What templates are for
Templates are useful when:- Many users follow the same scraping pattern
- The platform wants curated starting points
- Teams want consistency without forcing every task to be hand-built from scratch
Preview runs
Preview runs let users test a template-oriented workflow without fully committing to a long-lived task definition first. At a high level, preview runs are designed to answer:- Will this scraping pattern work for my target input?
- Does the output schema fit what I need?
- Is the result quality acceptable before I create a recurring task?
Why preview runs matter
Preview runs reduce friction in template adoption. They allow the platform to offer reusable entry points while giving users a controlled way to validate fit before building a persistent workflow around them.Recommended user flow
The template-oriented flow looks like this:- Browse the template catalog
- Select a template that matches the use case
- Run a preview
- Convert that workflow into a task when the result is acceptable
Platform-level distinction
Templates are a discovery and standardization surface. Tasks remain the control-plane object for:- Repeated execution
- Scheduling
- Result history
- Operational ownership