Use Your Own Templates

CoQuill does not lock you into a proprietary template format. If you have a Word document, an HTML file, or a Markdown file, you already have a template. Add a few placeholders and you are ready to go.

Drop it in

Create a folder inside templates/ with any name you like, and place your file inside it:

templates/
  meeting_notes/
    meeting_notes.md

The folder name becomes the template identifier. When you tell Claude “prepare meeting notes,” it matches the request to this folder automatically.

Add placeholders

Open your document and replace the parts that change with {{ variable_name }} placeholders. Standard Jinja2 syntax — nothing proprietary, nothing to learn from scratch:

# Meeting Notes — {{ meeting_title }}

**Date:** {{ meeting_date }}
**Facilitator:** {{ facilitator_name }}
**Location:** {{ meeting_location }}
**Type:** {{ meeting_type }}

That is a working template. CoQuill scans it, finds every placeholder, and builds an interview around them.

Conditional sections

Need a section that only appears sometimes? Wrap it in an {% if %} block:

{% if meeting_type == 'workshop' %}
### Workshop Materials

{{ workshop_materials }}
{% endif %}

Claude evaluates the condition based on the user’s earlier answers. If the meeting type is not “workshop,” the entire block is removed from the final document — along with any follow-up questions about variables inside it.

Repeating sections

Collect multiple items with a {% for %} loop:

{% for item in action_items %}
- **{{ item.description }}** — Assigned to: {{ item.assignee }}, Due: {{ item.due_date }}
{% endfor %}

Claude collects action items one at a time and asks “Would you like to add another?” until the user is done.

No special tools required

You author templates in Microsoft Word, Google Docs (exported to .docx), or any text editor for HTML and Markdown. There is no template designer, no drag-and-drop builder, and no schema definition file you need to write first. The template is the schema.

HotDocs and Contract Express both use proprietary Word add-ins for template authoring — templates built in those systems do not transfer cleanly to other tools. CoQuill templates are standard Word files with plain text placeholders. If you switch tools later, you keep your templates.