Templates & Examples

The fastest way to learn Sovrium is to start from a working app. Sovrium ships a set of example configurations — each a complete, runnable project that composes real features (tables, auth, pages, theme, i18n, automations) into a single config tree. The same examples double as sovrium init templates, so you can scaffold any of them into a new directory and start iterating immediately.

Every example is a directory with an app.yaml entry point. Anything beyond the smallest starter splits its configuration across a config/ subtree using $ref — one file per collection entity, one file per singleton, scalars stay inline. This mirrors the structure sovrium init scaffolds for you.

Available templates

Eighteen templates ship with the binary. The first six teach one capability each; the rest are complete business apps you can run as-is.

Starters — learn one capability at a time

Business apps — complete, runnable systems

Every template checks in its own Claude Code bundle — a CLAUDE.md written for that template's domain, plus a starter app-editor subagent at .claude/agents/app-editor.md. Scaffolding is a plain tree copy, so the bundle arrives with the config; there is no second install step. See the CLI Reference for all init flags.

Scaffolding a project

sovrium init copies a template into a new (or current) directory. With no --template, the minimal hello-world starter is used.

# Default (hello-world, no paired agent)
sovrium init my-app

# Choose a template — also installs the paired editor agent
sovrium init my-app --template crm
sovrium init my-app --template landing-page
sovrium init my-app --template helpdesk
sovrium init my-app --template company-os

# Skip the paired agent install
sovrium init my-app --template crm --no-agent

Then run the scaffolded app:

sovrium start app.yaml          # Start the dev server
sovrium validate app.yaml       # Validate without starting

See the CLI Reference for all init flags.

Anatomy of an example

A non-trivial example looks like this (abbreviated crm layout):

crm/
├── app.yaml                 # Entry point — references everything via $ref
├── config/
│   ├── auth.yaml            # Singleton: auth strategies, roles
│   ├── theme.yaml           # Singleton: design tokens
│   └── tables/
│       ├── companies.yaml   # One file per table
│       └── contacts.yaml
└── public/                  # Static assets (favicon, images)

The app.yaml entry point pulls each part together with $ref, keeping the top-level file small and each entity in its own file:

name: crm

auth:
  $ref: ./config/auth.yaml

theme:
  $ref: ./config/theme.yaml

tables:
  - $ref: ./config/tables/companies.yaml
  - $ref: ./config/tables/contacts.yaml

pages:
  - $ref: ./config/pages/dashboard.yaml
  - $ref: ./config/pages/sign-in.yaml

$ref resolution happens before validation: any object containing exactly one key — $ref whose value is a relative path — is replaced with the parsed contents of that file. A $ref may itself contain further $refs, so configs nest to any depth. The single-file and multi-file forms are interchangeable; pick whichever keeps the project readable.

Learning path

A practical order for working through the examples:

1. hello-world — understand the minimal shape of a config and the pages array.
2. landing-page — add a theme, reusable components, and i18n with $t: translation keys.
3. blog / docs-site — dynamic routes and markdown content collections.
4. crm — introduce tables, auth, and data-bound pages (forms + data tables).
5. api-only / mcp-server — run Sovrium headless: as a REST backend or an LLM-facing MCP server.
6. helpdesk / expenses — automations, public intake forms, and row-level permissions.
7. company-os — several domains in one config, wired together with cross-domain automations.

Related Pages

• Quick Start — zero to running app, in YAML or in TypeScript with defineConfig.
• Configuration Files — YAML, JSON, TypeScript, and $ref multi-file composition.
• CLI Reference — sovrium init and the full command surface.
• MCP Integration — the headless MCP-server template explained.