Templating¶

SlideFlow templates let you define reusable chart configurations in YAML and apply parameterized values per slide.

Template contract¶

Each template file must contain:

• name
• description
• version
• parameters[]
• template

Minimal example:

name: "Reusable Bar"
description: "Simple reusable bar chart"
version: "1.0"
parameters:
  - name: "title"
    type: "string"
    required: true
  - name: "x_column"
    type: "string"
    required: true
  - name: "y_column"
    type: "string"
    required: true
template: |
  traces:
    - type: "bar"
      x: "${{ x_column }}"
      y: "${{ y_column }}"
  layout_config:
    title: "{{ title }}"

Using templates in config.yml¶

- type: "template"
  config:
    template_name: "bars/bar_basic"
    data_source:
      type: "csv"
      name: "sales"
      file_path: "./data/sales.csv"
    template_config:
      title: "Revenue by Month"
      x_column: "month"
      y_column: "revenue"

Discovery and precedence¶

Template resolution is deterministic and non-breaking:

1. User-provided template_paths (in listed order)
2. Project default ./templates
3. User default ~/.slideflow/templates
4. Packaged SlideFlow built-ins (slideflow/templates)

If the same template name exists in multiple locations, earlier paths win. This means local/project templates override packaged built-ins.

Names and categories¶

Built-ins are organized in category folders (for example bars/bar_basic). You can reference templates by either:

• Relative path name: bars/bar_basic
• Bare template name: bar_basic (works when unique)

Inspect template catalog from CLI¶

List templates:

slideflow templates list
slideflow templates list --details

Inspect one template:

slideflow templates info bars/bar_basic

Available Jinja filters¶

Built-in filters include:

• string helpers: title_case, snake_to_kebab, add_prefix, add_suffix
• list helpers: enumerate_list, zip_lists, repeat_value
• conditionals: if_else, default_if_none, contains, starts_with, ends_with
• formatting helpers: chart_alignment, column_width, column_format
• math helpers: multiply, divide, round_number

For built-in template catalog details, see Template Catalog. For creating your own templates, see Template Authoring.