diff --git a/src/list_highlight_langs.cpp b/src/list_highlight_langs.cpp
index 5b1b184..ea01e18 100644
--- a/src/list_highlight_langs.cpp
+++ b/src/list_highlight_langs.cpp
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 namespace tawashi {
 	HighlightLangList list_highlight_langs (const SettingsBag& parSettings) {
-		srchilite::LangMap lang_map(parSettings.as_str("langmap_dir"), "lang.map");
+		srchilite::LangMap lang_map(parSettings.as<std::string>("langmap_dir"), "lang.map");
 		lang_map.open();
 
 		const auto lang_range = boost::make_iterator_range(lang_map.begin(), lang_map.end());
diff --git a/src/pastie_response.cpp b/src/pastie_response.cpp
index 78841c7..61c5d74 100644
--- a/src/pastie_response.cpp
+++ b/src/pastie_response.cpp
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 namespace tawashi {
 	PastieResponse::PastieResponse (const Kakoune::SafePtr<SettingsBag>& parSettings) :
 		Response(Response::ContentType, "text/html", "", parSettings, true),
-		m_langmap_dir(parSettings->as_str("langmap_dir")),
+		m_langmap_dir(parSettings->as<std::string>("langmap_dir")),
 		m_plain_text(false)
 	{
 	}
diff --git a/src/response.cpp b/src/response.cpp
index 3e3ce9a..f1d216c 100644
--- a/src/response.cpp
+++ b/src/response.cpp
@@ -59,12 +59,12 @@ namespace tawashi {
 
 			if (parSettings["redis_mode"] == "inet") {
 				return IncRedis(
-					parSettings.as_str("redis_server"),
+					parSettings.as<std::string>("redis_server"),
 					dhandy::lexical_cast<uint16_t>(parSettings["redis_port"])
 				);
 			}
 			else if (parSettings["redis_mode"] == "sock") {
-				return IncRedis(parSettings.as_str("redis_sock"));
+				return IncRedis(parSettings.as<std::string>("redis_sock"));
 			}
 			else {
 				throw std::runtime_error("Unknown setting for \"redis_mode\", valid settings are \"inet\" or \"sock\"");
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ namespace tawashi {
 	void Response::send() {
 		mstch::map mustache_context {
 			{"version", std::string{STRINGIZE(VERSION_MAJOR) "." STRINGIZE(VERSION_MINOR) "." STRINGIZE(VERSION_PATCH)}},
-			{"base_uri", m_settings->as_str("base_uri")},
+			{"base_uri", m_settings->as<std::string>("base_uri")},
 			{"languages", make_mstch_langmap(*m_settings)}
 		};
 
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ namespace tawashi {
 	}
 
 	const boost::string_ref& Response::base_uri() const {
-		return m_settings->as_ref("base_uri");
+		return m_settings->at("base_uri");
 	}
 
 	const std::string& Response::page_basename() const {
diff --git a/src/settings_bag.cpp b/src/settings_bag.cpp
index 33e1d83..d177a57 100644
--- a/src/settings_bag.cpp
+++ b/src/settings_bag.cpp
@@ -36,18 +36,16 @@ namespace tawashi {
 			return m_defaults.at(parIndex);
 	}
 
-	const boost::string_ref& SettingsBag::as_ref (boost::string_ref parIndex) const {
-		return (*this)[parIndex];
-	}
-
-	std::string SettingsBag::as_str (boost::string_ref parIndex) const {
-		auto& setting = (*this)[parIndex];
-		return std::string(setting.data(), setting.size());
-	}
-
 	void SettingsBag::add_default (boost::string_ref parKey, boost::string_ref parValue) {
 		assert(m_defaults.find(parKey) == m_defaults.end());
 		m_defaults[parKey] = parValue;
 	}
-} //namespace tawashi
 
+	template <>
+	std::string SettingsBag::as (boost::string_ref parIndex) const {
+		auto& setting = (*this)[parIndex];
+		return std::string(setting.data(), setting.size());
+	}
+
+	template std::string SettingsBag::as<std::string> (boost::string_ref parIndex) const;
+} //namespace tawashi
diff --git a/src/settings_bag.hpp b/src/settings_bag.hpp
index 6649d0d..c7f0e66 100644
--- a/src/settings_bag.hpp
+++ b/src/settings_bag.hpp
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ namespace tawashi {
 		~SettingsBag() noexcept;
 
 		const boost::string_ref& operator[] (boost::string_ref parIndex) const;
-		const boost::string_ref& as_ref (boost::string_ref parIndex) const;
-		std::string as_str (boost::string_ref parIndex) const;
+		const boost::string_ref& at (boost::string_ref parIndex) const;
+		template <typename T> T as (boost::string_ref parIndex) const;
 		void add_default (boost::string_ref parKey, boost::string_ref parValue);
 
 	private:
@@ -41,4 +41,13 @@ namespace tawashi {
 		Kakoune::SafePtr<IniFile> m_ini;
 		const IniFile::KeyValueMapType* m_values;
 	};
+
+	template <>
+	inline boost::string_ref SettingsBag::as (boost::string_ref parIndex) const {
+		return (*this)[parIndex];
+	}
+
+	inline const boost::string_ref& SettingsBag::at (boost::string_ref parIndex) const {
+		return (*this)[parIndex];
+	}
 } //namespace tawashi