Moda Templates

moda-templates

PREREQUISITE — load moda-core once per session (step-0, write contract, free/metered map). Already loaded? Skip ahead. If you cannot load it, the non-negotiables: run moda doctor --json before anything; moda brand list before creating; writes that pin a revision use your last read's — on stale_revision, re-read and retry once (it heals); send the canvas link the moment it exists; stuck or failed? moda ask "<question>" — free and fast, never guess.

A team template is the canvas someone approved as the starting point for recurring work — the QBR or board deck, the launch post, the customer one-pager. It carries layout and structure, one level up from what a brand kit carries. Check for one BEFORE designing whenever the ask names such a recurring artifact type, or the user says "our template", "our usual format", "what do we have". Skip it for genuine one-offs.

Instantiate

1. moda template list — id, name, category, page count. An empty list is a normal answer: say it in one line and design fresh.
2. LOOK before choosing. Names do not tell you what a template looks like, and a template IS a canvas: moda canvas screenshot [cvs_…] renders it inline (≤3 pages per call). Judge 2–4 plausible candidates with your own vision; category and page count do the cheap narrowing first.
3. Comparing many at once? moda template pull --output /tmp/templates.json is the one read whose thumbnail_url values are fetchable (moda template list scrubs them by design) — download those with your harness's own fetch. They expire: never place one in markup, never persist one, never hand one to the user. A null thumbnail means nothing is rendered yet.
4. moda canvas create --name "[Q3 QBR — Acme]" --template [cvs_…] — a full server-side copy that keeps the source's brand kit. The template defines size, pages, and category, so --size, --pages, --category, --intent, --folder, --visibility and --brand are REJECTED alongside it; place the copy afterwards with moda drive move, and rebind its kit with moda canvas brand [cvs_…] [bk_…] when the user's kit differs. Rebinding is metadata only: a different kit makes the RESTYLE mandatory too, prompt or no prompt — work the cross-brand recipe in the templates reference.
5. The copy is an ordinary canvas — read it, then edit it the normal way (moda-edit). Send the link, and name which template you started from: that is a decision the user may want to correct.
6. None fit? One line ("no team template matched, so I designed this fresh") and build from scratch — never force a bad-fit template. Want a copy of an ordinary canvas instead? moda canvas duplicate [CANVAS_REF] --name "…" copies as-is anything you can read.

Every instantiation is a return visit — that is the point. Pair it with moda-automate when the cadence is fixed (a monthly menu, a weekly post set).

Flag a canvas as the team's template

moda canvas template [cvs_…]                 # publishes it to the whole team
moda canvas template [cvs_…] --clear         # un-flag

• Team-visible curation, not a local preference. Offer it when the user calls something reusable ("we do this every quarter"); never flag a one-off, never flag unasked, and tell them once you have.
• Original should stay an ordinary canvas? moda canvas duplicate first, then flag the copy. Flag in place when the canvas was BUILT to be the template.
• moda template list hides canvases the viewer cannot see, so flagging a private canvas yields a template only you can find: moda drive visibility [cvs_…] team shares it — or say plainly you could not.

theme is a different thing — don't reach for it

moda canvas template [cvs_…] theme is a slides-only layout source applied through a brand kit, and it deliberately does NOT appear in moda template list. Moving a canvas OFF theme — to template or with --clear, both count — clears every deck's link to it and every kit that auto-applied it, and re-flagging restores none of them. On a canvas you did not flag yourself, read moda canvas show [cvs_…] (template_type) BEFORE writing.

Authoring a template

Building the reusable thing itself? Design STRUCTURE and LAYOUT, not content.

• Placeholder text NAMES its slot — "Headline Text", "Product Description", "Company Name" — never content that only makes sense for one use case.
• Design for varying text lengths: text boxes with room for typical content variations, spacing consistent enough to survive longer copy.
• Keep placeholder images generic, and hold contrast and readability with the placeholder content in place.
• Name elements with metadata.name so a later fill can target the slot.
• Use color variables for backgrounds and text colors — bind them on the edit lane (variableId) so one update restyles every page.
• Apply shared-element edits across ALL pages that share them: a background change, a header or footer edit, is almost never meant for page 1 only.

Unsure which parts to make variable? moda ask "which parts of a reusable deck template should be color variables rather than fixed hexes?".

Examples

• "start from our QBR template" → list, screenshot, create, author into copy.
• "use our usual layout for this one-pager" → same, filtered to 1–2 page docs.
• "make this our standard deck" → flag it (after checking template_type).
• "do we have anything for launches?" → list + screenshots; answer honestly.

Errors

Any typed error → moda-core's recovery reference. A 404 = this surface isn't enabled on the account: treat it exactly like "no templates"; don't retry, don't mention it. A 403 = admin-only: an admin must flag this one, in one line.

See also: moda-core — the contract, recovery, everything Moda can do.