Template Variables & Filters

Workflow Docs uses a combination of Built-in Variables (nouns that are ready to use) and Reserved Keywords (names that must be avoided).

Two Filters, Two Audiences

Most questions in Workflow Docs are handled by one of two filters:

Filter	Who answers?	When?
| ask	The advocate running the interview.	Immediately, in the interview.
| request	An external requestee (client, witness, attorney).	When they open their personal signing link.

For the full reference on | request (kwargs, datatypes, multi-party signing), see the dedicated | request Filter page. For the end-to-end flow, see Multi-Party Signing.

1. Reserved Keywords (Do Not Use)

These names are reserved by Python or Docassemble. Using them as your own variable names will cause errors or unexpected behavior:

if	else	elif	for
while	in	is	not
and	or	def	class
import	from	as	return
try	except	finally	raise
None	True	False	self
dict	list	set	str
int	float	bool	type
metadata	modules	objects	buttons

For a full list of Docassemble-specific reserved names, see the AssemblyLine documentation.

2. Built-in Variables (Nouns)

Workflow Docs pre-defines many common legal nouns. These are not just names; they come with "smart" questions and logic.

• People Lists (ALPeopleList): clients, other_parties, children, witnesses, defendants, plaintiffs.
• Individuals (ALIndividual): advocate, spouse, notary_public, legalserver_primary_assignment, legalserver_current_user.

Jinja2 Syntax: Always wrap variables in double curly braces {{ }} to add them to your template. Access specific attributes using dot notation, and access items in a list using index notation:

{{ clients[0].name.first }}
{{ advocate.name.last }}

For the complete map of every available variable, see the Full Variable List.

3. The ask and request Filters

These filters are the primary way to interact with users and external parties.

• ask Filter: Use this when the initiator (the person running the interview, like an advocate) needs to provide the answer right now.
• request Filter: Use this to route the variable to an external requestee (like a client or third party). They will receive an email or SMS asking them to complete that specific field (e.g., signing a document).

Jinja2 Syntax: Filters are applied by using the pipe character | after a variable name. For | request, routing is determined by the top-level root before the first dot, so use person-owned paths such as clients[0].incident_summary, not nested spouse paths.

Filter Options

Both ask and request accept options to customize the field. The table shows which filter accepts each option.

Option	Accepted by	Description	Example
question	ask, request	The main question text.	{{ var_name | ask(question="Name?") }}
subquestion	ask, request	Extra help text or instructions.	{{ var_name | ask(subquestion="First and last") }}
label	ask, request	A short label for the input field.	{{ var_name | ask(label="Middle Initial") }}
datatype	ask, request	The Docassemble datatype.	{{ var_name | ask(datatype="date") }}
options	ask, request	A list of choices (for radio/dropdown).	{{ var_name | ask(options=["Yes", "No"]) }}
fix_punctuation	ask, request	Apply Docassemble punctuation repair to resolved string output.	{{ var_name | ask(fix_punctuation=true) }}
default	ask only	The default value for the field.	{{ var_name | ask(default="English") }}
hint	ask only	Placeholder text inside the input.	{{ var_name | ask(hint="MM/DD/YYYY") }}
placeholder	request only	Text shown in unsigned renders.	{{ var_name | request(placeholder="[SIGNATURE]") }}
expected_key	request only	Render key(s) for which the raw value is returned.	{{ var_name | request(expected_key="final") }}

For request, fix_punctuation runs on resolved string output in the configured render pass. expected_key does not mark a request complete. See the | request Filter page for the full reference.

Multilingual Prompts

Both filters accept a dict keyed by language code. The current interview language is used; the first value in the dict is the fallback.

{{ service_requested
   | ask(question={"en": "Do you want service?", "es": "¿Desea servicio?"}) }}

You can mix multilingual and plain-string kwargs:

{{ incident_description
   | ask(
       question={"en": "Describe the incident", "es": "Describa el incidente"},
       subquestion="Include date, time, location, and all relevant details",
       datatype="area"
     ) }}

Complete Examples

Asking the initiator for a date:

{{ custom_date | ask(question="When did the incident occur?", datatype="date") }}

Requesting a signature from a client:

{{ clients[0].signature | request(question="Please sign the agreement", datatype="signature") }}

Allowed Datatypes

Workflow Docs supports all standard Docassemble datatypes, including:

• text (default), area (large text)
• date, datetime, time
• number, integer, currency
• email, url, file
• yesno, yesnomaybe
• radio, dropdown, checkboxes
• signature

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4. LegalServer Data Integration

Supported legalserver_ variables are populated from the case when the interview has usable LegalServer launch data.

• legalserver_case: A helper object for accessing core case fields.
• legalserver_data: The raw JSON dictionary from the LegalServer API. See the LegalServer Data Reference for a detailed field map.
• legalserver_matter_uuid: The unique ID of the case.
• legalserver_site_abbreviation: Your site name (e.g., legalaid).

Jinja2 Syntax:

{{ legalserver_matter_uuid }}
{{ legalserver_data.county_of_residence }}

View the Full Variable List for a complete map of every LegalServer field and its alias.

5. Salutations and Letter Greetings

For letter-style templates, Workflow Docs ships with two helper functions for generating the right salutation line:

• greet(person) — returns the full greeting line, e.g. "Dear Ms. Smith" or "Estimada Sra. Smith". Uses person.preferred_greeting if set; otherwise picks "Dear"/"Estimada"/"Estimado" based on the person's language and gender.
• salute(person) — returns just the salutation form of the name, e.g. "Ms. Smith". Uses person.preferred_salutation if set; otherwise picks a gendered honorific (Mr./Ms./Mx. for English, Sr./Sra./Mx. for Spanish) or falls back to the person's plain name.

{{ greet(clients[0]) }},

We are writing to confirm...

See the Full Variable List → Functions for the full reference.

6. Working with Languages

To select a client's preferred written language or normalize Chinese variants, use:

• wfd_default_client_language(person) — returns one of the supported client-language codes (en, es, zh-CN, zh-TW, pt, ht, vi, km) for the given person. Looks at preferred_written_language, then language, then language_name from LegalServer.
• wfd_client_language_codes(client_key) — returns the language codes enabled for that organization. With no argument, it returns all supported fallback codes.
• wfd_normalize_language_code(code) — maps Chinese variants like zh_CN, zh_TW, zh-Hans, zh-Hant to the canonical zh-CN/zh-TW form.