Templates

When you initialize a workspace with pad init, you can choose a template that pre-configures collections and workflows for your project type. Templates ship grouped by category so Pad fits more than software work.

Run pad workspace init --list-templates for the live catalog. Below covers the templates available today.

Software

Startup (default)

The default template, designed for small teams and solo developers building a product.

pad init
# or explicitly:
pad init --template startup

Collections: Tasks, Ideas, Plans, Docs, Conventions, Playbooks

Best for: side projects, startups, open source projects, solo developers.

Scrum

Configured for agile teams running sprints.

pad init --template scrum

Collections:

• Backlog — items with status, priority, story points, and sprint fields
• Sprints — sprint planning with start/end dates and goals
• Bugs — bug tracking with severity and component fields
• Docs, Conventions, Playbooks

Best for: teams using scrum methodology, sprint-based development.

Product

Designed for product management workflows with roadmap planning.

pad init --template product

Collections:

• Features — feature tracking with status, priority, and owner
• Feedback — customer feedback with source, customer, and impact fields
• Roadmap Items — roadmap entries with quarter and team fields
• Docs, Conventions, Playbooks

Best for: product teams, roadmap-driven development, multi-quarter planning.

Demo

The startup template pre-loaded with realistic sample data — handy for exploring Pad’s features before committing to a real workspace. It’s hidden from the interactive picker but can be built explicitly by name:

pad init --template demo

Collections: Same as Startup, with example items already created.

People

Pad’s data model — typed collections, parent/child links, conventions — works just as well for people-oriented workflows as for code. Two templates ship today:

Hiring

Company-side hiring pipeline. Track open roles end-to-end: requisitions, candidates moving through interview loops, structured feedback.

pad init --template hiring

Collections:

• Requisitions — open roles with team, level, status (open / on-hold / closed)
• Candidates — applicants linked to a requisition, stage in the pipeline, source
• Interview Loops — scheduled loops with interviewers, panel composition, slot status
• Feedback — structured per-interview feedback with hire/no-hire signal and rubric scores
• Docs — role briefs, scorecards, calibration notes

Best for: hiring managers, recruiters, interview coordinators running structured loops.

Interviewing

Candidate-side job search. Track applications across companies, prep notes, contacts, and interviews.

pad init --template interviewing

Collections:

• Applications — companies you’ve applied to with stage, role, salary band
• Interviews — upcoming interviews linked to applications with prep notes and outcomes
• Companies — company-level notes (research, mission, values, recent news)
• Contacts — recruiters, hiring managers, referrers — linked to companies and applications
• Docs — resume versions, cover letter snippets, behavioural-question prep

Best for: anyone running a multi-company job search who wants more structure than a spreadsheet.

Custom

Blank

System collections only — Conventions and Playbooks — with no pre-seeded sample items. Its sole seeded content is the /pad onboard playbook.

pad init --template blank

blank is the entry point for the agent-driven /pad onboard flow: instead of adapting a stock template, an AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, an MCP client, …) interviews you and shapes collections, conventions, and roles to match your actual project from scratch. Run /pad onboard in an agent session inside the workspace to kick it off.

Collections: Conventions, Playbooks (with the /pad onboard playbook seeded and ready to run)

Best for: projects that don’t fit a stock template, or anyone who wants the /pad onboard agent to build the workspace conversationally.

Custom Setup

Templates are just starting points. After initializing, you can:

• Add collections with pad collection create
• Modify defaults through the web UI
• Create conventions to encode your team’s workflow rules

# Add a custom collection after init
pad collection create "Bugs" 
  --fields "severity:select:low,medium,high,critical; browser:text" 
  --icon "🐛"

Choosing a Template

Template	Category	Best for
startup	Software	Solo / small team building a product — simple, minimal overhead
scrum	Software	Agile teams running sprints with story points
product	Software	Product teams doing roadmap planning across quarters
hiring	People	Hiring managers + recruiters running structured interview loops
interviewing	People	Candidates running a multi-company job search
blank	Custom	Starting from scratch — system collections only; /pad onboard builds the rest
demo	Software	Exploring Pad — startup template + sample data (hidden from the picker; build with --template demo)