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Element template restructure#7475

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element-template-restructure
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Element template restructure#7475
christinaausley wants to merge 21 commits into
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element-template-restructure

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@christinaausley christinaausley commented Dec 4, 2025

Description

This PR restructures and modernizes all element template documentation as part of phase 3 and phase 4 of epic https://github.com/camunda/product-hub/issues/2407. The goal is to centralize content, improve discoverability, remove duplication, and align terminology across Web Modeler and Desktop Modeler.

What was done

  • Introduced a new unified documentation structure under components/modeler/element-templates/
    • New landing page (about-templates.md)
    • New Getting started, Create, Best practices, and Desktop sections
  • Migrated all existing content into the new structure
    No information was removed—existing material was:
    • rewritten for clarity,
    • consolidated to eliminate duplication,
    • reorganized into smaller, purpose-specific pages.
  • Added missing documentation that previously created gaps:
    • Web Modeler “Save as element template”
    • Expanded template metadata, properties, and dependency handling sections
    • Complete best-practices guide (UI, naming, accessibility, contributor, and QA guidance)
  • Updated sidebar configuration so the Element Templates category has a dedicated landing page
  • Modernized the Concepts → Element templates page to align with the new terminology and structure
  • Clarified the relationship between element templates and connector templates throughout the docs

Why Web Modeler–specific pages were removed

Web Modeler now embeds element template workflows directly into its modeling experience (apply, remove, update, save-as, publish).
Because these workflows are no longer distinct enough to justify stand-alone pages, all Web Modeler content was consolidated into:

  • getting-started/using-templates-in-web-modeler.md
  • getting-started/save-as-element-template.md
  • Relevant sections of the new unified index.md

This avoids duplication and ensures users learn element templates conceptually first, then see how they behave in Web Modeler within a single, streamlined flow.

Why Desktop Modeler still has a dedicated configuration page

Desktop Modeler handles configuration differently from Web Modeler (file-system–based template discovery, global vs. local templates).
This behavior remains unique and required a single, dedicated page:

  • desktop/configuring-templates-for-desktop-modeler.md

This page consolidates all Desktop-specific loading rules in one place without duplicating conceptual content found elsewhere.

Important note

Although many old pages were removed, no content was lost.
All functional material was rewritten, reorganized, or merged into the new structure.
This PR focuses on structure, clarity, and consolidation—not deletion of documentation coverage.

Outcome

  • One centralized, discoverable home for all Element Template documentation
  • Clear separation and explanation of Web Modeler vs Desktop Modeler workflows
  • Consistent terminology across the entire documentation set
  • Comprehensive best-practices guidance for template authors and QA
  • Stronger conceptual framing and improved cross-linking across the docs

Mapping of old → new content

Old Page ID / Path New Page Path Notes
components/modeler/element-templates/about-templates components/modeler/element-templates/index.md Unified overview page
components/modeler/element-templates/defining-templates components/modeler/element-templates/create/defining-templates.md Content rewritten + expanded
components/modeler/element-templates/template-metadata components/modeler/element-templates/create/template-metadata.md Preserved + expanded
components/modeler/element-templates/template-properties components/modeler/element-templates/create/template-properties.md Preserved + improved
components/modeler/element-templates/template-example components/modeler/element-templates/create/template-example.md Preserved + rewritten
components/modeler/element-templates/element-templates-with-dependencies components/modeler/element-templates/create/element-templates-with-dependencies.md Preserved + expanded
components/modeler/element-templates/additional-resources ❌ Removed (content merged into index.md) No unique content lost
Web Modeler pages (old) New location Notes
manage-element-templates Merged into index.md + getting-started pages Web Modeler management flow is now embedded into modeling docs
using-templates-in-web-modeler getting-started/using-templates-in-web-modeler.md Preserved + rewritten
save-as-element-templates getting-started/save-as-element-template.md Preserved + expanded
element-template-generator create/generate-element-template.md Preserved + rewritten
best-practices best-practices/element-template-guidelines.md Now part of unified best-practices section
Desktop Modeler pages (old) New location Notes
using-templates getting-started/using-templates-in-desktop-modeler.md Consolidated into unified getting started
configuring-templates desktop/configuring-templates-for-desktop-modeler.md Only Desktop-specific page retained
Best Practices (new) New location Notes
(new) best-practices/element-template-guidelines.md Unified best practices
(new) best-practices/ui-guidance.md UI and UX guidance
(new) best-practices/contributor-guide.md Template authoring guidance
(new) best-practices/qa-checklist.md QA guidance
Glossary references components/concepts/glossary.md Centralized in the global glossary

When should this change go live?

  • This is a bug fix, security concern, or something that needs urgent release support. (add bug or support label)
  • This is already available but undocumented and should be released within a week. (add available & undocumented label)
  • This is on a specific schedule and the assignee will coordinate a release with the Documentation team. (create draft PR and/or add hold label)
  • This is part of a scheduled alpha or minor. (add alpha or minor label)
  • There is no urgency with this change (add low prio label)

PR Checklist

  • My changes are for an upcoming minor release and are in the /docs directory (version 8.9).
  • My changes are for an already released minor and are in a /versioned_docs directory.

@camunda camunda deleted a comment from github-actions Bot Dec 4, 2025
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github-actions Bot commented Dec 5, 2025

👋 🤖 🤔 Hello, @christinaausley! Did you make your changes in all the right places?

These files were changed only in docs/. You might want to duplicate these changes in versioned_docs/version-8.9/.

  • docs/components/best-practices/cicd-guidelines/element-templates-at-scale.md
  • docs/components/best-practices/development/local-development-with-element-templates.md
  • docs/components/concepts/element-templates.md
  • docs/components/connectors/custom-built-connectors/build-connector.md
  • docs/components/connectors/custom-built-connectors/connector-templates.md
  • docs/components/connectors/manage-connector-templates.md
  • docs/components/connectors/out-of-the-box-connectors/agentic-ai-aiagent-tool-definitions.md
  • docs/components/connectors/out-of-the-box-connectors/agentic-ai-mcp-client-tool-discovery.md
  • docs/components/modeler/desktop-modeler/element-templates/using-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/desktop-modeler/install-the-modeler.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/about-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/additional-resources.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/best-practices/contributor-guide.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/best-practices/element-template-guidelines.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/best-practices/qa-checklist.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/best-practices/ui-guidance.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/create/defining-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/create/element-templates-with-dependencies.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/create/generate-element-template.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/create/template-example.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/create/template-metadata.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/create/template-properties.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/defining-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/element-template-with-dependencies.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/getting-started/save-as-element-template.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/getting-started/using-templates-in-desktop-modeler.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/getting-started/using-templates-in-web-modeler.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/sidebar-schema.js
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/template-example.md
  • docs/components/modeler/element-templates/template-metadata.md
  • docs/components/modeler/using-web-and-desktop-modeler-together.md
  • docs/components/modeler/web-modeler/element-templates/best-practices.md
  • docs/components/modeler/web-modeler/element-templates/element-template-generator.md
  • docs/components/modeler/web-modeler/element-templates/manage-element-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/web-modeler/element-templates/save-as-element-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/web-modeler/element-templates/using-templates.md
  • docs/components/modeler/web-modeler/index.md
  • docs/reference/announcements-release-notes/870/870-release-notes.md
  • docs/reference/announcements-release-notes/880/880-release-notes.md
  • docs/reference/announcements-release-notes/890/890-release-notes.md
  • docs/reference/announcements-release-notes/890/whats-new-in-89.md
  • docs/reference/glossary.md

You may have done this intentionally, but we wanted to point it out in case you didn't. You can read more about the versioning within our docs in our documentation guidelines.

@christinaausley christinaausley added component:modeler Issues related with Modeler project deploy Stand up a temporary docs site with this PR labels Dec 5, 2025
@christinaausley christinaausley marked this pull request as ready for review December 5, 2025 20:53
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@YanaSegal there is no rush on review here, but let me know if you have any questions 👍 This covers phases 3 and 4 of https://github.com/camunda/product-hub/issues/2407, effectively completing all of the docs work to close this epic.

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@lmbateman lmbateman self-requested a review February 19, 2026 20:58
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infraex-misc Bot commented Mar 19, 2026

🔍 InfraEx Content Detected

This PR modifies documentation pages owned or referenced by the Infrastructure Experience team.

A review from @camunda/infraex-medic has been requested to ensure technical consistency.

📎 Files referencing monitored repos

File
versioned_docs/version-8.7/self-managed/setup/deploy/openshift/redhat-openshift.md

ℹ️ What to check
  • Link validity: Do links still point to existing files/branches?
  • Technical accuracy: Are references consistent with the deployment repo?
  • Version alignment: Do version-specific docs match the release branch?
  • Architecture consistency: Do changes align with the reference architecture?

Auto-generated by InfraEx Docs PR Watcher.

@infraex-misc infraex-misc Bot added component:infraex Issues related with Infrastructure-Experience team component:self-managed Docs and issues related to Camunda Platform 8 Self-Managed labels Mar 19, 2026
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@copilot resolve the merge conflicts in this pull request

Co-authored-by: christinaausley <84338309+christinaausley@users.noreply.github.com>
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Copilot AI commented Apr 14, 2026

@copilot resolve the merge conflicts in this pull request

Resolved in ef5d19c. The following conflicts were addressed:

  • agentic-ai-mcp-client-tool-discovery.md: Took main's version, updated the link to defining-templates.md to point to the new create/ location.
  • template-properties.md (modify/delete): Kept the deletion (file was moved to create/), and replaced create/template-properties.md with main's complete version, which includes execution listeners, task listeners, zeebe:calledElement variable propagation, and conditional event bindings.
  • save-as-element-templates.md (modify/delete): Kept the deletion (file was moved to getting-started/), and added conditional events to the supported elements list in getting-started/save-as-element-template.md.
  • glossary.md: Merged both new entries — "Apply template" (from branch) and "Audit log" (from main); kept "Connector runtime" (from main) and the fuller "Connector template" definition (from branch).
  • exporters.md, gateway-api-setup.md, secret-management.md, backup-and-restore.md: Took main's versions in each case.

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🚧 The preview environment for the commit d034d60 is being built. This usually takes 8-10 minutes.

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Closing as so much time has passed and moving related tickets to backlog.

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