Recurring meetings share a shape: a weekly sync, a sprint review, a client QBR, a hiring debrief. The attendees change slightly, the topics rotate, but the outcomes you care about repeat. Scriba meeting templates let you define that shape once and apply it every time you record — so AI chat and summaries already know what "good" looks like for that meeting type.
What a template contains
Each template has a name, an optional description, and prompt fields that feed the AI when you chat or generate a summary inside that meeting. You might tell a standup template to prioritize blockers and owners. A QBR template might ask for revenue risks, expansion signals, and executive asks. The template does not replace your agenda; it steers the assistant toward the sections you always want captured.
- Template prompt: context the AI should assume for this meeting type.
- Template instruction: output format and emphasis for summaries and chat.
- Per-meeting override: still editable when a single call goes off-script.
Apply at recording time
When you start a new meeting from the menu bar, pick the template that matches the ritual. The meeting inherits those prompts immediately — before transcription finishes, before anyone asks a question in chat. Teams that run the same ceremony every Monday stop retyping "remember to list blockers" into the composer. The template already encoded it.
Templates are prompts for your future self. They turn recurring meetings into comparable records instead of one-off notes.
Pair with Brain memory
Templates shape each instance; Brain memory connects instances over time. A sprint review template ensures this week's summary hits velocity and carryover. Brain on the project remembers that carryover has been mentioned three sprints in a row. Together they answer both "what happened today?" and "what pattern are we stuck in?" without merging those jobs into one bloated prompt.
Build a small library
Start with three templates: internal sync, external client call, and deep working session. Resist building twenty on day one. Watch what your team pastes into chat repeatedly — that text belongs in a template. Refine instructions when summaries miss the same section twice. Good templates read like a checklist a skilled note-taker already uses.
Works with local-first capture
Templates live in your local SQLite database and sync like any other meeting metadata. Recording stays on your Mac; no bot joins the Zoom or Teams link. Managed mode runs chat and summaries through Scriba's AI proxy; BYOK mode uses your own key with the same template prompts. Either way, the meeting type you chose travels with the file.
Get started
Open Templates in Scriba, duplicate the closest default, and edit the prompt for one recurring meeting on your calendar this week. After the call, see whether the summary needed less manual prompting. Adjust the template once, and every future instance benefits. That is the product bet: less re-explaining the format of the meeting, more attention on what the meeting produced.