Variables

A variable is a named placeholder — a domain, an API key, an account ID — that you reference inside your requirement content so each installer sees their own real value instead of a generic example. This is the customer-authoring companion to the integrator reference at /docs/variables, which covers the same feature from the embedding side.

Why variables exist

Without variables, a guide can only show placeholder text like "paste your account ID here". With variables, the same step renders with the installer's actual account ID already filled in, so the steps are genuinely copy-paste-ready. That is the whole point: a non-technical installer should be able to follow a guide without having to figure out which bits to swap for their own values.

Defining a variable

You define variables on an install template. Each variable has:

• Name — alphanumeric plus underscores. This is what you type as {{name}} in your content.
• Type — drives validation and masking (for example a secret is masked and never echoed).
• Label — the friendly text shown to the installer if the widget needs to ask for the value.
• Required — whether the installer must supply a value before they can continue.

Referencing a variable

Inside any requirement's content — body text or code blocks — write the variable name in double braces:

Add this DNS record for {{domain}}:

CNAME  app  →  proxy.acme.example

<script src="https://cdn.example.com/{{accountId}}/init.js"></script>

When the widget renders the guide, every {{name}} is replaced with the real value for that installer.

How values get filled

There are two ways a variable ends up with a value.

• Per-installer, host-side via the widget. When your end user's value is already known on the page that embeds the widget, you pass it in. With the script-tag embed this is the data-variables attribute; with the JavaScript API it is the variables option on Inboard.init. Each installer gets their own values, so the same install template personalises itself for everyone.
• Defaults. A variable can carry a default value used when the host page doesn't provide one. Defaults keep the guide sensible even before any host-side value arrives, and required variables that have no value are prompted for inside the widget.

Host-side values take precedence over defaults. The exact attribute names and JSON shape for passing values live on the integrator page at /docs/variables.

Example variables

Where to go next

• Install templates — where you define variables and the requirements that reference them.
• Variables (integrator reference) — the host-side attributes and options for passing values in.