Creating Templates

A template is your recipe, formula, or assembly instructions. It defines what you're making, what ingredients or materials go into it, and how much of each you need. Once set up, you can use it over and over to schedule production.

How to Get There

Go to Make > Items to make in the sidebar.

Creating a New Template

Click + New Template.
Enter the template name — What you're making (e.g., "Honey Mustard," "Gift Basket," "Steel Widget").
Add inputs — Templates accept three kinds of inputs (see Input types below). The most common is an Item — something you stock that goes into the product. For each item input:
- Select the item from your inventory
- Enter the quantity needed
- Choose the unit. If the unit you need isn't on the family yet (for example, your recipe calls for g but the item only has kg), type the new unit name and pick Use new unit. Peasy confirms the conversion (like 1 kg = 1000 g) and creates the variant inline so you can keep building the template.
Set the output — What the template produces. This is typically a sell item or inventory item.
Save the template.

Input Types: Item, Process, Cost

When you click Add Input, the form shows three tabs:

Item — An ingredient or component you keep in inventory. Item inputs deduct stock when a work order completes and are valued at the item's current cost.
Process — A descriptive step with no inventory or cost impact (e.g. "Mix until smooth," "Heat to 350°F"). Use this to document instructions for the people running production.
Cost — A non-inventory cost that should still flow into the template's cost of goods sold (COGS). Use this for labor, shipping, scrap allowance, packaging contracted out, or any line item that has a dollar amount but isn't tracked as inventory. Each Cost input has a name, a dollar amount, and a basis: Per unit of output, or Per batch (per production run).

Cost inputs roll into the template's per-unit and per-batch COGS automatically and are also included in the recorded production cost when a work order completes. They're carried through when you duplicate a template. In the template's input list, Cost rows use an amber indicator so they are easy to tell apart from Item rows and Process rows.

Editing a Template

Click on any template to open its detail view. From there you can:

Rename the template — Click the name to edit it
Add or remove ingredients — Update what goes into the product
Change quantities — Adjust how much of each ingredient is needed
Update the output — Change what the template produces
Change the output unit — For Finished Good templates, if the output item's family has multiple units (e.g., Coffee sold in lb, grams, and kg), an Output Unit dropdown appears. Select a different unit to switch which variant the template produces. The co-manufacturer cost unit is updated automatically when cost basis is set to "per output."
Change the yield — When you leave the yield field (or press Enter), Peasy saves the new value. If the template has inputs, Peasy asks whether to rescale all input quantities proportionally. Click Update inputs to let Peasy adjust them automatically, or Keep input quantities to leave them as-is. You must choose one of these options before continuing.

Most changes save automatically. Yield changes save when you leave the field or press Enter.

Viewing Your Templates

The templates page shows your templates in a list. Use the status filter in the Display Panel (gear icon) to switch between views:

Active (default) — Templates currently in use
Inactive — Templates you've set aside
All — Everything in one list

Each template shows:

Template name
Ingredients count — How many different items go into it
Gap indicators — Whether you have enough ingredients available (see Template Gap Alerts)

Looking for Ordering Method, Fulfillment, Lead Time, or Payment Terms on a co-manufacturer template? Those are vendor-level settings, not template-level — they live on the co-manufacturer's vendor record, not the Items to make table. Set them on Buy > Vendors. Once set, the Ordering Method also shows as a badge in the cart panel and on the purchase order review screen when you add a co-man template to your cart. See Managing Vendors.

Filtering by Location

If your business has more than one location, the templates page shows a location badge at the top. Click it to scope restock-point progress, on-hand inventory, and the Replenish quick filter to a single location instead of the all-locations aggregate. Switch back to All Locations to see global totals again. The selection sticks across reloads.

When a specific location is selected, the Restock Pt column shows that location's per-location override (if set); otherwise it falls back to the family's global restock point. Edit the value inline to set or clear the per-location override.

Grouping by Item Family

Templates that produce variants of the same item — for example, a Light Roast template that yields 12-oz bags and another that yields cases of those bags — are grouped under one family row by default. The family row shows the parent item's name, image, category, and a restock-point progress bar that reflects current inventory across the whole family. Click the chevron on a family row to expand it and see each template that feeds into that family.

To turn grouping off and see every template as its own row, open the Display Panel (gear icon) and switch off Group by family. Peasy remembers your preference for next time. When grouping is on, click the chevron in the Template Name column header to expand or collapse all groups at once.

Managing Template Status

You can mark templates as inactive when you're no longer using them, and reactivate them later.

Marking a Template Inactive

Find the template in the list.
Click the three-dot menu (overflow icon) on the row.
Select Mark Inactive.
Confirm in the dialog.

The template moves to the Inactive view and no longer appears in the default Active list.

Reactivating a Template

Switch to the Inactive or All view using the Display Panel.
Click the three-dot menu on the inactive template.
Select Mark Active.
Confirm in the dialog.

The template returns to the Active list and is available for work orders again.

Co-Manufacturer Cost Basis

If a supplier makes a template's finished product for you (a co-manufacturer), the template's info section has a cost field where you enter what the co-manufacturer charges. You can express that cost two ways:

Per output unit — e.g. "$2.50 per jar." Pick this when the co-manufacturer prices by the unit they ship you.
Per batch — e.g. "$200 per batch." Pick this when the co-manufacturer quotes a flat price per production run regardless of exact unit count.

Turn on Made by a co-manufacturer? to pick the vendor for the template. If the co-manufacturer is not in your vendor list yet, type the name in the Vendor field and choose Create vendor.

Switch between the two using the dropdown next to the cost field — labeled with your output unit (like "jar") or "Batch."

Before switching to per batch

Peasy needs to know how many output units come out of one batch before it can convert between the two modes, so set the template's yield before switching to per-batch pricing. If you try to switch while yield is unset, Peasy will show an error and keep the basis at per output unit.

The displayed dollar amount stays put

When you toggle the basis, the number in the cost field doesn't jump around. If you had "$2.50 per jar" and switch to per batch with a yield of 80, Peasy keeps the field showing "$2.50" — it doesn't suddenly render "$200." If you want a different number in the new basis, just type over it.

Include in COGS

Below the cost field is an Include in COGS toggle. Turn it on to have the co-manufacturer's cost roll into the template's unit and batch cost for margin and reporting purposes. See COGS for how this combines with raw materials, freight, and packaging costs.

Adding Other Production Costs

For overhead, labor, shipping, scrap allowance, or packaging fees that aren't tracked as inventory, use a Cost input instead of creating a buy item. In the Add Input form, switch to the Cost tab, give it a name (e.g. "Labor," "Shipping"), enter the amount, and choose Per unit or Per batch. The cost rolls into the template's unit and batch COGS the same way ingredient costs do — and you don't have to keep a fake item in your catalog to make it work.

When you create a work order from the template, those Cost inputs appear in the work order detail panel under Additional Batch Costs. You can adjust the dollar amount for that specific run without changing the template. When the work order is complete, those costs are stamped into that run's history and show in the finished lot's Input COGS view.

Ordering from a Co-Manufacturer Template

When you create a work order from a co-man template, the dialog's primary button changes to Add to Cart instead of Create Work Order — Peasy adds the make-item to your shared cart at the supplier's price so you can send it on a purchase order. See Co-Manufacturer Templates Add to Cart for the full flow.

Template Types

When creating a template, you'll choose between two types:

Finished Good — A product you sell to customers. The output is a sell item.
Building Block — An intermediate product used as an ingredient in other templates (e.g., a sauce, dough, or sub-assembly). See Building Blocks and Sub-Assemblies for details.

Real-World Examples

Not sure how to translate what you make into a template? These scenarios show the thought process, not just the clicks.

Hot Coffee at a Farmers Market

What you're making: Hot coffee served in a cup
Output: "Hot Coffee" (sell item, unit: each)
Inputs: Ground coffee (0.5 oz per cup), paper cup (1), lid (1), sleeve (1)

The coffee, cups, lids, and sleeves are all separate buy items. The template ties them together so Peasy tracks everything you use per cup sold. When you complete a work order for 50 hot coffees, Peasy deducts 25 oz of ground coffee, 50 cups, 50 lids, and 50 sleeves — all automatically.

Samples from a Larger Bag

What you're making: 4oz sample bags from a bulk 5lb bag of coffee
Output: "4oz Sample Bag" (sell item, unit: each, yield: 20 per batch)
Inputs: 5lb coffee bag (1), sample bags (20), sample labels (20)

Use fractional quantities when your input doesn't divide evenly. If 1 bag = 5 lbs and each sample is 4 oz (0.25 lbs), you get 20 samples per bag. Peasy handles the conversion math if the coffee family's Inventory Unit is pounds.

Assembled Gift Box

What you're making: A gift box containing multiple products
Output: "Holiday Gift Box" (sell item, unit: each)
Inputs: 8oz honey jar (1), 4oz candle (1), tea sampler (1), gift box (1), tissue paper (2 sheets), ribbon (1)

This is what people often call a "bundle" — but in Peasy, it's a template. The template tracks every component so you know when you're running low on any item. Don't confuse this with selling items individually alongside each other — a template means Peasy manages the assembly.

Food Product with Packaging

What you're making: Bottled hot sauce
Output: "Hot Sauce 8oz" (sell item, unit: each)
Inputs: Hot sauce base (8 oz), glass bottle (1), cap (1), label (1), shrink wrap band (1)

If the sauce itself is made from raw ingredients (peppers, vinegar, garlic, salt), create the sauce as a building block template first, then use it as an input here. Peasy tracks both stages: making the sauce and bottling it. See Building Blocks and Sub-Assemblies for details.

Common Questions

Can I nest one template inside another? Yes — that's what Building Block templates are for. Create a Building Block for your sub-recipe, then use it as an input in your main Finished Good template. When you run a work order, Peasy deducts the raw ingredients all the way down.

What happens if I change a template after creating work orders from it? Existing work orders keep the recipe they were created with. Only new work orders pick up the updated template. This means you can safely tweak recipes without affecting production that's already in progress.

Can I scale a template to different batch sizes? Yes. When creating a work order from a template, you set the batch quantity. Peasy multiplies all ingredient quantities proportionally. If your template makes 10 jars of sauce and you enter 50, all inputs scale by 5x.

What if I need to substitute an ingredient? If the substitution is permanent, update the template so future work orders use the right input. If it's just for one batch, keep the template as-is and note the substitution on the work order so your team follows the correct process.

Good to Know

Templates are reusable — create once, produce many times via work orders.
Ingredients must already exist as items in Peasy. Add your raw materials as buy items first.
You can create templates for anything — food recipes, product assemblies, kits, bundles, or any multi-ingredient product.
"Bundle" = template in Peasy. If you assemble multiple items into one product you sell — a gift box, a kit, hot coffee with cups and lids — create a finished good template with all the components as inputs.
Marking a template inactive doesn't delete it — you can reactivate it anytime from the Inactive or All view.
A guided tour is available to walk you through template creation. Access it from the help button or the Getting Started checklist.

Building Blocks and Sub-Assemblies — Create intermediate products for multi-stage production
Managing Work Orders — Use your templates to schedule production
Template Gap Alerts — Know when you're short on ingredients
Making Overview — How the Make section works