---
title: Create a Document Draft
description: List repository Document Types, follow the selected Creation Policy, initialize a Document Draft, and finish it with a clean Check Report.
---

Use this guide when a repository defines a Document Type and you need to initialize or route creation correctly.

## List Document Types

List the selected repository's Document Types and Creation Policies.

```sh
presswork create --list-types
```

The catalog reports the Repository Root, each Document Type, its Creation Policy, and an external workflow name when one is declared. It does not list creation fields. The Basic Profile returns an empty catalog when the repository has no configured Document Types.

## Follow the Creation Policy

- For `presswork`, continue with Document Creation.
- For `external`, use the named external workflow. Presswork refuses to initialize the draft.
- For `manual`, create and index the document with repository tools. Presswork refuses to initialize the draft and continues to validate the result.

## Supply the required fields

For a `presswork` Creation Policy, find the matching `documentTypes` declaration in the selected repository's `presswork.json` and open its loaded Template. Required creation fields are the union of placeholders in the declaration's `filename`, the loaded Template, and `indexEntry`. The [Presswork Configuration reference](/configuration/#documenttypes) owns this contract.

Pass the Document Type and repeat `--field` for every required input. This example applies to the repository-specific `proposal` declaration shown in the Presswork Configuration reference.

```sh
presswork create proposal \
  --field slug=first-proposal \
  --field "title=First proposal"
```

Field names and values must satisfy the Document Type declaration. Each field is a unique `name=value` pair.

Successful Document Creation reports the created repository-relative path, updated Index Document, `unfinished` draft status, and pending Template requirements. It does not overwrite an existing destination or choose another filename.

> **Preserved draft recovery**
>
> If the command reports a field, conflict, preflight, or filesystem diagnostic, follow its `recovery` guidance before retrying. A `document-creation-recovery-required` diagnostic means the draft was preserved after an Index Document update failed; review the named draft, then add its index entry or remove it as directed.

## Finish the draft

Resolve every Template placeholder and `presswork:` Template Directive in the new Document Draft. Then produce the machine-readable Check Report.

```sh
presswork check --json
```

The documentation work is complete only when `presswork check --json` exits `0`, the report has `complete: true`, and both `violations` and `operationalDiagnostics` are empty arrays.

Use [Presswork Configuration](/configuration/#documenttypes) to define Document Types, [CLI](/cli/#presswork-create) for exact options, or [Rules and diagnostics](/rules-and-diagnostics/) for stable identifiers.