---
title: template-definition-placeholder-malformed
description: Reports a Template placeholder that is not a lower-case identifier in double braces.
---

[← All Rules](/rules/)

## What it does

Reports malformed placeholder delimiters or a placeholder that does not use the `{{lower-case-identifier}}` form.

## Why it matters

Presswork must identify Template fields exactly before it can validate configuration or render a Document Draft.

## Examples

### Non-passing

```md title="docs/decisions/TEMPLATE.md"
# {{Title}}

{{summary
}}
```

### Passing

```md title="docs/decisions/TEMPLATE.md"
# {{title}}

{{summary}}
```

## When it applies

This Rule belongs to the configurable `document-types` group. It validates placeholders in the Template definition, not unresolved placeholders left in completed documents.

## References

See [Presswork Configuration](/configuration/#documenttypes) for Template fields and [`src/template.ts`](https://github.com/evilkiwi/presswork/blob/main/src/template.ts) for placeholder parsing.