> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Start from a template

> Install a ready-made automation from the template library and edit it in the flow builder.

The automation template library gives you ready-made flows — a welcome bot, a lead
qualifier, an abandoned-cart nudge — that you install in one click and then edit. These are
**not** WhatsApp message templates. A WhatsApp message template is a single message Meta has
to approve before you can send it outside the 24-hour window; see
[Message templates](/broadcasts/message-templates) for those. An automation template is a
whole flow, needs no approval, and belongs to DMLY rather than Meta.

## You only see templates your channel supports

The picker is scoped to the **active channel's platform**. The library ships more than 100
templates, but a WhatsApp channel never shows the Instagram-only ones, and vice versa — so
the list you see is a subset, and it changes when you switch channels. Around half the
library is cross-platform and appears everywhere; the rest is specific to WhatsApp,
Facebook, Instagram or SMS.

<Tip>
  If a template you were told about isn't in the list, switch to the channel it was built
  for and look again.
</Tip>

## Install a template

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a new automation">
    Go to **Automations** and create one. The templates picker opens automatically. If you'd
    rather not use a template, **Start from scratch** asks **How do you want to build it?**
    and lets you pick **Quick automation** or **Flow builder**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Find one">
    Templates are split into **Recommended** and the rest. You can filter by goal —
    **Capture leads**, **Support customers**, **Book appointments**, **Sell products**,
    **Recover & grow revenue**, **Grow your followers**, **Engage your audience**,
    **Drive traffic** — by builder, under **By builder** (**Quick automations** or **Flow
    builder**), or by trigger and industry, or just search by name.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Preview it">
    Selecting a card opens a preview so you can see what the flow does before you commit.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install">
    What happens next depends on the template's builder — the card footer says which one it
    is. A **Flow builder** template creates a **Draft** automation seeded with the
    template's flow and drops you straight onto the builder canvas. A **Quick automation**
    template opens a prefilled form instead; nothing is created until you save it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Edit, then turn it on">
    On the canvas, change the wording, the tags, the branches — it's an ordinary flow now.
    In the quick form, adjust the trigger and the reply. Either way it starts as a
    **Draft**, and nothing runs until you turn it on.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Installing sets the trigger to the real one for your channel. A template authored as a
  generic "message received" becomes **User sends a message** on the channel you installed
  it to, so the trigger step reads correctly from the start.
</Note>

## Badges on a template card

Some templates need something else in place before they can work. The card tells you which:

* **Setup required** (amber) — an integration isn't connected yet. You can still install it,
  finish the setup, then publish.
* **Unavailable** — your channel can't do what the template needs, so it can't be installed.

A chip names what the template needs: **Requires store**, **Requires payment**, **Requires
calendar**, **Requires AI**, **Requires WA template** or **Requires WA Flow**. The chip is
always shown — the badge is what tells you whether the thing is actually missing.

## AI templates

Four templates are built around an [AI Reply step](/automation/ai-replies). All four work on
every channel, all four start on the channel's message trigger, and each one arrives with a
prompt and a set of tools already switched on:

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="AI Customer Service bot" icon="headset">
    Answers questions, takes notes on the contact, tags them, and hands over to a human when
    asked.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Lead Qualification bot" icon="user-check">
    Qualifies inbound leads, captures their details and phone number, tags hot leads, moves
    the CRM stage, and hands strong prospects to a human.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Appointment Booking bot" icon="calendar-check">
    Lists services and staff, checks available times, and books, reschedules or cancels
    appointments.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Class Booking bot" icon="users">
    Lists upcoming classes, books a place, and shows or cancels existing bookings.
  </Card>
</Columns>

All four answer **every** inbound message, not just the first one of a conversation.

These are a starting point, not a finished assistant. Open the AI step and rewrite the
**System prompt / instructions** for your business before you publish — the prompt uses
`{{business_name}}`, which resolves to your workspace name, but it knows nothing else about
what you sell.

<Warning>
  Installing a template that contains an AI step needs the AI Agent on your plan. If it
  isn't included you'll see: "This automation uses an AI step, which your plan does not
  include. Upgrade your plan to use it, or remove the AI step." You also need an AI provider
  connected under [Integrations](/integrations/openai) — the step does nothing without one.
</Warning>

## Templates worth knowing about

<Accordion title="Qualifying leads without AI">
  **Lead Qualification Flow** asks interest, budget and timeline, saves each answer to a
  custom field, then branches: urgent answers route to Sales, everyone else gets a
  follow-up message. It's deterministic — no AI provider needed. See
  [Lead qualification](/automation/lead-qualification).
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Getting a phone number you don't have">
  **Ask for phone number when missing** (WhatsApp) checks whether the contact has a phone
  on file, asks for it only if they don't, thanks them, and saves it to the contact. See
  [Request phone number](/automation/request-phone).
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Welcome and qualify with buttons">
  **Welcome & Qualify New Chats** greets a new chat and branches on tapped buttons. It ships
  scoped to WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
</Accordion>

## What to do next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Flow builder" icon="diagram-project" href="/automation/flow-builder">
    Edit the flow you just installed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Triggers" icon="bolt" href="/automation/triggers">
    Change what starts it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Common mistakes" icon="triangle-exclamation" href="/automation/common-mistakes">
    The errors that block publish.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Automation overview" icon="robot" href="/automation/overview">
    How automations fit together.
  </Card>
</Columns>