contains("foo")"#), @"true");
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(render(r#""foo".contains("fooo")"#), @"false");
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(render(r#"description.contains("description")"#), @"true");
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(
+        render(r#""description 123".contains(description.first_line())"#), @"true");
+
     insta::assert_snapshot!(render(r#""".first_line()"#), @"");
     insta::assert_snapshot!(render(r#""foo\nbar".first_line()"#), @"foo");
 }