> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vertracloud.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What Is a Closed Template on Vertra Cloud and What Can You Do With It

> A closed template hides its code from whoever uses it. See what you can and cannot do with the app, how snapshots behave and who to trust.

A closed template is a private template whose author chose not to show the code. The code stays inside the app, but the people who use the template cannot read, download or change it. You can still run the app, read its logs and metrics, take and restore snapshots, roll back, update it and use its databases without any restriction.

Only private templates can be closed. Public templates (Vertra and Community) always show their code.

## What you can and cannot do

| You can | You cannot |
| - | - |
| Start, stop and restart the app, read logs and metrics | Use the file manager (view, upload, move, delete) |
| Create a snapshot and **restore** it | **Download** a snapshot |
| **Roll back** | Download the app |
| Answer the template's questions and change the memory, if the template allows | Create free-form variables (such as `NODE_OPTIONS`) |
| Update to a new version | Edit the start and build commands |
| Move the app to another folder or workspace | Use a terminal |
| Use the stack's **databases** without restriction | Deploy by GitHub or by uploading code |
| | Save as a template, detach from the template, or create a full-copy link |

The lock is enforced by the API on every file and code route, not only in the dashboard, so a script or an API key hits the same wall. The refusal is `TEMPLATE_CLOSED`. Variables the author marked as hidden are injected into the app and never returned by the API or shown in the dashboard. Hidden values exist only in closed templates, and if the app or stack is ever unlinked from the template they are deleted.

## Databases are never closed

The databases of a stack are always open to you: you can connect, back up and inspect them. Authors are advised to keep their users' data in these databases, because anything stored in the `/app` of a closed template is the author's responsibility.

## Snapshots of a closed app

A snapshot of a closed app remembers that it is closed, even if the app is deleted later.

* It can **never be downloaded**.
* It can be restored only on an app of **the same template**, which stays closed.
* Creating an app from it creates an app with the same closed policy.
* Restoring it on an ordinary app is refused.

## Who you are trusting

The platform gives you no path to the code, and it does not guarantee the author's own code. If the author's code exposes files or sends your data somewhere, that is the author's responsibility, and Vertra Cloud can act on reports. The values you fill in the wizard (for example, an API key from a model provider) go to code you cannot read, so you are trusting the author. The template page and the share-link preview say so before you create anything.

If something looks wrong, [report it](https://docs.vertracloud.app/templates/use/receive-a-link.md#report-a-template).

## Updates and closed policy

An app keeps the policy it was created with. If a new version opens the template, the app opens on the update; if a new version closes it, only apps created later are closed. See [Update and roll back](https://docs.vertracloud.app/templates/use/updates-and-rollback.md).

To make your own closed template, see [Permissions](https://docs.vertracloud.app/templates/create/permissions.md) and the [tutorial for a client](https://docs.vertracloud.app/templates/tutorials/closed-template-for-client.md).


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