Drupal Rebuild Uses Layout Builder Sections for Reusable Page Templates

Page templates in a rebuilt Drupal site now use custom content entities that store the same Layout Builder sections and components as regular pages. Drupal developer Ralf Baumbach describes the change in a technical post published on 6 September 2026 as part of a series on replacing a Drupal 7 Panels implementation. Instead of maintaining templates as rows in custom database tables through a separate administrative interface, editors can configure a working page and inspect the result. They can then save its layout as a reusable template through frontend actions added to the Layout Builder IPE controls.

Reusing a template requires more than copying block configuration. Each imported Layout Builder component needs a new UUID, while context mappings tied to the source page must be excluded and recreated for the destination. The rebuild reuses an earlier import and export system that can copy sections and components while allowing individual block plugins to prepare configuration for export, adjust it after import, and validate whether it is suitable for the destination page.

The site also depends on data and a machine-readable schema supplied by an external system, so template compatibility cannot be determined by content type alone. Drupal uses the destination schema to determine available configuration options and to validate imported blocks before they operate on that page's data. Applying a template creates an independent copy in Layout Builder's temporary storage, allowing editors to review or alter it before saving without retaining a live relationship to the original template. Further implementation details are available in the original technical post.