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---
stage: Create
group: Source Code
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
description: "To speed up project creation in your group, build custom project templates and share them with your group."
---
# Custom group-level project templates
DETAILS:
**Tier:** Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated
When you create a project, you can [choose from a list of templates](../project/index.md).
These templates, for things like GitLab Pages or Ruby, populate the new project with a copy of the files contained in the
template. This information is identical to the information used by [GitLab project import/export](../project/settings/import_export.md)
and can help you start a new project more quickly.
You can [customize the list](../project/index.md) of available templates, so
that all projects in your group have the same list. To do this, you populate a subgroup with the projects you want to
use as templates.
You can also configure [custom templates for the instance](../../administration/custom_project_templates.md).
## Set up group-level project templates
Prerequisites:
- You must have the Owner role for the group.
To set up custom project templates in a group, add the subgroup that contains the
project templates to the group settings:
1. In the group, create a [subgroup](subgroups/index.md).
1. [Add projects to the new subgroup](index.md#add-projects-to-a-group) as your templates.
1. In the left menu for the group, select **Settings > General**.
1. Expand **Custom project templates** and select the subgroup.
The next time a group member creates a project, they can select any of the projects in the subgroup.
Projects in nested subgroups are not included in the template list.
## Which projects are available as templates
- Public and internal projects can be selected by any authenticated user as a template for a new project,
if all [project features](../project/settings/index.md#configure-project-features-and-permissions)
except for **GitLab Pages** and **Security and compliance** are set to **Everyone With Access**.
- Private projects can be selected only by users who are members of the projects.
There is a [known issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/295646):
[Inherited members](../project/members/index.md#membership-types) can't select project templates,
unless the `project_templates_without_min_access` feature flag is enabled.
This feature flag [is disabled](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/425452)
on GitLab.com, and so users must be granted direct membership of the template project.
## Example structure
Here's a sample group and project structure for project templates, for `myorganization`:
```plaintext
# GitLab instance and group
gitlab.com/myorganization/
# Subgroups
internal
tools
# Subgroup for handling project templates
websites
templates
# Project templates
client-site-django
client-site-gatsby
client-site-html
# Other projects
client-site-a
client-site-b
client-site-c
...
```
## What is copied from the templates
The entire custom instance-level project templates repository is copied, including:
- Branches
- Commits
- Tags
If the user:
- Has the Owner role on the custom instance-level project templates project or is a GitLab administrator,
all project settings, including project members, are copied over to the new project.
- Doesn't have the Owner role or is not a GitLab administrator,
project deploy keys and project webhooks aren't copied over because they contain sensitive data.
To learn more about what is migrated, see
[Items that are exported](../project/settings/import_export.md#project-items-that-are-exported).
## User assignments in templates
When you use a template created by another user, any items that were assigned
to a user in the template are reassigned to you. It's important to understand
this reassignment when you configure security features like protected branches
and tags. For example, if the template contains a protected branch:
- In the template, the branch allows the _template owner_ to merge into the default branch.
- In the project created from the template, the branch allows _you_ to merge into
the default branch.
## Troubleshooting
### Administrator cannot see custom group-level project templates when creating a project
Custom group-level project templates are only available to group members.
If the administrator account you are using is not a member of a group,
you can't access the templates.
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