Import a template
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What this does for you
Importing a template file creates a new bot from a .template.json file that Export wrote, on the home edition or on hosted. The file is checked the same way a publish is checked — the personal-data scan and the safety review — before anything is installed. This is also how you move a bot from a home install to a platform organisation: export it on home, import the file on hosted.
Before you start
- You have a
.template.jsonfile that Export wrote. On the bot's template sheet, Export saves one; the file name ends in the first characters of its content hash. - You are signed in, and the organisation you want the new bot in is your active one. On a home install, that is the home install's own organisation.
- The file is at most 1 MB.
Steps
- Open Templates at
/templatesand find Import template. - Select Choose a .template.json file and pick the file.
- Read the checks. Each one says whether it passed:
- File format: the file is a template file in format 1, and its content hash matches its contents.
- Keys and tokens: no key, token, password or connection credential anywhere in it.
- Personal data scan: the same scan publishing runs. A finding names the item it was found in — a skill, a routine or a memory — and Install stays unavailable until you select Remove on that item.
- Safety review: the same review publishing runs, with the template's risk class. A refused review installs nothing.
- Optionally remove any other skill, routine or memory you do not want, with Remove beside it.
- Select Install. The new bot opens, with the setup checklist pinned above its transcript.
- Resolve the setup checklist: install any plugin it names and set any secret it names. Routines arrive switched off; switch each one on when its accounts are connected.
Home and hosted
The import is the same on both editions: the same page, the same checks and the same result.
| Edition | Where the new bot lands |
|---|---|
| Home | The home install's own organisation. |
| Hosted | Your active organisation. Switch organisation first if you want it somewhere else. |
What travels and what does not
The new bot is a copy, exactly as a catalogue install makes one: its instructions, its skills at the content hash they were exported at, its routines (switched off), and its bot memory. Plugin accounts, keys and secrets never travel: the setup checklist names each plugin and secret the file could not carry.
A worked example
Move a bot from a home install to a platform organisation
- On the home install, open the bot, share it as a template and select Export on its template sheet. Keep the
.template.jsonfile. - Sign in on hosted and switch to the platform organisation you want the bot in.
- Open Templates, select Import template and choose the file.
- Check the results, then select Install.
A file exported on hosted imports on a home install the same way.
What can go wrong
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
This file is not a template. Choose a .template.json file that Export wrote. | The file is not one Export wrote. | Export the bot again and choose that file. |
This template file uses a format version this install does not know. Export it again from an up-to-date install. | The file was written by a newer or older format. | Export it again from an up-to-date install. |
This file is over the 1 MB limit for a template file. | The file is too large. | Remove memories or skills from the template before you export it. |
This file was changed after it was exported: its content hash does not match its contents. Export it again. | Someone edited the file after Export wrote it. | Export it again and do not edit the file. |
This file holds a key, token, password or connection credential, so it was refused. Remove it at the source and export again. | A credential is in the file. | Remove it from the bot, then export again. |
The safety review refused this template, so nothing was installed. | The safety review found a problem, such as a prohibited risk class or a skill that is not valid. | Fix it in the source bot and export again. |
You have reached the limit of bots and group chats for this account. | Your account already holds the maximum number of bots and group chats. | Delete or archive one, then try again. |
Every import, installed or refused, is recorded in the organisation's audit log as template.imported, with who imported it, the file's content hash and the result. The file's contents are never recorded.
See also
Last verified against build 15cebcd.