Ways to deploy

Deploying a template means creating the real folders and files it describes, somewhere on disk. There are four ways to start one, and they all end the same way: you choose a location, Prefab asks for any values it needs, and the folders appear.

From the template editor

The Create… button at the top of the editor deploys whichever template is open. ⌘DCtrl+D does the same for the selected template from anywhere in the app.

Prefab asks where the folders should go, in a panel whose button reads Create Here, and builds the template inside the folder you pick. The template's own top-level folders are created there; Prefab does not wrap them in an extra folder of its own.

From the menu barnotification area

Prefab keeps a folder icon in the menu barnotification area whether or not its window is open. Create from Template lists the first ten templates in your library, and choosing one asks for a location in the same way as the Create button. With more than ten, More in app… opens the window so you can pick from the full list.

The same menu holds New Template, Import Folder…, Show Prefab and Settings…, plus a Watching section when any folders are being watched.

From FinderFile Explorer

With the Finder extension enabled, right-clickingRight-clicking a folder, a file, or the background of a FinderFile Explorer window offers New Folder(s) from Template with your templates in a submenu. See The FinderFile Explorer extension.

From a link

Every template has a prefab://deploy link that deploys it from Terminal, from Shortcuts, or from anything else that can open a URL. Copy Deploy Link is in the right-click menu of a template in the sidebar. See Deploy links.

The prompt for values

If the template has placeholders to fill in, Prefab shows a small form before it creates anything. The form gathers everything the deploy needs at once: the template's own placeholders, the placeholders of any template embedded inside it, and any global placeholders the template writes without defining.

• Each field starts from what you typed last time for that template, falling back to the placeholder's default value.
• Required fields are marked with an asterisk. If one is empty and has no default to fall back on, the form stays open and names what is still missing.
• Leaving a field empty otherwise falls back to that placeholder's default value.
• If you have value presets, a Preset pop-up above the fields fills them all in one go.
• The built-in placeholders {{date}}, {{year}}, {{author}} and {{folder}} never appear. They are filled in automatically as the folders are created.

Return is Create. What you type is remembered for the next deploy of that template. A template with nothing to ask about skips the form entirely.

Permission to write to a folder

Prefab is sandboxed, so it cannot create files wherever it likes. Choosing a folder in the Create Here panel grants access to it as part of choosing it, which is why that route rarely asks for anything.

A deploy that names a folder Prefab has not been given can arrive somewhere it cannot write: a link with a path, or FinderFile Explorer's right-click menu. When that happens Prefab shows Permission Required, and Grant Access opens a folder picker starting at that location. Once you confirm it, the deploy carries on by itself. Cancelling leaves everything as it was, with nothing half-created.

Access is remembered as a security-scoped bookmark, so Prefab asks once per folder and not again, including after a restart. Anything inside a folder you have already granted is covered by it, so granting a parent such as your Projects folder saves being asked for each project inside it. The full list lives in Settings ▸ Permissions ▸ Authorized Folders, where you can add folders ahead of time or take access away again. See Settings and permissions.