Templates let you create a whole branch of work — workstreams, their items, and the structure connecting them — in a single import instead of adding each item by hand. You export a template from existing work, fill it in (or reuse it as a repeatable blueprint), and import it back in under any workstream you choose. It's the fastest way to stand up repeatable structures like a new project, a standard onboarding plan, or a release checklist.
Because the template is a spreadsheet, it is also the most efficient way to bring a large amount of existing work into DevStride at once — even when that work doesn't yet look like DevStride. Your data might live in another tool or a spreadsheet of your own, with its own column names and no concept of a "workstream." You don't need to reshape it first: the exported template gives you the structure DevStride expects — the columns and the parent-child layout of workstreams, items, and sub-items — so you can map your existing data into it, lining your rows and fields up with what each column represents. On import, DevStride reads that mapping and builds everything in the correct hierarchy under the workstream you choose, instead of you recreating it one item at a time. This makes templates well suited to migrating a plan from another tool or onboarding a large body of work that isn't in DevStride yet.
The workflow has three stages:
The quickest way to get a correctly formatted template is to export one from existing work.
In the Map Value module, open the ellipsis (⋯) menu at the top of a sub-workstream column and choose Export as Template.
DevStride generates an Excel workbook that captures the workstream and the work beneath it — items and sub-items, their types, dates, estimates, priorities, labels, custom fields, assignees, teams, and boards — each on its own sheet. This file is both a snapshot you can re-import and a starting point you can edit.
A template can include variables — named placeholders you fill in at import time instead of hard-coding a value. Variables can stand in for a user, a board, or a date, which lets one template serve many situations: the same onboarding plan can be imported for a different new hire, pointed at a different board, or anchored to a different start date each time.
Importing happens in one place — the Map Value module:
When you fill in a template, you don't need internal IDs. You can refer to most things by the names you already know:
DevStride resolves these names as it imports. Spelling them the way they appear in your organization helps everything match up cleanly.
You can only import into a location that can legitimately hold the template's top-level items:
If the location isn't compatible, DevStride blocks the import and tells you why — for example:
Cannot import here. The template contains root-level items of type "…" which cannot be children of "…". Please select a compatible parent item type or a workstream.
The check runs during the preview and again if you change the target location, so you'll know before you commit. Pick a workstream or a compatible parent and try again.
Owners, Admins, and Members can all import templates. Beyond your role, you need edit access to the target location — the same access that lets you add items there normally. The Import Template option only appears on workstreams where you have that access, and importing into a location you can't edit is blocked. See Workstream & Item Permissions for how access is granted.
Every import is recorded so you can confirm it ran and diagnose any that didn't. Open Settings, then the Template Import Job History under Import. The history lists each run with its ID, when it started and finished, who ran it, and its status (pending, running, finished, or failed).
If a run fails, its status shows the details — including per-row problems such as a parent that couldn't be found — so you can fix that row in the template and import again.