Templates

New work is a copy, not a blank page. A template is the set of files a new workspace starts from: an entry file, stage contracts, shared reference, and {…} prompts where your own facts go. Templates are free, and every one is read by a person before it is listed.

A template is instructions that agents will follow, so it is treated like a dependency:

• Every version is immutable and pinned. A version's digest covers its metadata and every byte of every file. A workspace records exactly which template, version and digest it was copied from.
• Nothing is listed unread. The curated catalog changes only through a reviewed change to MemoryRelay itself; a community template is listed only after the operator has read it.
• Copies are copies. A workspace keeps its files even if the template it came from is later delisted.

Browse the marketplace

In the app, open Library → Templates. Templates are grouped by shape (pipeline, umbrella, record library, knowledge bundle, context map, system map) and can be filtered by tag or searched. Each template's page shows its description, where it came from, and every file as written, so you can read what your agents will follow before you use it.

Every shape has a default: the generic starter from ICM Architect (MIT). Other templates are built from real workspaces, for example Embedded C++ library, an umbrella of fix, feature and release pipelines for a C++ library that ships to microcontrollers.

Start a workspace from a template

Choose Use this template, or pick one on the New workspace page: every template is listed up front, with a search and the shapes as a filter; the six generic starters appear as Blank pipeline, umbrella and so on. For a Git workspace, templates that fit the repository you type come first ("Suggested for owner/name"). For a workspace edited here, the files are copied into your draft: fill in the {…} prompts, check the draft, and publish it as v1.

Two values are filled in when a template is copied:

In the template	Becomes
{{workspace_name}}	the workspace's name
{{repository}}	the repository (owner/name), or "this repository" when there is none

Single-brace text such as {Your release checklist} is left as written: it is a prompt for you.

Make a repository ICM-ready

For a Git workspace whose folder is not ready yet, Make it ICM-ready lists templates suggested for this repository first, whether you adopt the repository (the template supplies the pipelines, beside the instruction files the repository already has) or start from a template in a folder. MemoryRelay lists the names of the files at the repository's root and one folder down (never their contents) and matches them against what each template says it fits, for example platformio.ini or library.json. Then come all the templates for the shape you pick, and the generic starter.

The template's files and a generated icm.source.json go into your draft under the source folder. You check it and open a pull request; a person merges it in GitHub, and the next sync publishes v1.

Share your own

A person with admin on a workspace can share its live version as a template (Versions → Share as a template). Before submitting, generalise it:

• remove names of people, clients and teams, or turn them into {…} prompts;
• remove secrets: tokens, keys, passwords, connection strings;
• remove internal URLs and hostnames;
• keep the {…} prompts so the next person knows what to write;
• write the repository's own name as {{repository}}.

Only a published version can be shared, never a draft, and restricted notes are always left out. MemoryRelay refuses a submission that still contains something shaped like a credential, one that names its repository instead of using {{repository}}, and one whose copy would not pass the workspace checks. Templates are licensed MIT or CC-BY-4.0.

Your submission waits for review; only you and the operator see it. You can follow it under Your submissions on the Templates page, including the reason if it is not listed.

API

Reading templates works with a signed-in session or any API key:

Route	What it returns
GET /v2/icm/templates?form=&tag=&q=	templates (summaries with digest, default_for_form, source) and defaults
GET /v2/icm/templates/{slug}?version=	metadata, description and the file list
GET /v2/icm/templates/{slug}/files/{path}	one file, as written
GET /v2/icm/workspaces/{id}/source/template-suggestions	suggestions: [{slug, score, matched, form}] for a Git workspace
GET /v2/icm/workspaces/{id}/source/scan	the same suggestions, with the workspaces and instruction files the repository holds

Copying a template into a workspace, submitting one, and every review decision are people's decisions: API keys are refused with human_only.

Route	Who
POST /v2/icm/workspaces/{id}/draft/from-template with {"template": "embedded-cpp-library"}	a publisher of the workspace
POST /v2/icm/workspaces/{id}/source/make-ready with {"mode": "adopt", "template": "embedded-cpp-library"}	a publisher; admin when the source's folder changes
POST /v2/icm/templates/submissions	an admin of the workspace
POST /v2/icm/admin/templates/{id}/list, /reject, /delist	the operator

from-template also accepts {"form": "pipeline"}, which copies that shape's default. An unknown template, or a version that is not listed, is refused before anything is written.