Agent Templates¶

Vandelay ships with 14 starter templates for common agent roles. Use them as-is or as a starting point for custom members.

TUI: Go to Agents tab → Members → + Add Agent → enable "Start from template?" to browse and apply templates visually.

Available Templates¶

Template	Role	Default Tools
CTO	Technical leadership, architecture decisions	shell, file, python
AI Engineer	Prompt engineering, model selection	file, python
Sales Executive	Pipeline management, outreach	gmail, googlesheets
Marketer	Content strategy, campaigns	crawl4ai, googlesheets
Personal Assistant	Calendar, email, reminders	gmail, googlecalendar
Chef	Meal planning, recipes	-
Personal Trainer	Workouts, fitness tracking	googlesheets
Research Analyst	Deep research, reports	tavily, crawl4ai
Vandelay Expert	Agent builder: creates and improves team members	file, python, shell
Writer	Content creation, editing	file
Data Analyst	Data analysis, visualization	python, googlesheets
DevOps	Infrastructure, CI/CD, monitoring	shell, file
Content Creator	Social media, blog posts	file, crawl4ai
Project Manager	Roadmap, task tracking, sprints	file, googlesheets

Using a Template¶

Via TUI¶

Open the TUI (vandelay), go to the Agents tab, click + Add Agent under Members. Toggle "Start from template?" and pick a template from the list. The template file is copied to ~/.vandelay/members/<slug>.md and the member is added to your team config.

Via CLI¶

vandelay config  # → Team → Add member → "Start from template?"

Select a template from the picker. The template .md file is copied to ~/.vandelay/members/<slug>.md and the member is added to your team config.

What's in a Template¶

Each template includes:

Role: What the agent does
Expertise: Domain knowledge areas
How You Work: Behavioral patterns and workflows
Boundaries: What the agent should and shouldn't do
Memory First: What to check before acting
Tools You Prefer: Recommended tools for the role

Customizing Templates¶

After adding a template, edit the member file directly:

nano ~/.vandelay/members/cto.md

Changes take effect on the next agent reload.

Authoring Your Own¶

Create a new .md file in ~/.vandelay/members/:

# My Custom Agent

## Role
What this agent does.

## Expertise
- Domain 1
- Domain 2

## How You Work
Behavioral instructions...

## Boundaries
What NOT to do...

Then add it to your team config:

{
  "name": "my-agent",
  "role": "Description for the supervisor",
  "tools": ["shell", "file"],
  "instructions_file": "my-agent.md"
}