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

moda template list — id, name, category, page count. An empty list is a normal answer: say it in one line and design fresh.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.