elementor/update-template updates a template: its title, its page settings, or its full data tree.
The data replacement is the destructive part and is guarded accordingly.
Before you run it
Replacing the data tree replaces the whole design. For a Theme Builder template that is live, the change takes effect everywhere its conditions match, immediately — a header template overwritten with something wrong is wrong on every page of the site at once. force_replace guards the destructive shape; take a copy with elementor/export-template first.
At a glance
| Ability | elementor/update-template |
| Toolset | Elementor — toolset/elementor |
| Group | Elementor › Templates & Theme Builder |
| Requires | Elementor, active on the site |
| Capability | manage_options |
| Safety | Destructive when replacing the data tree. Guarded by force_replace. |
| Repeatable | Not idempotent — each call changes the row set, so re-running is not a no-op |
| Ships in | AcrossAI Abilities Manager 0.0.34 and later |
How it works
Title and settings changes are ordinary. The data tree is different in kind: it is the template’s entire design, and replacing it is replacing the template.
For a live Theme Builder template that lands everywhere at once. A header applies to every page matching its conditions, so an overwrite is a site-wide change with no staging step between the write and the front end.
Exporting first is the practical mitigation — elementor/export-template produces a payload that elementor/import-template can bring back.
For editing rather than replacing, the element abilities work on templates as they do on pages: a template is a post, and its elements have IDs.
Elementor generates a CSS file per post and caches it. A change to the document does not change the rendered page until that CSS is regenerated, which is why elementor/clear-cache is the second half of several operations here.
Not idempotent when replacing data, since the payload’s element IDs may be regenerated.
Input
| Name | Type | Required | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
template_id | integer | Yes | The template post ID. |
title | string | No | A new title. |
page_settings | object | No | Document-level settings. |
data | array | No | A replacement document tree. |
force_replace | boolean | For data replacement | Required when overwriting the existing data tree. |
What comes back
| Name | Type | What it is |
|---|---|---|
template_id | integer | The template written. |
updated | array | What changed. |
success | boolean | Whether the call completed. |
message | string | A one-line summary of what happened, suitable for showing a human. |
error_code | string | Present only on failure — a stable machine-readable reason, such as a missing field, a wrong field type or an unmet confirmation. |
Example
Ask your assistant:
Rename template 640.
It resolves to one call:
{
"ability": "elementor/update-template",
"parameters": {
"template_id": 640,
"title": "Main header (2026)"
}
}Worth knowing
- A live Theme Builder template changes the whole site the moment it is written.
- Export first when replacing data.
- The element abilities work on templates too, for ordinary edits.
- Clear the Elementor cache afterwards.
Related abilities
- Export Elementor Template — take a copy first
- Get Elementor Template — read it first
- Duplicate Elementor Template — edit a copy instead
Get the plugins:
AcrossAI Abilities Manager · AcrossAI MCP Manager
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