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charm init scaffolds new agents from a remote manifest — not from files bundled inside the installed charmos wheel. That lets the community add templates without waiting for an SDK release.

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How it works

When you run charm init, the CLI fetches: 
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CharmAIOS/charm-community-plugin/main/templates/registry.json
Each manifest entry lists files (as JSON strings) to write into the new project directory. After a PR merges to main, the template is available globally on the next charm init. Offline fallback: if the manifest cannot be fetched, the CLI scaffolds a minimal Python template.

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Contributing a template

You do not write Python loader code — only a JSON entry in the manifest.

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Step 1: Prepare your template entry

[!TIP] Discoverability: Templates merged into this manifest are automatically displayed in the Charm Store Templates Registry for the whole community to discover and scaffold. 
{
  "id": "my-sales-agent",
  "description": "Sales outreach agent starter",
  "author": "Your Name",
  "tags": ["sales", "outreach"],
  "github_url": "https://github.com/YourOrg/your-repo",
  "post_init_message": "  ├── charm.yaml\n  ├── .charmignore\n  └── src/\n      └── main.py\n\nNext: charm push",
  "files": [
    {
      "path": "charm.yaml",
      "content": "version: \"0.4.2\"\n\npersona:\n  name: \"My Sales Agent\"\n  description: \"A sales agent starter.\"\n  version: \"0.1.0\"\n\ninterface:\n  input:\n    type: object\n    required: [message]\n    properties:\n      message: { type: string, title: Message }\n  output:\n    type: string\n\nruntime:\n  adapter:\n    type: custom\n    entry_point: src.main:agent\n  lifecycle: serverless\n"
    },
    {
      "path": ".charmignore",
      "content": ".env\n.venv\n__pycache__/\n*.pyc\n"
    },
    {
      "path": "src/__init__.py",
      "content": ""
    },
    {
      "path": "src/main.py",
      "content": "def agent(inputs):\n    msg = inputs.get('message', 'hello')\n    return f'Sales draft for: {msg}'\n"
    }
  ]
}
Tips:
  • id must be unique kebab-case — used as charm init my-agent --template my-sales-agent
  • author, tags, and github_url help users discover your template in the Store Registry.
  • Include version: "0.4.2" in charm.yaml content (required contract version)
  • Use type: custom (or python, an alias) for standard Python agents — not a fictional adapter name unless you document a required plugin
  • Escape newlines as \n and quotes as \" inside JSON strings
  • Rich templates can include interface.ui for Store widgets — see Input Forms

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Step 2: Open a pull request

  1. Fork CharmAIOS/charm-community-plugin
  2. Append your object to the templates array in templates/registry.json
  3. Submit a PR for review
After merge to main, your template appears in charm init (interactive menu or --template <id>).

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Templates vs runtime plugins

Community templateAdapter plugin
DeliversStarter files for charm initNew runtime.adapter.type
RegistrationManifest PRcharm.adapters entry point
Custom Docker imageOnly if template’s charm.yaml sets custom_imageRequired on cloud