Templates
Give your agent business context, data, and instructions, then keep working through conversation and see the results in Busabase.
A template gives your agent a starting point for a job: business context, data structures, sample records, and an operating manual saved in your Busabase workspace. It can also include an AirApp that makes the work visible.
After installation, you keep working by talking to your agent. Ask it to organize information, update records, prepare a report, or adapt the workspace to your needs. The agent operates the resources; you use Busabase to inspect results, review changes, and decide what should happen next.
The context lives in workspace nodes — such as Bases, documents, and Skills — so the agent can read the relevant material when it needs it. The template is a starting structure that can develop with your work.
Work by talking to your agent
Your connected agent remains the place where you explain the task and give follow-up instructions. Busabase holds the shared context and makes the work inspectable.
| Who | Role |
|---|---|
| You | Set the goal, provide information, inspect the result, review changes, and give feedback |
| Your agent | Read the template's manual and relevant data, carry out your request, and explain the result |
| Busabase | Keep the data, documents, instructions, visual views, and change history available for the next round |
For example, with a CRM template and the meeting notes you provide:
You: Read these meeting notes. Record the customer interactions and draft the next follow-ups for my review.
Agent: Reads the CRM manual, finds the relevant customers, and prepares the interaction records and follow-up drafts in Busabase.
You: Review the proposed changes in Busabase, then tell the agent: “Move Acme's follow-up to Friday and make the draft more concise.”
Agent: Updates its proposal. You review the revised result, then continue the conversation when there is more work.
This is the ongoing way of using a template. The tables and interface give you a visible record to check and revisit as the agent does the work.
Choose a starting point
Browse the public template catalog, or open Templates from your workspace menu. Start with the work you want to delegate, such as customer follow-ups, content preparation, or research.
On a template's detail page, check:
- Screenshots and demos: how the results, progress, or review surface look to a person.
- Suggested requests: what you can ask an agent to do after installation. You can adapt them and keep giving follow-up instructions.
- Included resources: the data structures, sample rows, documents, app, and agent manual that provide the starting context.
- Source and license: where the template comes from and how you may reuse it.
Counts such as “3 tables · 1 app · 7 sample rows” describe the starting resources. The useful question is what your agent can do with them for you.
Browsing is public, including in the demo workspace. Installing requires write permission in the target workspace. Workspace owners, admins, and members have this permission; viewers can browse.
Install one
From the public catalog, open a template and choose Install this template. Sign in if needed, then choose the workspace. From the workspace Template Center, open the template and choose Install.
Both use the Install from GitHub… dialog with the template URL and folder name already filled in. Review what will be created before confirming.
Installation prepares the workspace in stages:
| Resource | What happens |
|---|---|
| Folder, Bases, fields, and views | Created immediately |
| Sample records | Merged on installation, so the starting structure contains examples |
| AirApp code, the Skill carrying the manual, drives, and documents | Merged directly when you have write permission; proposed as change requests if you request review |
Both the browser and CLI merge content directly when you have write permission. To inspect content before it goes live, select Send the content for review first in the browser or use --require-review on the CLI. If the preview says the package can only be installed without review, the browser explains why and does not offer the review checkbox.
When installation leaves pending changes, open the Inbox and review them. Until the Skill's change request is merged, the workspace does not yet contain the manual for your agent to read. An AirApp also needs its code merged before it can run. With direct installation, the merged manual and app code are already available.
Sample records are examples supplied by the author. Tell your agent which real information to use when you start working.
After it's installed
1. Connect your agent to this workspace
Use the agent connection guide to connect the agent you want to use. Installing a template adds resources; you still need a connected agent to carry out conversational requests.
2. Start with the manual and a real task
Give the agent the template's name or folder link and your goal. For example:
Use the CRM template in this workspace. Read its manual first, then summarize the customers who need a follow-up from the information I have provided. Propose any updates for my review.
Connected agents can discover installed manuals through Agent playbooks. Over MCP, busabase_guide with topic apps lists installed apps; topic skill:<slug> reads an app's manual and references. The agent reads the relevant context as needed.
3. Inspect, review, and continue the conversation
Open the relevant records, views, or AirApp to see what the agent produced. Use the Inbox and change requests to inspect proposals that need review. Tell the agent what to correct or do next, then inspect the updated result.
When you return later, ask your agent to read the current workspace state and continue. Saved records, documents, and instructions remain in Busabase; a new conversation can use them as context.
4. Let the starting point evolve
As your needs change, ask the agent to adapt the workspace: add a field, reorganize a view, revise the manual, or change the interface used for review. Give the same care to reviewing these changes as to the work itself.
Instructions and permissions
The manual explains how to work with the template. The agent still acts within its connection's permissions. Installation and a saved Skill do not grant additional authority or start a background worker. See API keys and change requests for the applicable access and review controls.
If you cannot get started
| What you see | What to do next |
|---|---|
| The catalog cannot load | Retry or use Refresh templates in the workspace Template Center; a fetch error does not mean the catalog is empty |
| You can browse but cannot install | Choose a workspace where you have write permission, or ask someone with that permission to install it |
| Tables exist, but the app or manual is missing | Check the Inbox for pending installation change requests and review them |
| The agent cannot find the template | Confirm it is connected to the correct workspace and can read the folder and Skill; give it the folder link and ask it to read the manual |
| A request needs external data or credentials | Provide the source or connect the required service; declared Vault keys do not create credentials |
| Installation was interrupted | Inspect the resources and pending changes already created before retrying; report the error to your agent with the folder link |
There is currently no install --upgrade. Installing a newer template version means using another folder. Changes you ask the agent to make to your installed workspace are separate from upgrading the source template.
Install from the command line
npx busabase-cli install https://github.com/busabase/templates/tree/main/busa-emailStart with --dry-run to inspect the plan. The URL's git ref pins the version. Like the browser, the CLI merges content by default when your credential can write to the target resources. Use --require-review to request review instead. Relevant flags are:
| Flag | Effect |
|---|---|
--skill <name> | Select a package when the URL points to a repository containing several packages; this flag is CLI-only |
--require-review | Leave content as change requests instead of merging it; template sample records are still merged unless you also use --no-sample-records |
--no-sample-records | Propose sample records for review instead of merging them during installation |
The command-line installer and Template Center use the same package format. Resource ownership stamps allow a template's setup script to recognize its installed resources; see Template format. After installing, continue with the same conversation-and-review workflow above.
Related
- Agent connection guide — connect the agent you will talk to
- Agent playbooks — how an agent finds saved instructions
- Template format — the package, Skill, and resource definitions
- Publish a template — share a starting point others can adapt
- Install & Export (packages) — full installation and export details
Publish an AirApp as a Website
Use the Website engine to put an AirApp at a public address that stays online and let the site read and write the workspace through the Busabase API.
Template format
What a Busabase template directory contains — the root SKILL.md, the template object in busabase.json, .busabaseignore, the validator's rules, and the ownership stamp that lets two installers recognise the same app.