Publish your app as a template
Offer your finished app as a starting point other people can build from.
A template is a finished app that other people copy as the starting point for their own. You can offer one of your published apps as a template, and AppHandle reviews it before it appears in the template directory.
What a template gives away
When someone starts a new app from your template, they get a copy of your app's files — including any private files you added to it — and the conversation you had with the agent while building it. The app's handle functions come with it too.
They do not get your saved records, and it is their app from then on: what they change is theirs alone, and your original stays as it is.
A listing shows the app itself. Every template card carries a details button that opens the running app, so a template is public by definition: anyone who can see the listing can open the app and use it as a visitor. The listing shows the app's address, and it is not a private copy.
Before you ask
Two things are needed, and the card tells you which one is missing.
Deploy the app. Until there is a published version, the card says Deploy your app before publishing it as a template.
Make the app public. Open the app's session, select Publish above the app, and select Make public in the Access card. A private app cannot be listed, because there would be nothing for a visitor to open. Public apps cannot use integrations, so a template cannot rely on one either.
Publish it as a template
- Open the app from your Desk.
- Find the Template card on the app's page.
- Write a Description saying what the app does and who it is for. It can be up to 280 characters, and the field counts them for you.
- Choose a Category. There are two: Website for pages someone reads, and App for something someone uses. It is the filter people browse the directory with, so pick the one that matches how your app is used.
- Select Publish as template and confirm.
The card's status then becomes Pending review, with the note Pending review. It will appear in the template directory once an admin approves it. A person at AppHandle reviews the request before it is listed.
Once it is approved the status becomes Live, and the card says This app is live in the public template directory at /templates. Anyone can start a new app from it, and open the running app. The card also shows Homepage, marked Featured or Not featured; which templates appear on the homepage is chosen by AppHandle.
Taking a listing out
There is no way to take your own listing out of the directory yet. If you need one removed, Get help.
Where to go next
Start from a template shows the other side of this — choosing someone else's app as your starting point.