Custom project templates for groups

When you create a project, you can choose from a list of templates. These templates, for things like GitLab Pages or Ruby, populate the new project with a copy of the files contained in the template. This information is identical to the information used by GitLab project import/export and can help you start a new project more quickly.

You can customize the list of available templates, so that all projects in your group have the same list. To do this, you populate a subgroup with the projects you want to use as templates.

You can also configure custom templates for the instance.

Set up project templates for a group

Prerequisites:

• You must have the Owner role for the group.

To set up custom project templates in a group, add the subgroup that contains the project templates to the group settings:

1. In the group, create a subgroup.
2. Add projects to the new subgroup as your templates.
3. In the left menu for the group, select Settings > General.
4. Expand Custom project templates and select the subgroup.

The next time a group member creates a project, they can select any of the projects in the subgroup.

Projects in nested subgroups are not included in the template list.

Which projects are available as templates

• Public and internal projects can be selected by any authenticated user as a template for a new project, if all project features except for GitLab Pages and Security and compliance are set to Everyone With Access.
• Private projects can be selected only by users who are members of the projects.

When you create a project outside of a group context, you must select a group from the dropdown list before you can browse its templates. Only groups you have access to are listed.

Example structure

Here’s a sample group and project structure for project templates, for myorganization:

# GitLab instance and group
gitlab.com/myorganization/
    # Subgroups
    internal
    tools
    # Subgroup for handling project templates
    websites
        templates
            # Project templates
            client-site-django
            client-site-gatsby
            client-site-html

        # Other projects
        client-site-a
        client-site-b
        client-site-c
        ...

What is copied from the templates

When you create a project from a template, all exportable project items are copied from the template to the new project. These items include:

• Repository branches, commits, and tags.
• Project uploads.
• Project configuration.
• Issues and merge requests with their comments and other metadata.
• Labels, milestones, snippets, and releases.
• CI/CD pipeline configuration.

For a complete list of what is copied, see project items that are exported.

Permissions and sensitive data

The copying behavior differs based on your permissions:

• If you’re a GitLab administrator, all project settings, including project members, are copied over to the new project.
• If you have the Owner role for the project that contains the custom templates for the instance but you’re not a GitLab administrator: project settings are copied, but project members are not.
• If you do not have the Owner role for the project and you’re not a GitLab administrator: project deploy keys and project webhooks are not copied over because they contain sensitive data.

Protected branch and tag access levels are also affected when templates are copied:

• If you have the Owner role for the top-level group of the new project, or if you’re a GitLab administrator, these access levels are copied to the new project.
• Otherwise, protected branch and tag access levels are reset to Maintainers. Access levels set to No one are preserved. For more information, see changes to imported items.

Deploy keys and webhooks contain sensitive secrets. They are copied only when the identity that creates the project has the Owner role on the template project or has administrator access. When you create a project from a template by using the API, this identity depends on the token:

• Personal access token: Uses the permissions of the token owner. Deploy keys and webhooks are copied if that user has the Owner role on the template project or is an administrator.
• Group access token or project access token: Acts as a bot user. The bot user is a member only of the group or project where you create the token. If that scope does not include the template project, the bot user does not have the Owner role on the template project, and deploy keys and webhooks are not copied. To copy them, use a personal access token from a user with the Owner role on the template project.

User assignments in templates

When you use a template created by another user, any items that were assigned to a user in the template are reassigned to you. It’s important to understand this reassignment when you configure security features like protected branches and tags. For example, if the template contains a protected branch:

• In the template, the branch allows the template owner to merge into the default branch.
• In the project created from the template, the branch allows you to merge into the default branch.

Protected branch and tag access levels are also affected when templates are copied. For more information, see permissions and sensitive data.

Troubleshooting

Administrator cannot see custom project templates for the group when creating a project

Custom project templates for a group are available only to group members. If the administrator account you are using is not a member of a group, you can’t access the templates.