Create your first template

Create a template

A template is the starting point for one document type: a decision letter, invoice, permit, or confirmation. It holds everything needed to produce that document — the layout, the data it expects, and the presentation variations for languages or brands.

Getting started takes very little: a clear name. Epistola creates the rest so you can move straight into the editor.

Steps

1. Open the tenant where the document belongs.
2. Go to Templates.
3. Choose New template.
4. Enter a name a business user will recognise.
5. Open the template and add the information the document needs.
6. Save at least one realistic example.

What Epistola creates with the template

A new template is never empty. Creating one also creates:

• a first variant, marked as the default presentation of the document;
• an empty draft data contract that will describe the information the document expects;
• a first draft version of that variant.

You can open the editor right away and refine the details later. Until you publish, the work stays in drafts. Other systems are served the latest published version by default; when they address an environment they get the version you deployed there, and when they name a specific version they can render it even while it is still a draft.

Expected data and examples

The data contract lists what the document expects: recipient, reference number, dates, decisions, line items. It is a JSON Schema whose root is always an object, and field names must be expression-safe — starting with a letter or underscore and using only letters, digits, and underscores.

You cannot publish a template version without at least one saved example, and the last remaining example cannot be deleted until you save another. Examples make design and preview possible, showing a realistic document instead of an empty one, and they stay test data — Epistola never puts real user data into them.

Names and identifiers

The name is for people: up to 100 characters, and changeable later. Behind it sits a technical identifier that the API and integrations address — 3 to 50 characters, starting with a lowercase letter, with digits and hyphens allowed. Once integrations depend on it, treat it as stable.

Template or variant?

Keep one template per document type. As soon as the same document needs another language, brand, channel, or layout, add a variant instead of a new template: every variant shares the template’s data contract, so the data stays the same while the presentation changes.

Create a separate template only when the document itself differs — another purpose, another owner, or another approval flow.

Themes

Presentation comes from a theme: typography, colours, paper size, and margins. A template selects a default theme, and a single variant can override it when one brand needs its own look. Epistola resolves the theme per variant, from most specific to least:

1. the variant’s own theme override;
2. the template’s default theme;
3. the tenant’s default theme.

If none of these is set, built-in rendering defaults apply: A4 paper, 20 mm margins, and a Helvetica-compatible built-in font.

What happens next

Open the editor and build the document: text, tables, conditionals, loops, headers, and footers. When it looks right, publish a version and deploy it to an environment such as staging or production. Publishing freezes the theme and layout so the same document can be reproduced later, and is often done by a different role than authoring.