# Templates

A **template** is a curated SlideDoc you can clone into any agent. Three flavors:

- **System templates** — shipped by live-layer. Designer-built decks for common patterns (sales walkthroughs, onboarding intakes, course modules).
- **Org templates** — saved by your organization. Anyone in your org can use them.
- **Suggested templates** — surfaced inline by the editor based on what you're authoring.

> [!INFO]
> Templates are **deck templates** — SlideDoc shells you start from. Don't confuse them with [Recipes](/docs/recipes), which are end-to-end use-case walkthroughs that bundle prompts, agent settings, and templates together.

## Browse the library

Open **Templates** in the dashboard sidebar (or visit `/slide-templates` directly). The page shows a grid of cards — each card is a real mini-render of the template's first slide.

Filter by category at the top of the page. Click a card to preview every slide before committing.

## Use a template

Two paths:

**From the templates page:**

1. Click any card.
2. The "Use template" modal asks which agent to clone into.
3. Pick the target agent. The template's slides become the agent's SlideDoc, replacing whatever was there.

**From inside the editor:**

1. Open the slides editor for an agent.
2. On a brand-new (empty) deck, the get-started cluster shows "Use a template."
3. Click → routes to `/slide-templates?agentId=<your-agent-id>`. Picking a template clones it directly back into your agent.

> [!WARNING]
> Cloning a template **replaces** the agent's current SlideDoc. There's no merge. If you want to combine slides from a template with your existing deck, clone into a temporary agent first, then copy individual slides.

## Save as template

Once you've built a deck you want to reuse:

1. In the slides editor, top toolbar → **Save as template**.
2. Modal asks for:
   - **Title** — visible name in the library
   - **Category** — for filtering (e.g., "Sales", "Onboarding", "Education")
   - **Tags** — free-form, useful for search
3. Save.

The template lands in your **org templates** (not system). Anyone in your org can use it from the templates page.

## Suggested templates

As you author, the editor analyzes your slide content and surfaces a **Suggested templates banner** when it thinks a relevant template exists:

> *2 templates match your "Sales onboarding" deck. [Browse →]*

Suggestions are based on slide titles, semantic roles (`heading`, `cta`, etc.), and tags. Dismiss the banner per-deck if you don't want suggestions.

## Template metadata

When you save as a template, the system records:

```json title="template-metadata.json"
{
  "title": "Sales walkthrough — SaaS",
  "category": "Sales",
  "tags": ["b2b", "saas", "demo"],
  "scope": "org",
  "orgId": "org_abc123",
  "createdBy": "user_xyz789",
  "createdAt": "2026-05-08T14:00:00Z",
  "previewSlideId": "slide_first"
}
```

`previewSlideId` is the slide rendered as the card preview in the library. Default: the first slide of the deck. To override, click "Set as preview" on any slide before saving as template.

## Imports as templates

A common pattern: import a PDF/PPTX (see [Importing](/docs/build/slides/importing)), tweak it for your brand, then save as a template. Future agents in your org start from the polished version, not the raw import.

## Read next

- [Importing](/docs/build/slides/importing) — bring an existing deck in as a starting point
- [Theming](/docs/build/slides/theming) — apply org-wide branding to a template you cloned
- [Recipes](/docs/recipes) — full use-case walkthroughs (different from templates)