> **Source:** https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/Settings/create-obligation-template
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---
# Creating an Obligation Template

> An obligation template tells the AI what to look for in your contracts, and how the obligations it finds should be set up. Create one for any commitment that re

An obligation template tells the AI what to look for in your contracts, and how the obligations it finds should be set up. Create one for any commitment that recurs across contracts, so you don't add it by hand each time.

You create a template in three steps. First you give it a name and say what it covers, under **Basic Details**. Then you set when the obligation falls due and whether it should raise a task, under **Due Date & Tasks**. Finally you choose which contracts it applies to, under **Scope**.

You can move back to an earlier step at any point to change something. The template is saved when you click **Save Template** at the end, so set aside a few minutes to work through all three steps together.

## Before You Start

- At least one **obligation category** must exist, since Category is required. See [Managing Obligation Categories](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/Settings/obligation-categories).
- Know which contracts the template should apply to. You need the workflows or document templates in step 3.
- To anchor due dates to a contract date, have the **date variable** in mind. You can create one during step 2.

## Opening the Template Form

<!-- ARCADE · P1 · Open the Add Obligation Template form
     Show: Settings, the Obligations entry, the Library tab, then + Add Obligation Template and the form opening.
-->

1. Go to **Settings** and click **Obligations** in the sidebar.
2. Open the **Library** tab.
3. Click **+ Add Obligation Template**. The form opens at **Basic Details**.

## Step 1: Basic Details

1. Enter an **Obligation name**. This can be up to 100 characters and must be unique within your organisation.
2. Write a **Description** of what the obligation requires. Up to 2,000 characters.

> **Tip — Write this for the AI, not for a colleague**
>
> The description is what the AI matches clauses against during extraction. Include the key terms a clause would use, which party is responsible, and any timing conditions. The more specific it is, the more accurate the extraction.
> 
>     Click **Refine description** to have AI rewrite what you've written in clearer wording.

3. Select a **Category**. Required. Click **Add new category** to create one without leaving the form.
4. Set a **Priority**: **Critical**, **High**, **Medium**, or **Low**.
5. Select the **Responsibility**, which is who the obligation belongs to. You can select more than one:
    - **Us**: your own organisation.
    - **Counterparty**: the other party to the agreement.
    - **Third Party**: a party outside the agreement, such as a vendor or a regulator.
    - **Any**: open-ended, for a clause that does not name a party.

    The AI uses this to find obligations belonging to the right party, so choose **Any** only when the clause genuinely leaves it open.

6. Add an **Assignee**, either way or both:
    - **By Contract Role**: whoever holds a role on the contract, either **Business Negotiator**, **Legal Negotiator**, or **Initiator**. See [Configure Collaborators](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Workflows/create-workflow#configure-collaborators).
    - **By User**: a specific user in your organisation.
7. Click **Continue**.

## Step 2: Due Date & Tasks

This step is entirely optional. Leave **Extract due date** off and click **Continue** to skip it. The template then creates obligations with no due date.

1. Toggle on **Extract due date** to have the AI read the due date out of the contract. Two further toggles appear.

### Link Due Date to Reference Variable

<!-- ARCADE · P3 · Add a custom reference variable
     Show: the Reference variable dropdown, Add new variable, and the AI-generated description flow.
     BLOCKED: POC Q10 (is Variable Type locked to date?) and Q1 (the sync tooltip may change).
-->

Use this when the due date should come from a date already on the contract, such as its expiry or renewal date, rather than from the clause text.

2. Toggle on **Link Due Date to Reference Variable**.
3. Select a **Reference variable** from the dropdown. Only **date**-type variables can be used, so the list shows only those. If there are none yet, the dropdown says so and prompts you to create one.
4. *(If you need a new one)* Click **Add new variable** and complete the **Add Custom Variable** pop-up:
    1. Enter a **Variable Name**.
    2. Select a **Variable Type**.
    3. Enter a **prompt to generate description** and click **Generate Description** to have AI draft one, then **Insert** to accept it. You can also type the description yourself.
    4. Enter a **Placeholder Text**.
    5. Click **Save**.

See [Adding an Obligation](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/add-obligation#step-1-obligation-details) for what happens when that variable's value later changes.

### Create Task

5. Turn on **Create task** to generate a task for every obligation this template creates, then set the task creation date, turnaround time, breach notifications and reminders. This is optional, and the settings are the same as on a single obligation. See [Tasks and Notifications](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/add-obligation#tasks--notifications).
6. Click **Continue**.

## Step 3: Scope

Scope decides which contracts this template is extracted from, by combining **Workflows** and **Document Templates**.

1. For **Workflows**, choose **All** to include every workflow, or **Select individually** to pick specific ones. Multiple selection is allowed.
2. For **Document Templates**, choose **All** or **Select individually** the same way.
3. Choose how the two combine:
    - **AND**: only contracts matching both a selected workflow and a selected document template are processed.
    - **OR**: contracts matching either one are processed.

> **Info — Worked example**
>
> With 5 workflows and 3 document templates selected:
> 
>     - **AND** extracts only from contracts that use one of those 5 workflows **and** one of those 3 templates.
>     - **OR** extracts from any contract matching either list.
> 
>     **AND** narrows the scope and **OR** widens it. Choose AND when an obligation only belongs in a particular kind of contract, such as confidentiality obligations inside NDAs.

4. Click **Save Template**.

## After You Save

The template is **Active** immediately and applies to contracts extracted from that point on. It does not reach back over contracts already processed.

From the [Library](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/Settings/obligation-library#row-actions) you can then edit, duplicate, disable, or delete it. Two limits to know:

- A **default** template's name cannot be changed, and default templates cannot be deleted. Disable them instead.
- A template cannot be **enabled** while its category is disabled.

## Related Pages

- [Obligation Library](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/Settings/obligation-library)
- [Managing Obligation Categories](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/Settings/obligation-categories)
- [Adding an Obligation](https://knowledge.leegality.com/deal-collaboration/Obligations/add-obligation)

<!-- ==================== POC REVIEW NOTES (not rendered) ====================
Verified against obligation/constants/template.py,
obligation/serializers/template.py, and the frontend slice
slices/obligation-templates/views/add-edit-obligation-template/ (incl.
steps/step-basic-info.js) plus translations-en-us.js.

RESTRUCTURED for step-by-step clarity (2026-09-03). No factual changes in this
pass — only sequencing and presentation:
- Steps are now labelled "Step 1 / 2 / 3" and matched to the wizard's own step
  names, with one continuous numbered sequence per step. Previously each step
  restarted at 1 and the entry actions (Go to Library, click Add) sat outside
  any step.
- Added "Before You Start" with the three real prerequisites, including the
  point that the reader needs to know their target workflows before reaching
  step 3 — previously they only discovered that on arriving there.
- The wizard navigation note (Continue / Back / Save Template / discard on
  exit) moved up into a note before step 1, where it is useful, rather than
  sitting as loose prose after the entry steps.
- Step 2 now states up front that the whole step is optional and how to skip
  it. Previously that was buried in the middle of a paragraph.
- The reference-variable and Create Task toggles became sub-sections with
  continuing numbering, so the nested Add Custom Variable pop-up no longer
  reads as a peer of the main steps.
- The AND/OR example became an info admonition with the "AND narrows, OR
  widens" summary plus the NDA use case, which was previously a clause in the
  Library page instead of here.
- Added "After You Save" with the end state and the two default-template
  limits, which previously sat in a loosely titled trailing section.
- Added a note that a new template is Active immediately (see question 2).

CONFIRMED CORRECT and unchanged: the three step names, "Continue" and "Save
Template", the Extract due date toggle and its two sub-toggles, the Add Custom
Variable field order, Scope's All / Select individually structure, the AND/OR
semantics, and "Refine description".

OPEN QUESTIONS (unchanged by the restructure):
1. RESPONSIBILITY "ANY" — documented here on the strength of the frontend
   option and its helper text. A backend comment says ANY is a seed-only value
   for default templates and is "not accepted from API payloads", but the
   code's own choice list does include it. Confirm Any is selectable when a
   user creates a template. If it is template-only (not available on an
   individual obligation), that asymmetry is worth stating explicitly on both
   pages.
2. RETROACTIVITY. This page states a new template applies only to contracts
   extracted from then on, and that it is Active immediately. Both follow from
   extraction being triggered per document, but no code explicitly confirms
   either. Please confirm — customers will ask, and re-extraction exists as a
   manual action.
3. VARIABLE TYPE FIELD. The Add Custom Variable pop-up has a Variable Type
   selector, but a reference variable must be a date. Is the type locked to
   DATE when opened from this dropdown, or can a user pick another type and
   then find the variable unusable? The frontend feature spec mentions the
   modal being opened with "type locked to DATE" in one place; confirm.
4. SCOPE DEFAULTS. What Workflows and Document Templates default to on a new
   template (All, or nothing selected) is still unconfirmed, so steps 1 and 2
   of Step 3 describe the choice without stating the starting state.
5. EDIT VS EXTRACTED OBLIGATIONS. Editing a template's due-date or task
   configuration — does it affect obligations already extracted from it? A
   template-sync utility exists in the backend, which suggests it might.
   Unconfirmed and deliberately not described.
6. STEP 2 SUB-TOGGLE ORDER. This page presents Link Due Date to Reference
   Variable before Create Task, matching the order in the previous draft.
   Confirm that is the on-screen order.
========================================================================== -->