Templates

Templates are forkable starter packages. Each one is a real, shaped app that you can install from the marketplace in one click, or clone with the CLI to get a TypeScript codebase to extend.

Templates exist for two reasons:

1. Show, don't tell — a working multi-object app reads faster than docs.
2. Give engineering teams a starting point — when you want code under source control, not just AI-generated metadata in your DB.

What ships in the default catalog

Source: github.com/objectstack-ai/templates. Apache-2.0. Fork without asking.

Install in 30 seconds (zero code)

In ObjectOS:

1. Open Marketplace → search for the template.
2. Click Install.
3. Refresh — the new app shows up in your nav.

Done. Records, views, flows, permissions — all live.

Fork as a codebase (for engineers)

npm create objectstack@latest my-app
cd my-app
pnpm install
pnpm dev

The scaffolder starts every project from its blank template. It no longer fetches the content templates by name: on ObjectStack 17.7, --template todo is refused as retired.

The project is a self-contained pnpm package — *.object.ts, *.view.ts, *.flow.ts files you can edit, lint, test, commit. When you're happy:

pnpm build
os package publish   # → your marketplace

Customers installing your fork get your brand and your modifications.

Template charter (the social contract)

Every template ships a CHARTER.md declaring its scope and hard limits — typically: ≤ 6 business objects, ≤ 2,500 LOC under src/, one app, one default locale. The charter exists so templates stay templates, not half-finished products. If a fork grows past these limits, ship it as a new template, don't bloat an existing one.

See the upstream TEMPLATE_GUIDE.md for the file-suffix protocol (*.object.ts, *.state.ts, *.hook.ts, …), the authoring sequence (objects → state → hooks → views → flows → …), and the polymorphic platform services (sys_comment, sys_attachment, sys_audit_log) that you should reuse instead of reinventing.

Pick a starting point

AI Builder + templates together

You can fork a template and still use the AI Builder on top of it. Install helpdesk, then say:

"Add a csat_score integer field to hd_ticket, range 1–5, ask for it on close."

The AI extends the installed package in place. The change is live metadata in your deployment, approved like any other AI Builder change; it does not travel back to the template's source repository on its own.

Where to go next

• AI Builder — extend any template by chat
• Packages — what a template actually is
• Marketplace — distribute your fork
• Run ObjectOS Community locally — full end-to-end of the developer path