Template Tools

Templates let you create consistently structured notes without starting from scratch every time. Atlas can list your available templates and apply them — filling in placeholders automatically — directly from a conversation.

list_templates

Returns all the templates available in your vault.

Try saying:

• “What templates do I have?”
• “List my available note templates”
• “Do I have a meeting note template?”
• “Show me my templates”

The result includes each template’s name and a brief description of what it’s for.

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use_template

Creates a new note from a template, filling in any placeholders with the current values (or custom values you provide).

Key parameters:

• template_name — the name of the template to use
• output_filename — the name for the new note that will be created
• replacements — a map of custom {{placeholder}} values to override

Try saying:

• “Create a meeting note using my meeting template”
• “Use the weekly review template for this week”
• “Apply my project kickoff template and name it Henderson Kickoff”
• “Create a journal entry using my journal template”
• “Use the 1-on-1 template for my meeting with Sarah today”

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Built-In Placeholders

Templates support {{placeholder}} syntax for dynamic values. These are filled in automatically when the template is applied:

Placeholder	What it becomes
{{date}}	Today’s date in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g., 2024-01-15)
{{day}}	The full day name (e.g., Monday)
{{time}}	The current time in HH:MM format (e.g., 14:30)
{{title}}	The output filename you provided (without the .md extension)

A simple meeting template might look like this:

---
date: {{date}}
tags: [meeting]
---

# {{title}}

**Date:** {{date}} ({{day}})
**Time:** {{time}}

## Attendees

## Agenda

## Notes

## Action Items
- [ ]

When Atlas applies this template with output_filename: "Product Review 2024-01-15", it creates:

---
date: 2024-01-15
tags: [meeting]
---

# Product Review 2024-01-15

**Date:** 2024-01-15 (Monday)
**Time:** 14:30

## Attendees

## Agenda

## Notes

## Action Items
- [ ]

---

Custom Replacements

You can pass custom replacement values to override built-in placeholders or fill in any {{custom}} placeholder you’ve defined in your template.

Try saying:

• “Use the project kickoff template, name it Henderson Kickoff, and set the project name to Atlas Mobile”
• “Apply the 1-on-1 template for a meeting with Sarah, set the attendee placeholder to Sarah Chen”
• “Create a weekly review for the week of January 13th”

Atlas will pass any natural values it picks up from your request as custom replacements. For anything ambiguous, it will ask.

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Managing Templates

Templates are stored in atlas/templates/ in your vault. Atlas creates this folder automatically with default templates for each note type (note, idea, meeting, journal, reference). You can:

• Edit existing templates — they’re just markdown files, open them in any editor
• Add new templates — create any .md file in atlas/templates/
• Customize the defaults — modify the built-in templates to match your preferred structure

Tip

Create templates for your most common note types — weekly reviews, project kickoffs, research summaries. The more structured your templates, the more consistently Atlas will format new notes.