---
title: "Templates"
description: "Start from capacity-adjustable venue families, curated flagships, or insertable blocks, then own the resulting draft."
---

Templates accelerate authoring without creating a permanent dependency on the
catalog. Instantiating one creates a normal editable draft in your workspace.

## Catalog model

<CardGrid>
  <Card title="Venue families">
    Eleven archetypes such as curved theatre, banquet rounds, classroom,
    grandstand, festival GA, and expo hall. A capacity control regenerates
    coherent geometry between authored bounds.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Curated flagships">
    Eighteen fixed-geometry examples for arenas, theatres, stadiums, opera,
    cinema, exhibitions, worship, and other complex venues.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Insertable blocks">
    Reusable balcony, row, GA, table, and box groups that can be added to an
    existing chart as one undoable operation.
  </Card>
</CardGrid>

The create-chart gallery may expose a smaller published subset while catalog
entries are curated.

## Catalog discovery and revision identity

Discover currently published templates without a credential through
[`GET /pub/templates`](https://api.seatlayer.io/pub/templates). Its `id` is the
catalog identifier to pass as `templateId` when instantiating; do not derive
that value from the human-readable `slug`. Use
[`GET /pub/templates/:slug`](https://api.seatlayer.io/pub/templates) for the
selected entry's active `version.number` and content `version.sha256`.

Catalog discovery exposes only published templates and their active revision;
it does not provide a historical-version listing. A known published revision's
chart artifact remains addressable at `/pub/templates/:slug/versions/:version/chart`.
For reproducible provisioning, persist the catalog `id` together with the
returned version and SHA-256, then submit both pins to instantiation. The new
chart records those same source values and is independent of later catalog
activation changes.

## Capacity-adjustable families

Family geometry is rebuilt, not visually stretched. The compiler adjusts rows,
tables, aisles, sections, and labels together. S/M/L/XL chips are anchors on a
continuous supported range.

Use this when the venue shape matches an archetype but the capacity varies
between customers or events.

## Flagships as working references

Flagships demonstrate combinations that are hard to infer from an empty canvas:

- sections and zones with focal points;
- multi-floor theatres and stadium decks;
- category and tier pricing;
- GA, booths, tables, and mixed inventory;
- far-zoom navigation and 3D structure; and
- large-chart performance patterns.

Duplicate and simplify a flagship when it is closer to the real venue than a
family.

## Instantiate and publish

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose a starting point">
    Match venue semantics first; a similar capacity with the wrong booking model
    creates more rework.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Instantiate">
    SeatLayer copies the catalog revision into a new workspace draft.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Make it authoritative">
    Rename sections, verify labels, set categories/prices, confirm accessibility,
    and adjust capacity/geometry.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Validate and publish">
    Review buyer evidence and create a published snapshot.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Create the event">
    Materialize live/test inventory from that snapshot.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Platform instantiation

<ApiEndpoint method="POST" path="/v1/templates/:templateId/instantiate" auth="Secret key" />

```bash title="instantiate-template.sh"
curl -X POST \
  "https://api.seatlayer.io/v1/templates/tpl_example/instantiate" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SEATLAYER_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: tenant-42-mainstage" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Main Stage",
    "workspaceId": "ws_tenant_42"
  }'
```

Pin `version` and `sha256` when reproducibility matters. An optional `editedDoc`
can instantiate a validated customized variant. Record the returned chart id,
then publish and create the event through the normal lifecycle.

## Insertable block safety

Inserted blocks continue row-letter sequences and advance table/booth labels to
avoid collisions. Still run full chart validation: surrounding objects, custom
labels, sections, and accessibility overrides can introduce conflicts the block
cannot predict.

## Template checklist

- [ ] The starting template matches the selling model.
- [ ] Generated capacity is within the real venue's safe limit.
- [ ] Labels, aisles, exits, accessibility, and sightlines are reviewed.
- [ ] Category/tier prices are replaced with real values.
- [ ] The chart has no assumed ongoing link to the catalog.
- [ ] Provisioning uses a stable idempotency key and optional pinned revision.
- [ ] Buyer preview and validation pass before publication.

Continue with [charts and objects](/designer/charts-and-objects) or
[publishing and versioning](/designer/publishing-and-versioning).