---
title: InfluxDB templates
description: >
  InfluxDB templates are prepackaged InfluxDB configurations that contain everything
  from dashboards and Telegraf configurations to notifications and alerts.
menu: influxdb_cloud
weight: 9
influxdb/cloud/tags: [templates]
---

InfluxDB templates are prepackaged InfluxDB configurations that contain everything
from dashboards and Telegraf configurations to notifications and alerts.
Use InfluxDB templates to quickly set up a fresh instance of InfluxDB, back up your
dashboard configuration, or share your configuration with the InfluxData community.

**InfluxDB templates do the following:**

- Reduce setup time
- Facilitate secure, portable, source-controlled InfluxDB platform states.
- Simplify sharing and using pre-built InfluxDB solutions.

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## Template manifests
A template consists of a single file known as a **manifest** that defines the
InfluxDB state and associated [resources](#template-resources).
Template manifests support the following formats:

- [YAML](https://yaml.org/)
- [JSON](https://www.json.org/)
- [Jsonnet](https://jsonnet.org/)

{{% note %}}
Template manifests are compatible with
[Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRD)](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/access-kubernetes-api/custom-resources/custom-resource-definitions/).
{{% /note %}}

The `metadata.name` field in manifests uniquely identifies each resource in the template.
`metadata.name` values must be [DNS-1123](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1123) compliant.
If resources in the template depend on other InfluxDB resources, all dependencies
must be included in the template.

_See [Create an InfluxDB template](/influxdb/cloud/influxdb-templates/create/) for information about
generating template manifests._

### Template resources
Include the following **resources** in a template:

- buckets
- checks
- dashboards
- dashboard variables
- labels
- notification endpoints
- notification rules
- tasks
- Telegraf configurations

## Stacks
**InfluxDB stacks** are stateful InfluxDB templates.
When you apply a template, InfluxDB associates resources in the template with a stack.
Use stacks to add, update, or remove templated resources over time.

For more information, see [InfluxDB Stacks](#influxdb-stacks) below.

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