Every template is connected to one content type. The template renders every entry of that type: write the layout once, publish many pages.

Use templates for content-driven pages: blog posts, product pages, recipes, author profiles, or anything where the page is "one entry per URL".

When you create a template, you pick a content type. After that:

• Bindings inside the template resolve against the current entry: {{entry.title}}, {{entry.featured_image}}, {{entry.author.name}}, …
• The template renders at a URL Studio derives from the content type's URL settings.
• Studio picks the right entry when a visitor lands on a URL, because the URL pattern carries enough info to identify exactly one entry.

Studio picks the first available source:

1. Custom Preview URL (recommended): if you've configured one for this content type, Studio reuses its path. Best because it mirrors your live site exactly.
2. Content type URL pattern: otherwise Studio uses the CT's own url field pattern. A CT pattern like /blogs/:title becomes /blogs/{{entry.title}}.
3. Default fallback: if neither exists, a guaranteed-unique pattern.

Custom Preview URL is stack-level, configured in Stack → Settings → Visual Experience → Preview URL. Per-content-type URL paths are defined inside that single global form, not on each content type's settings page.

Open the URL editor with the pencil icon in the canvas toolbar.

Edit URL modal for a template

The modal gives you:

• The Preview URL Pattern input with the current pattern
• A reset icon to restore the auto-derived pattern
• An Insert row of variable chips you can click to insert: {{environment}}, {{entry.title}}, {{entry.uid}}, {{taxonomy:brand}}, {{locale}} (chip exists but avoid using {{locale}} in patterns, carry locale via your routing layer and the SDK's locale query option, see Multi-locale at scale)

Studio displays a banner showing the source of the current URL (custom preview URL, CT pattern, default, or user-specified).

Variable	What it inserts
{{entry.<field>}}	Any field on the connected entry
{{entry.<reference>.<field>}}	A field from a referenced entry
{{taxonomy:<taxonomy_uid>}}	A taxonomy assigned to the entry
{{environment}}	Current environment name
{{locale}}	Current locale code. Avoid in URL patterns, use routing-layer and SDK locale query option instead.
{{branch}}	Current branch
{{content_type_uid}}	The connected content type's UID
{{composition_uid}}	This composition's UID

See the full URL variables reference for all variants including date placeholders.

Say your stack has Custom Preview URL /{{entry.url}} configured for blog_post.

All three URLs render through the same template, and Studio just swaps in the current entry's bindings.

The canvas chrome shows PREVIEW ENTRY : (entry name) with a swap icon (⇄) next to it. This is the entry the canvas is currently rendering against, and every template.* binding inside the canvas resolves to that one entry's fields. Different preview entry, different rendered values, same template.

A few things worth knowing:

• It's an authoring-only choice, not part of the published composition. Picking a preview entry doesn't pin the template to that entry, doesn't change what visitors see, and doesn't require a deploy. It's just so you can see what the template looks like with real data while you author.
• Studio picks one automatically when you open the template. Usually the most recently updated entry that satisfies the template's URL pattern. You can always swap.
• The swap is instant. Click the ⇄ icon to open an entry picker scoped to the template's connected content type. Pick a different entry, and the canvas re-renders against the new one immediately, no reload, no deploy.
• It drives the URL line directly below the entry name. That URL is the template's URL pattern evaluated against the preview entry's fields (e.g. /blog/hello-world). It updates live as you swap entries, and it's the quickest way to catch URL-pattern mistakes ("my pattern uses {{entry.slug}} but this entry doesn't have a slug field, that's why the URL looks broken").

So the preview entry answers "which entry am I looking at right now?", not "which entry is published". Authors sometimes assume that saving a binding while a particular entry is the preview pins the template to that entry, but it doesn't. The binding records a field path; the preview entry is whichever one happens to be loaded when the canvas opens.

• The current preview entry has empty fields, so bindings render blank. Swap to a fuller entry to see the layout's real density.
• The current preview entry's URL pattern doesn't expose a field you're trying to bind. Swap to an entry with that field populated.
• You want to verify the template under different content shapes (long titles, missing images). Swap through a few entries.

• Edit URLs from the canvas navbar, not from the composition list (the list is read-only for URLs).
• Studio validates on save and blocks invalid patterns, such as a typo'd variable or a field that doesn't exist on the CT.
• Saving a new URL refetches the connected entry and reloads the preview.
• Once you edit a URL, Studio marks it as user-specified and stops auto-overwriting it on reset.
• Reset in the modal re-runs the automatic derivation, which is useful if your Custom Preview URL or CT pattern changed.

Pitfall	Why it bites	Fix
"Template did not load" error	The template's URL pattern doesn't match any route on your site that mounts <StudioComponent />.	Fix the URL pattern, or add a matching route in your app.
Two entries collide on the same URL	{{entry.url}} patterns that resolve to the same path appear ambiguous at first glance.	Studio uses the composition and entry combo to disambiguate. As long as the entries differ, both resolve correctly. No action needed unless the UIDs are also identical.
Date placeholders typed by hand	Studio rejects manually typed date placeholders.	Use only the auto-generated date placeholders from a CT's URL pattern, and don't type them by hand in the URL editor.

• Using sections and components
• URL variables reference
• Set up template preview routes