askit-template-manager

name	askit-template-manager
description	Creates and maintains a plugin's global templates directory so the scaffolders produce consistent components. Use when adding a template, updating an existing one, or keeping templates in sync with the component shapes they scaffold.
metadata	{"version":"0.1.0","tier":"universal","audience":"advanced"}

askit-template-manager

Purpose

Curate the global templates/ directory the askit-build-* and askit-init-* skills consume, so generated components are consistent by construction (Standard sec 10.5). create adds a new template for a component type or artifact; maintain keeps an existing template in sync with the shape it scaffolds (a template that drifts from the current component contract produces non-conformant scaffolds). The inventory and the sync rule are in references/templates-inventory.md.

When to use

When adding a template, updating an existing one, or keeping the templates in sync with the component shapes they scaffold.

create mode

1. Identify the component type or artifact lacking a template and the skill that will consume it.
2. Author the template as a minimal, conformant skeleton with REPLACE- placeholders for the parts the scaffolder fills.
3. Verify a scaffold built from it passes the relevant checks (a template MUST produce a conformant component).

maintain mode

1. When a component contract changes (a new required frontmatter key, a renamed field), update every template that scaffolds that type so the next scaffold is conformant.
2. Keep templates minimal: a skeleton, not a full example (samples live with their skill via askit-build-samples).

Scope

Templates are the single source of scaffold shape: one place to fix, so a contract change does not have to be chased across every builder. The discipline is that a template stays conformant - the seed-plugin/ template, for instance, is asserted to pass the Bronze anatomy (tests/unit/init-anatomy.test.mjs). Templates hold skeletons; the eval-set and sample CONTENT a skill ships is authored by askit-build-samples.