Create a clause

Write one reusable block of contract wording, such as payment terms or a cancellation policy, add the fill-in details that change per customer, and publish it for templates to use.

In the sidebar, open Settings, then choose Clauses under Agreements. The page address is /agreements/clauses. The heading reads Agreement Clauses. A clause is one reusable block of contract language, such as a payment term or a cancellation policy, that templates pull in so you write it once and every agreement stays consistent.

Before you start

• Viewing needs permission to view clauses. Creating one needs the clause create permission, editing needs the clause update permission, and publishing needs the clause publish permission.
• A published clause version never changes. To reword it you create a new draft version and publish that, so agreements already signed keep the wording they were signed with.

Steps

1. Press New clause. The New agreement clause drawer opens.
2. Under Clause metadata, type a Title such as "Payment terms". Key is an optional short nickname. Choose a Type (General, Commercial, Compliance, Legal or Operational) and, if you like, a Category (Confidentiality, Payment, Security, Services, Term or Termination). Add a Description of when to use it and comma-separated Tags.
3. Under Clause content, choose the Body format and type the wording in Clause text.
4. For anything that changes from one agreement to the next, such as the customer's name or a dollar amount, press Add fill-in detail under Fill-in details. Give it a Fill-in name (for example "customer.name"), a Friendly name, a Detail type and, optionally, a Default value and Description.
5. Check Preview, add Version notes describing what this draft changes, then press Create clause. Nova saves a draft and opens the clause editor.
6. When the wording is final, press Publish draft in the editor and confirm with Publish clause. Templates can now use it.

What you see

• Three tiles: Visible clauses, Active clauses and Visible variables (the fill-in details across the clauses shown).
• Columns: Clause, Type, Status, Variables and Updated. Each row's menu offers Open detail, View history and, when there is a draft, Open editor.
• Filter by Status (Draft, Active, Deprecated or Archived) and Publish State (Has draft or Has published version), or search by title, key, category or variable.

If something looks different

• New clause is missing: your role cannot create clauses.
• The editor shows Immutable published state: this clause has no draft. Press Create editable draft to make one.
• Publish draft is greyed out: save your changes first; publishing is off while the editor has unsaved edits.
• You want to put clauses into a document: see Create an agreement template.

Open Clauses