Templates Collection

templates holds one document per template in the template gallery. The files of a template (the project zip and the PDF) are not here: they are kept in filestore under template/<_id>/v/<version>/. The collection belongs to the template-gallery web module (services/web/modules/template-gallery). The schema is the Mongoose model Template in services/web/modules/template-gallery/app/src/models/Template.mjs; the logic is in services/web/modules/template-gallery/app/src/TemplateGalleryManager.mjs and TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs next to it.

Fields

Field	Type	Meaning	Source
_id	ObjectId	Set by Mongoose. It is also the folder of the template’s files in filestore.	TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:148-150
name	String	The title. Required, at most 150 characters. Publishing looks a template up by name, and editing refuses a name that another template has, so names stay unique without an index.	Template.mjs:7, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:50-52, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:30-38,55
category	String	The category link, /templates/<key>, where <key> is one of OVERLEAF_TEMPLATE_CATEGORIES or all. Required.	Template.mjs:8, services/web/modules/template-gallery/index.mjs:17-31, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:206
descriptionMD	String	The description as typed, in Markdown. At most 4096 characters. Searched by the gallery.	Template.mjs:10, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:53-55, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:207-212
description	String	HTML rendered from descriptionMD and cleaned. Set whenever descriptionMD is set.	Template.mjs:9, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:224-228
authorMD	String	The author as typed, in Markdown. At most 512 characters. Searched by the gallery.	Template.mjs:12, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:56-58
author	String	HTML rendered from authorMD, links only. Set whenever authorMD is set.	Template.mjs:11, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:229-232
license	String	The license text chosen in the form. Required, at most 512 characters.	Template.mjs:13, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:59-61
mainFile	String	The path of the source project’s root doc, without the leading slash. Required: a project without a root doc cannot be published.	Template.mjs:14, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:112-114
compiler	String	The source project’s compiler. Required.	Template.mjs:15, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:122
imageName	String	The source project’s TeX Live image. The template page shows only the last part of it.	Template.mjs:16, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:123, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:249-253
language	String	The source project’s spell check language. Can be changed in the edit form.	Template.mjs:17, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:124
version	Number	Starts at 1 and goes up by one each time the template is published again under the same name. The files of each version are under v/<version>/. Required.	Template.mjs:18, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:74-79
owner	ObjectId	The user who first published the template. Publishing again over it keeps the owner.	Template.mjs:19, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:70-79
project_id	ObjectId	The project it was last published from. Updated on every publish.	Template.mjs:20, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:81-84
lastUpdated	Date	When it was last published or edited. Required, default now.	Template.mjs:21-27, TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:125, TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:41
__v	Number	The Mongoose version key. The schema does not turn it off.	Mongoose default

Who Writes It

Code	What it does
TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:53-97 (createTemplateFromProject)	POST /template/new/:Project_id. It copies the project’s settings (TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:94-134), uploads the zip and the PDF to filestore, and saves. If the name is taken it answers with a conflict, unless the client asked to override: then it updates that template and raises its version, then deletes the files of the previous version.
TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:21-47 (editTemplate)	POST /template/:template_id/edit. It assigns the posted fields to the document, renders description and author again, and sets lastUpdated. The edit form posts the changed fields among name, license, category, language, authorMD and descriptionMD (services/web/modules/template-gallery/frontend/js/pages/template/util/api.ts:22-29).
TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:186-222 (deleteTemplateAssets)	DELETE /template/:template_id/delete deletes the document and the files of the given version (TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:49-51).

Only site admins and the user in OVERLEAF_TEMPLATES_USER_ID may call these three routes (services/web/modules/template-gallery/app/src/Router.mjs:55-62,70-84, PermissionsMiddleware.mjs:8-19).

Who Reads It

Code	What it does
TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:158-183 (getTemplate)	Finds one template by _id or name for the template page and for GET /api/template (services/web/modules/template-gallery/app/src/TemplateGalleryController.mjs:210-232). If project_id points to a project that no longer exists, the answer leaves it out; the document is not changed.
TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:190-236 (getCategoryTemplates)	GET /api/templates: one page of a category, searched in name, authorMD and descriptionMD, sorted by lastUpdated or by name (case-insensitive).
TemplateGalleryHelper.mjs:64-80 (canUserOverrideTemplate)	Reads owner to name the owner in the conflict message.

Indexes

Name	Keys	Options	Migration
_id_	_id: 1		default

Mongoose autoIndex is off (services/web/app/src/infrastructure/Mongoose.mjs:7). tools/migrations/20190912145030_create_templates_indexes.mjs (unique project_id, user_id, name) is tagged server-pro and saas, so it does not run in CE, which runs only the server-ce migrations (server-ce/init_scripts/900_run_web_migrations.sh).

Notes

• Upstream treats templates as a stale collection and drops it on its own site (tools/migrations/20241002180623_drop_unused_collections.mjs, tagged saas). In Ayakaleaf Pro the template gallery module uses it.
• Sorting by name uses a case-insensitive collation, and the comment at TemplateGalleryManager.mjs:186-188 notes that a name index would need the same one. CE has no name index, so Mongo sorts in memory.
• Deleting the source project or the owner does not delete the template.