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A shared template is a frozen snapshot of something you have already built and tested: a pod, a single agent, or a scheduled run, together with the skills it depends on. Publishing one produces a public link. Anyone who opens that link can install their own editable copy in a single action. A template is a snapshot, not a live connection. Copying instantiates the stored payload into the copier’s workspace and never reads the author’s live one, so neither side can see into the other.
Not to be confused with the in-app Quickstart templates gallery, which pre-fills the new-agent dialog with starter configurations. Those ship with Orca. Shared templates are published by workspaces, carry a public link, and can be copied between accounts.

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What a template can carry

A template carries at most one pod and at most one scheduled run, alongside any number of agents and skills. The template page labels itself by the largest thing it contains: Scheduled run if it has an automation, otherwise Pod, otherwise Agent. Every published template gets a link in this shape:
org is the author workspace’s public handle and template is the slug. The Copy share link button on the template page puts it on your clipboard. The link works for people who have never heard of Orca. If a signed-out visitor opens it, Orca stores the slug and handle for that browser tab, walks them through sign-in and workspace creation, then returns them to the same template page. The stash expires after 30 minutes, so a half-finished signup does not resurface on a later visit.

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Save and copy are different

Save template

Bookmarks the snapshot in your workspace’s saved list. Nothing is installed and nothing runs. Use it when a template looks useful but you are not ready to set it up.

Copy template

Installs editable assets in your workspace. From that moment they are ordinary agents, skills and pods that you own, edit and delete like any others.
You cannot save your own template. Authors already have the original.

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The copy plan

Copy never installs blindly. It first shows a plan with one row per asset, each carrying a status: Each row also carries a target name, the name the asset will take in your workspace. If that name is already taken, the row is flagged name taken and Orca suggests a free one by appending -copy, then -copy-2 and upwards until it finds one. You can type any name you like instead, or untick the row to skip that asset entirely. Nothing in your workspace is ever replaced. A name collision is always resolved by renaming the incoming asset or skipping it, never by overwriting what you already have. Renames are safe. When you rename a skill, every agent in the same copy that referenced it is rewritten to point at the new name, and the same holds for agents inside a pod and for the pod a scheduled run targets. The template arrives wired together whatever you call its parts. Target names are limited to 128 characters and may not contain slashes or line breaks.

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What is never copied

The sanitizer strips these before a snapshot is stored, regardless of what the author selected:
  • Environment variable values. Variable names survive, so you can see what the agent expects. The values are blanked.
  • Literal MCP header values. A header whose value is a secret:// or ${VAR} reference survives as a reference. A header holding a literal value is removed.
  • Row identifiers and computed fields, so a copy never carries the author’s internal ids.
Connected apps are never part of a template either. If a template’s agents use GitHub, Slack or any other connection, the person copying it connects their own account afterwards. That is deliberate: a template hands over a method, never a credential. Pod workspace files are excluded by default when publishing, because that is where site-specific and personal data usually lives. Authors can opt individual files in.

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Updates

A template has a version, which increases when the author republishes. If you have copied a template before and the author has since changed it, the template page shows Update available. Copying again is safe and incremental. The plan marks assets you already hold as unchanged so you can untick them, and shows only genuinely changed assets as worth taking. Your renames are remembered, so an update lands on the names you chose the first time rather than creating a second set.

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Publishing your own

From a pod, an agent, or a scheduled run, choose Copy as template. Orca computes a manifest of everything the snapshot would contain and shows it for review before anything is published:
1

Review what goes in

Skills can be ticked or unticked. Pod workspace files are unticked by default. A locked section lists what the sanitizer removes no matter what you choose.
2

Name it

A label and a slug. The slug becomes part of the public link, so it is lowercase kebab-case, 2 to 64 characters.
3

Write the pitch

The description shown on the template page. Plain lines become paragraphs and lines beginning with - become bullets. Up to 4000 characters, editable afterwards from Edit pitch.
4

Share the link

The dialog hands back the shareable link.
As the author you see a small activity tally on your template page: how many other workspaces saved, copied, and removed it. Your own actions are excluded, so testing your own link does not inflate the numbers. Visitors never see these.

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Republishing someone else’s snapshot

A template you have saved or copied can be republished under your own workspace with a new slug and label. That creates a separate template with its own link, owned by you. The original is untouched and keeps its own link.

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Withdrawing a template

Deleting a template withdraws its public link. Copies that other workspaces already made keep working, and saved snapshots stay readable. Deleting does not reach into anyone else’s workspace.

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Try one

SEO helper workbook

A complete walkthrough of one shared template, from opening the link to reading the first pull request in your inbox.