Project Templates Overview

Project templates give new projects a head start. Instead of creating an empty project and building structure from scratch, you select a template that provisions a set of documents, folders, and optionally agent deployments tailored to a specific type of work.

ThinkForge ships with 21 built-in templates covering software development, content creation, small business operations, and research workflows. You can also capture any existing project as a reusable template.

The Creation Wizard

Projects are created from the Projects page. Clicking Create New Project opens a single-screen wizard with a split-panel layout.

Left panel — template list

The left panel shows all available templates organized into expandable sections.

My Templates appears first and is expanded by default. This section contains templates you saved from existing projects. It only appears once you have saved at least one.

Bundled categories follow:

  • Creator Workflows — YouTube, podcast, newsletter, online course, short-form content, content repurposing
  • Small Business — Operations, client proposals, client onboarding, marketing campaigns, lead pipeline, product launch
  • Research & Writing — Coaching/consulting, market research, book writing, investigative research, academic research
  • Solo App Builders — Web app, mobile app, browser extension, indie game dev

Each template shows its icon and name.

Right panel — preview and component selection

Selecting a bundled template shows its preview: a headline, description, and "Who it's for" text. Below the preview, a list of checkboxes shows the template's components — the documents that will be created in the new project.

All components are checked by default. Required components have their checkboxes disabled so they cannot be unchecked. Optional components can be toggled off if you don't need them.

Selecting a captured template shows a different preview: the template name, description, source project name, and a summary of document count, folder count, and agent count. The first 15 document filenames are listed. Captured templates have no component selection — the entire snapshot is applied.

Project name

A text field at the top of the wizard collects the project name. This is the only required input.

Three outcomes

Create from Template — Creates the project using the selected template and checked components. For bundled templates, only the selected components are provisioned. For captured templates, the full snapshot is replayed.

Generic Project — Creates an empty project with just the base structure and _captured/ folder. No template documents.

Cancel — Closes without creating anything.

What Happens During Project Creation

  1. Directory structure — Creates the project folder, the hidden .fire/ directory with its memory and cache folders, and the _captured/ folder.

  2. Project configuration — Writes the project's identity and settings, including the template used, selected components, and project type.

  3. Search index — Creates the project's index and imports core tool definitions.

  4. Template provisioning — One of three paths:

    • Bundled template — Creates one Markdown file per selected component in _captured/, indexes each with system tags, and creates a workspace named after the template with all created documents pinned.
    • Captured template — Recreates the captured folder structure, writes all document files at their original relative paths, and deploys any captured agent definitions.
    • Generic project — No template documents are created.

Bundled Template Components

Each bundled template defines a set of components — document slots that become Markdown files in the new project.

Name and description — The component name becomes the document title and filename. The description becomes the document's opening content.

Node type — Determines the document scaffold when no default content is provided. Types include document (plain Markdown), board (columns for status tracking), checklist (checkbox items), tracker (status tracking with fields), and log (date-stamped entries).

Default content — Some components include pre-written content. The Web App template's architecture decision log, for example, includes a decision-record template with fields for context, decision, consequences, and alternatives.

Required vs optional — Required components cannot be unchecked in the wizard. Optional components are checked by default but can be toggled off.

Agent-assisted — Some components are marked as agent-assisted and carry a reference to an agent and its settings. This information is stored with the document, but agents are not automatically deployed for bundled templates.

Sort order — Controls display order in the wizard and creation order during provisioning.

Save as Template

You can save any existing project as a reusable template. The Save as Template button is available on the Projects page when a project is selected.

The save flow collects a template name (required) and description, then takes a snapshot of the project:

  • Folders — All subdirectories under _captured/
  • Documents — All .md, .txt, .json, and .csv files with their full content and relative paths
  • Agents — All deployed agent definitions for the project, including their surface placements

The captured template is saved and appears under My Templates in the creation wizard.

Unlike bundled templates, captured templates replay the bounded snapshot — supported folders, documents, and agent deployments — without component-level selection.

Current Capture Limits

A captured template is a reusable starting point, not a complete clone of its source project. It currently includes supported files beneath _captured/ and project-scoped deployed agents. It does not preserve:

  • Mind Maps, including their nodes, connections, attachments, selected context, or presentation settings
  • Document tags and metadata
  • Connections between documents and the Mind Map nodes or agents that use them
  • Project files outside _captured/

Bundled templates also have a narrower scope than their definitions may suggest: they create component documents and a workspace, but do not deploy declared agents, copy declared reference files, or create a Mind Map.

Template Storage

Bundled templates ship with ThinkForge in the install directory.

Captured templates are saved in your data directory.

Both are cached per wizard session. A newly created template may not appear in an already-open wizard until you reopen it.