Documentation

Templates

Every site in SleekCMS can be used as a template. A template is a complete, clonable site — content models, view templates, blocks, sample content, and configuration — wrapped behind a single clone token. Anyone with the token can spin up a new site that is an independent copy of the original.

This page covers what a template includes, how clone tokens work, where to find and use templates inside the CMS, and how to share your own sites as templates.

What a Template Includes

When you clone a site from a template, the new site is created with everything needed to be functional from day one:

  • Page models, entry models, block models — The complete content schema.
  • View templates and layouts — All EJS templates bound to those models.
  • Option sets — Any dropdown taxonomies defined on the source site.
  • Site builder assets — CSS, JavaScript, images, and other static files.
  • Sample content — The page records, entries, and media that were present when the clone token was generated.
  • Site configuration — Builder settings, image processing, localization, and other site-level toggles.

The clone is independent. Once created, edits to the original site do not propagate to the clone, and edits to the clone do not affect the original. They share no runtime state.

The Template Gallery

From your organization, the Templates view in the SleekCMS UI shows a curated list of ready-to-use starter sites — landing page templates, blogs, documentation sites, restaurant menus, portfolio sites, and more. Clicking any of these starts a new site cloned from that template.

You can also paste a clone token directly to clone from any site you have a token for, including private sites that aren't in the public gallery.

Clone Tokens

A clone token is the credential that authorizes the cloning of a site. It is generated from the source site's settings screen (Site → Site Clone Token) and represents a snapshot of the site at the moment the token was created.

Treat clone tokens like credentials. Anyone with the token can create a complete copy of your site. Tokens issued earlier do not reflect later edits to the source site — to share a fresher snapshot, generate a new token.

→ Site Configuration — Where clone tokens are generated.

Sharing Your Site as a Template

Any site you own can be shared as a template by:

  1. Polishing the source site so the structure, sample content, and templates are presentable.
  2. Generating a clone token from the site's configuration screen.
  3. Sharing that token with whoever should be able to clone the site.

For agencies, this is the primary way to deliver pre-built site architectures to clients — build once, hand over a clone token, and the client gets their own independent copy they can edit freely.

For internal teams, templates let you standardize new site setups. Create a "marketing site" template, a "campaign microsite" template, or a "blog" template, and use them as starting points whenever a new project kicks off.

When to Clone vs. When to Reference

Cloning produces a brand new site with its own content, models, and storage. Use this when:

  • You want a new project that starts from a known baseline.
  • You're handing a site off to a client who needs ownership.
  • You want to experiment freely without affecting the original.

If instead you want one site whose content shows up in many places, that's a job for the content API, not a template clone. Templates are for spinning up new independent sites; the content API is for syndicating one source of content across multiple frontends.

What's Next

  • Sites — Managing the sites that exist within your organization.
  • Site Configuration — Generating clone tokens from a source site.
  • Getting Started — The full new-site workflow, including starting from a template.