Templates
A template is a working app you can use as a starting point. You don't describe the app from a blank prompt; you pick a template that's close to what you want, give it a name, and the agent uses the template as the base for everything you ask next.
If your app is "like X but with Y," templates save you a lot of back-and-forth.
When to start from a template
- You're new to Appsanic. The free plan grants 5 template projects so you can see how the agent works without coming up with an idea from scratch.
- You want a working starting point. Templates include screens, sample data and local storage that you can adapt to your requirements.
- Your app is structurally similar to a common pattern. A social feed, a marketplace, a chat app, a habit tracker. If you can describe your app as "like X but for Y," there's probably a template for X.
When to skip templates:
- Your idea is unusual enough that no template comes close.
- You enjoy the blank-canvas freedom of describing the whole thing.
Where to find them
Go to Dashboard → Templates. You see a gallery of cards, each showing:
- The template's name.
- A category badge (Social, Games, Productivity, Lifestyle, etc.).
- A preview illustration of the app's interface. Open your copy to try the actual app.
- A one-line description of what the template does.
The gallery has category filter chips at the top so you can narrow down. All shows everything; tap a category to filter.
Categories
The categories you'll see (varies as the template library grows):
- Social: feeds, profiles, follows, comments, messaging.
- Games: puzzles, trivia, memory and daily challenges.
- Productivity: notes, calendars, budgets, journals.
- Lifestyle: recipes, fitness, events.
- Commerce: product catalogs, carts, ordering.
- AI: writing and tutoring apps built around an assistant.
If you don't see one you like, that's fine. Start from scratch with a clear prompt instead.
Starting from a template
- Browse the gallery; tap any card to see a larger preview.
- Click Use this template on the card you want.
- Appsanic copies the template files into a new project and opens it when the copy completes.
- Click the project name in the builder header to rename it.
If copying is interrupted, return to the same template in this browser tab and choose Use this template again to resume the pending copy. The request stays tied to the account where it began. Copying a template does not run an AI build; later requests to Sanic AI use credits under the usual billing rules.
Your project opens in the build view with the template's app already running in the browser preview and a Template source label in the header. Nothing is being built yet: the whole app is there, verified, and ready for your first instruction.
From here, talk to the agent like any other build:
"Change the name from 'Quill' to 'Herb Tracker'. Update the home screen copy to refer to herbs. Replace the warm cream theme with a leafy green primary color."
What you get with a template
Everything a fresh project has, plus the template's:
- Screens: built, typed and verified, on the same component kit the agent uses for every build.
- Sample data: seeded on the device the first time the app opens, so it feels alive on first preview. Every template also has a guarded way to restore the samples after you clear them.
- Local-first storage: notes, chats, scores, budgets and the rest live in a persisted store on the phone. There is no backend to configure and nothing to sign in to.
- Brand kit: a starter kit that matches the template's look, which you can edit or replace.
You can tweak any of it. Nothing is locked. If your app needs accounts, sync or a database, ask the agent and it will connect one; the template simply doesn't make you set that up before you can look around.
Tweaking a template
The agent doesn't treat the template's code as sacred. Common things to ask:
"Change the brand to use deep navy + warm yellow."
"Drop the comments feature; I don't want comments in v1."
"Add accounts and sync so my notes follow me between phones."
"Add a streak counter on the home screen."
Big changes are fine. You can essentially start with the template and end up with something quite different. The template just saved you the boilerplate.
Sharing or duplicating
Templates are starting points, not connections. Once you create a project from a template, your project is independent. Updates to the template don't flow into your project, and your edits don't flow back.
If you want a second project from the same template, just go back to Dashboard → Templates and click Use this template again. You get a fresh copy.
If you want to share your project as a template, that's not a user-facing feature today. Internal templates are curated by us.
The Free plan and templates
The Free plan grants 5 template projects so you can see how Appsanic works end-to-end without paying. You can:
- Open a template and explore the finished app in the browser preview.
- Preview the template in your browser or on Android with compatible Expo Go. See device compatibility; hosted iPhone preview is currently unavailable.
- Export the code locally.
You can't run your own prompts against the AI models on Free, and you can't push to GitHub or publish to the App Store. Those start at Pro. See Plans and Billing for details.
Things that catch people out
- Templates aren't "lite mode." You get the full app with every screen and feature. The agent is doing the same work; it just starts further along.
- The brand kit a template comes with isn't permanent. Swap it for your own (or build without a brand). See Brand Kits.
- Sample data lives on the device that opened the app. Clearing it in the app's settings only clears that phone; the browser preview and a phone running Expo Go each keep their own copy.
Under the hood (for engineers)
- Templates live in a managed
public.templatestable with their files inpublic.template_files; the/api/templatesroute reads them with a smallCache-Controlwindow. - Creating a project from a template copies the template's file tree into the new project and records it as the project's baseline revision, so the phone preview, export and publish all work before the agent has run once.
- Every template carries the current platform component kit byte-for-byte and only uses packages the build toolchain ships, which is what lets it open and verify immediately.
- The category filter is hydrated from the same API response so the chips are always in sync with the live template set.
Next
Read Writing Prompts to make the most of your template's first iteration, or Projects for managing the projects you create.