Board templates
Board templates
Board templates are reusable blueprints for creating Kanban boards. A template defines a set of tasks, their dependencies, optional recurrence, and named variables that are filled in at instantiation time. This lets you create repeatable workflows — weekly reports, sprint setups, release checklists — without rebuilding the board from scratch each time.
What you see
Navigate to Board Templates in the sidebar. The page shows your saved templates in either Grid or List view (toggle in the top-right corner). Each entry shows the template name, slug, task count, and description. From the list you can instantiate, edit, or delete any template.
Creating a template
Click New Template to open the creation wizard. The wizard has 5 steps:
| Step | Label | What you configure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basics | Template name (auto-generates a slug), description, and accent colour |
| 2 | Variables | Named parameters that callers supply at instantiation — each variable has a key, prompt label, description, required flag, and optional default value |
| 3 | Tasks | The tasks that make up the template — title, status, priority, assignee, body, max_runtime_seconds, goal_max_turns, and an optional scheduled_at deferred-dispatch time |
| 4 | Dependencies | Directed links between task keys that form the execution order; the wizard enforces a cycle-guard (DFS) and blocks you from creating circular dependencies |
| 5 | Review | A YAML preview of the full template and a pre-flight checklist of validation results |
Click Next to advance. The Review step shows any blocking issues before you can save.
Variable interpolation
Variables defined in step 2 can be referenced anywhere in a task’s title, body, assignee, or scheduled_at field using {{variable_key}} syntax. At instantiation time the caller is prompted to supply a value for each required variable; optional variables use their default if left blank.
Example: a task title of Review {{project_name}} pull requests becomes Review Hermes pull requests when instantiated with project_name=Hermes.
Task timing fields
Each task in step 3 has two optional advanced fields:
max_runtime_seconds— hard time limit for the task’s agent run.goal_max_turns— maximum agent turns when the task runs in goal mode.scheduled_at— deferred dispatch start time. Accepts a relative offset (+2h,+30m,+1d,+1w), an absolute date/time, or a{{variable}}placeholder so callers can supply the start time at instantiation. Leave blank to dispatch the task as soon as it is ready.
Recurrence
In step 4 you can enable recurrence on the template. A cron expression and timezone control when the board auto-instantiates. Example expressions: 0 9 * * 1 (every Monday at 9 am), */30 * * * * (every 30 minutes).
Instantiating a template
Click Instantiate on any template card to create a real board from the template. A dialog collects values for any required variables and lets you choose a target board (or auto-create one). On confirm the tasks are created on the board with all variable placeholders resolved.
Saving an existing board as a template
From a board view, use the Save as template action. This calls useSwitchBoard under the hood and opens the creation wizard pre-seeded with the board’s existing tasks and metadata so you can parameterise them before saving.
Common issues
Board Templates page shows “API not available”. The connected Hermes Agent does not expose the board templates API. Update the agent to a version that includes the kanban plugin with template support.
Cycle detected error in step 4. The dependency graph you defined contains a circular path. Remove the link that completes the cycle — the wizard highlights which link would introduce it.
YAML size warning in step 5. Templates over 64 KB may be rejected by the backend. Reduce task body length or split into multiple templates.
Related
- Boards — the board view where instantiated tasks live
- Tasks — individual task management
- Plugins — Kanban — the plugin that powers boards and templates