Set Up Templates

Templates are pre-built site designs that customers choose during signup. Each template is a snapshot of an existing tenant site — theme, content, settings, and all.

Navigate to WaaS → Templates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=grabwp-tenancy-waas-templates).

How Templates Work

1. You create a tenant site and design it
2. You register that tenant as a template
3. Customers browse templates during signup
4. When a customer signs up, their new site is cloned from the template

Templates are stored as references to existing tenant sites, not as separate copies. The template's tenant must remain active.

Step 1: Create a Tenant for Your Template

Before creating a template, you need a tenant site to use as the source.

1. Go to Tenancy → Add New
2. Create a new tenant (e.g., slug: template-starter, domain: template-starter.yoursaas.com)
3. Access the tenant's WordPress admin and design the site:
   • Install and configure a theme
   • Add demo content (pages, posts, media)
   • Set up menus, widgets, and site identity
   • Configure any plugins you want included

Tip: Spend time making this site look polished — every customer who picks this template starts with an exact copy.

Step 2: Create a Template

1. Go to WaaS → Templates
2. Click Add New Template

Fill in:

Field	Value	Notes
Source Tenant	Select the tenant you designed	Only shown when creating, not editable after
Template Name	Starter Blog	Display name in the template gallery
Slug	starter-blog	URL-safe identifier. Lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens only.
Tags	Select or type tags	For filtering in the gallery. See tags setup below.
Allowed Plans	Leave unchecked for all plans	Check specific plans to restrict this template to paid users only
Price	0	Optional — charge extra for premium templates
Active	Checked	Template appears in the gallery

3. Upload a Thumbnail — a screenshot or mockup of the template. Recommended size: 1280×960px.
4. Optionally add a Preview URL — a live link customers can click to see the template in action.
5. Click Save Template

Setting Up Tags

Tags let customers filter the template gallery by category, industry, or feature.

Create Tag Groups

1. Go to WaaS → Settings → Tags
2. Click Add Tag Group
3. Create groups such as:
   • industry — Restaurant, Portfolio, Blog, E-commerce
   • builder — Elementor, Gutenberg, Beaver Builder
   • feature — WooCommerce, Multilingual, Membership

Create Tags

Within each group, create individual tags:

1. Click Add Tag inside a group
2. Set the Name (display) and Slug (URL-safe identifier)
3. Save

Assign Tags to Templates

When editing a template, select tags from the dropdown. Templates can have tags from multiple groups.

Controlling Gallery Filters

The template browser shortcode controls which tag groups appear as filter pills vs. dropdowns. See Shortcode Reference for all options.

Template Cloning Process

When a customer selects a template and completes signup, WaaS clones the template tenant:

1. Validate — check source tenant is healthy
2. Export — export source tenant database
3. Import — import into new tenant database
4. Copy uploads — copy media files
5. Symlink extensions — link plugins and themes
6. Fix URLs — update all URLs to the new tenant domain
7. Cleanup — finalize and activate

This process typically takes 10–30 seconds depending on template size.

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Next: Set Up Frontend Pages