Templates & Integration Activation¶

When you create a channel in Spindrel, it starts as a blank conversation. Templates and integration activation turn it into a structured workspace with the right tools, skills, and file organization for a specific kind of work.

How It Works¶

Two layers combine to configure a channel:

Integration activation — Enables an integration on a channel, automatically injecting its tools, skills, and behavioral instructions (via carapaces). One click, no manual tool configuration.
Workspace template — Defines the file structure for the channel's workspace (which .md files to create, their headings, their purpose). Templates are independent of activation — you can use a template without activating anything, or activate without a template.

Together: Activate Mission Control on a channel and pick the "Software Development" template. The bot immediately gains project management tools (task boards, plans, timelines) AND knows how to organize workspace files (tasks.md with kanban columns, status.md with phase tracking, etc.).

Activating an Integration¶

From the Channel Settings¶

Open a channel and go to the Integrations tab
You'll see available integrations with activation status
Click Activate on the integration you want
The integration's carapace is injected — tools, skills, and system prompt guidance are now active

What Activation Does¶

When you activate an integration, its activation manifest kicks in:

Carapaces injected — The integration's carapace(s) are added to the bot's context for this channel. This brings in tools, skills, and a system prompt fragment that teaches the bot how to use them.
No manual tool config — You don't need to add individual tools to the bot's config. The carapace bundles everything.
Per-channel — Activation is scoped to the channel. Other channels using the same bot are unaffected.

Deactivating¶

Click Deactivate in the Integrations tab. The carapace is removed and the bot loses those capabilities on this channel. Workspace files are not deleted.

Workspace Templates¶

Templates define the file structure for a channel's workspace. When a bot has workspace.enabled: true, the channel workspace is a directory of .md files that the bot reads and writes during conversations.

Picking a Template¶

Open a channel and go to the Workspace tab
The Schema section shows available templates
If an integration is activated, compatible templates are highlighted with a green badge and shown first under "Suggested templates"
Click a template to apply it — the bot will use this structure when creating workspace files

Built-in Templates¶

Spindrel ships templates for common workflows:

Template	Best for	Compatible with	Key files
Software Development	Code projects with task tracking	Mission Control	tasks.md, architecture.md, decisions.md
Research / Analysis	Investigation and analysis	—	findings.md, sources.md, questions.md
Creative Project	Writing, design, content	—	brief.md, concepts.md, feedback.md
General Project	Lightweight catch-all	—	overview.md, notes.md, tasks.md
Project Management Hub	Project coordination	Mission Control	status.md, projects.md, reports.md
Mission Control	Structured task tracking	Mission Control	tasks.md, status.md, decisions.md
Software Testing / QA	Test planning and execution	—	test-plan.md, bugs.md, coverage.md
Media Management	Media library and requests	Arr	requests.md, library.md, issues.md
Email Digest	Email ingestion and action tracking	Gmail	feeds.md, digest.md, actions.md
Home Automation	Device inventory and events	Frigate	devices.md, automations.md, events.md
DevOps	Repository and deployment tracking	GitHub	repos.md, prs.md, deployments.md

Template Compatibility¶

Templates can declare compatibility with specific integrations. A "Software Development" template tagged as Mission Control-compatible means its file structure matches what MC tools expect (e.g., tasks.md has the kanban column format that create_task_card writes to).

What happens with an incompatible template: The integration's tools still work, but the bot may create files in unexpected formats or locations. The UI shows an orange warning if your linked template isn't compatible with an active integration.

Custom Templates¶

Create templates in two ways:

From a file — Add a .md file to prompts/ (or integrations/*/prompts/):

---
name: "My Custom Schema"
description: "Workspace schema for game development"
category: workspace_schema
compatible_integrations:
  - mission_control
tags:
  - gamedev
---

## Workspace File Organization

### tasks.md
Kanban board with columns: Backlog, In Progress, Testing, Done
...

Restart the server — the template is auto-synced.

From the UI — In Admin > Templates, create a new template and set compatibility tags.

Recommended Workflow¶

Setting Up a New Project Channel¶

Create a channel — Give it a name and assign a bot
Enable the workspace — In the Workspace tab, toggle workspace on (if not enabled by default)
Activate integrations — In the Integrations tab, activate Mission Control (or other integrations relevant to your work)
Pick a compatible template — In the Workspace tab, select a suggested template. The green badge means it's designed for your active integration.
Start chatting — The bot now has the right tools and knows how to organize files. Ask it to create a task board, write a status report, or plan a feature — it knows the formats.

What You Get¶

After activation + template selection:

Tools — The bot can create task cards, move items between columns, update status, manage plans (whatever the integration provides)
Skills — The bot has domain knowledge about the integration's workflows (e.g., how to run a standup, how to triage bugs)
File structure — The workspace has a defined schema so files are consistently organized
Context injection — Active .md files in the workspace root are automatically injected into every conversation, keeping the bot aware of project state

Checking What's Active¶

In the Integrations tab, you can see: - Which integrations are activated - What tools, skills, and system prompt fragments are injected - Links to the carapace detail pages for full inspection

For Integration Developers¶

If you're building an integration and want it to support activation and template compatibility, see Activation & Template Compatibility for the developer guide covering:

The activation block in setup.py
Carapace injection mechanics
Declaring compatible_templates tags
Creating compatible workspace schema templates