Templates

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Standardize how a category of Article begins. A Template copies its content, content type, tags, and Custom Metadata into every new Article created from it — so a runbook, a design document, or an onboarding guide always starts from the same shape instead of a blank page.

• ✅ Start new Articles from a consistent, pre-approved shape
• ✅ Keep reusable macro placeholders in the Template body
• ✅ Resolve Resource and C4 node macros from context when available
• ✅ Trace every Article back to the Template it came from

Understanding Templates

A Template is a starting point for new Articles — its content, content type, tags, and Custom Metadata are copied into every Article created from it. Unlike a Snippet, a Template's content isn't included by reference: it's copied once, at creation, and the new Article is then free to diverge from it.

Two Articles created from the same Template. Each copy is independent after creation, but both remember their Source Template.

Macros in Template-Based Articles

Templates can contain the same macros as regular Articles. Macro placeholders are kept in the content and resolved when the Article is displayed.

The editor's Template Guidance card summarizes how template content, Source Template tracking, and macro behavior work together.

Example of the Template Guidance card shown in the editor.

Create an Article From a Template

1. Start creating a new Article
2. Choose Create From Template
3. Pick a Template from the list
4. The Article's content, content type, tags, and Custom Metadata are copied in

You can also start from a Template in one click: the Add Article dropdown's From Template…, the Create Article From Template row action on the Templates overview, and the Create Article from this Template button on a Template's editor and reader pages. See Ways to Create an Article for every entry point and the templateId deep link.

Example of choosing a Template while creating a new Article.

Macro Resolution Context

Some macros need context from where the Article is opened:

• Opening the Article from a Resource provides resource.* values
• Opening the Article from a C4 diagram node provides node.* values

If that context is missing, those macros remain unresolved until the Article is viewed in a matching context.

Source Template Tracking

An Article created from a Template remembers it. The reader and relationship views show Based On Template, linking back to the Template it came from — even after the Article's own content has since changed completely.

Copy an Article as a Template

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Your best Article is often the best starting point for the next one. Copy as Template turns an existing Article into a new Template, and leaves the Article itself untouched.

1. Choose Copy as Template, either from the Article's row Action menu on the Articles overview, or from the Clone dropdown in the Article editor's header
2. The Duplicate dialog suggests the title