Create your first template

Creating a template

Templates are the core building block in Epistola. Each template defines everything needed to produce a specific document type.

Start from the templates list

Navigate to the templates page in the Epistola Suite. You’ll see a searchable table of all templates in your tenant. Click New template to create one — give it a meaningful slug (e.g., decision-letter) and a display name.

The template detail page

Once created, you land on the template detail page with four tabs:

• Variants — Manage presentation variants (e.g., different languages or brands). Each variant has its own layout and version history
• Deployments — The deployment matrix showing which version is active per variant per environment
• Data Contract — Edit the JSON Schema defining the data your template expects, and manage named data examples for testing
• Settings — Configure the default theme and toggle PDF/A compliance

Define your data contract

Switch to the Data Contract tab and define the JSON Schema for your template. This contract describes the exact shape of the data payload — field names, types, and which fields are required. Add named data examples so you can preview the template with realistic content.

Set up variants

Back on the Variants tab, your template starts with one default variant. Create additional variants for different languages, brands, or channels. Tag each variant with attributes (e.g., language=nl) so the variant resolver can automatically select the right one when documents are generated.

Try it yourself

Use the sandbox below to create a template in a live Epistola environment.