# Creating Amazon Verified Permissions policy templates
<a name="policy-templates-create"></a>

You can create policy templates in Verified Permissions using the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS SDKs. Policy templates allow a policy to be defined once and then used with multiple principals and resources. Once you create a policy template you can then create template-linked policies to use the policy templates with specific principals and resources. For more information, see [Creating Amazon Verified Permissions template-linked policies](policy-templates-create-policy.md).

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#### [ AWS Management Console ]

**To create a policy template**

1. Open the [Verified Permissions console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/verifiedpermissions/). Choose your policy store.

1. In the navigation pane on the left, choose **Policy templates**.

1. Choose **Create policy template**.

1. In the **Details** section, type a **Policy template description**.

1. In the **Policy template body** section, use placeholders `?principal` and `?resource` to allow policies created based on this template to customize permissions they grant. You can choose **Format** to format the syntax of your policy template with the recommended spacing and indentation.

1. Choose **Create policy template**.

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#### [ AWS CLI ]

**To create a policy template**  
You can create a policy template by using the [CreatePolicyTemplate](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/verifiedpermissions/latest/apireference/API_CreatePolicyTemplate.html) operation. The following example creates a policy template with a placeholder for the principal.

The file `template1.txt` contains the following.

```
"VacationAccess"
permit(
    principal in ?principal,
    action == Action::"view",
    resource == Photo::"VacationPhoto94.jpg"
);
```

```
$ aws verifiedpermissions create-policy-template \
    --description "Template for vacation picture access" 
    --statement file://template1.txt 
    --policy-store-id PSEXAMPLEabcdefg111111
{
    "createdDate": "2023-05-18T21:17:47.284268+00:00",
    "lastUpdatedDate": "2023-05-18T21:17:47.284268+00:00",
    "policyStoreId": "PSEXAMPLEabcdefg111111",
    "policyTemplateId": "PTEXAMPLEabcdefg111111"
}
```

**To create a policy template with a policy template name**  
You can optionally specify a policy template name when creating a policy template. The name must be unique for all policy templates within the policy store and prefixed with `name/`. You can use the name in place of the policy template ID.

```
$ aws verifiedpermissions create-policy-template \
    --description "Template for vacation picture access" \
    --statement file://template1.txt \
    --policy-store-id PSEXAMPLEabcdefg111111 \
    --name name/example-policy-template
{
    "createdDate": "2023-06-12T20:47:42.804511+00:00",
    "lastUpdatedDate": "2023-06-12T20:47:42.804511+00:00",
    "policyStoreId": "PSEXAMPLEabcdefg111111",
    "policyTemplateId": "PTEXAMPLEabcdefg111111"
}
```

**Note**  
If you specify a name that is already associated with another policy template in the policy store, you receive a `ConflictException` error.

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