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Create an application from a template

Templates are pre-built virtual apps — schemas, pages, sample data — for recognisable use cases (a permit workflow, a citizen consultation, an HR onboarding flow). Cloning one is faster than starting from blank, and you refine it afterwards in-app.

Goal​

By the end you will have cloned a template into an editable draft virtual app, named it, and opened it for editing.

Prerequisites​

Steps​

  1. Click Store in the left navigation to open the template gallery. It shows one card per template with a category, a short description and a Use this template button.

    The template gallery

  2. Pick a card that matches what you're building — the category badge hints at where the template is most at home. Hover for the longer description.

  3. Click Use this template. A dialog asks for the new application's Name, Slug (URL-safe, auto-derived from the name) and an optional Description.

  4. Click Create. OpenBuild clones the template's schemas, pages and sample data into a new application record, sets the status to Draft, and returns you to the Apps list.

  5. Open the new app and click Open to run it, then Edit with OpenBuild to start customising — add/move/configure widgets, edit pages, menu and data, all in place. See Build your app in-app.

Verification​

The clone is complete when: the new application shows in Apps with the name you gave it and status Draft, and it opens and runs without a load error.

Common issues​

SymptomFix
Use this template spins foreverThe clone runs as a background job — wait a minute and reload the Apps list.
Slug field rejects your inputSlugs must be lowercase, hyphen-separated, no spaces or special characters.
The cloned app has no schemasThe template's schemas were renamed or deleted on the host since it was authored — pick a different template, or re-import the canonical set from Manage the template catalogue.

Reference​