Templates
Plain-words agreement templates
These are free agreement templates for everyday deals between people, written in plain words and licensed CC BY 4.0, so you can copy, change and share them. Each one covers the five things most small-deal arguments come back to: what is being done, price and payment, changes, dates, and what happens if someone walks.
Updated Oct 11, 2026
Pip explains
Pick the deal closest to yours. Every template has the same five lines, so once you know one, you know them all.
I'm a guide, not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice.
The five lines in every template
- What we're doing. What is included, and what is not.
- Price and payment. Amounts as numbers. When, and how.
- Changes. How a change is asked for, priced and agreed, in writing.
- Dates. Start, finish, and what moves a date.
- If someone walks. What is owed if it stops early, in either direction.
The templates
The open repository holds eight templates. Three of them have a page here with a fill-in builder so far, and the other five are on GitHub. Open the templates folder
| Template | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Small renovation or repair job | A homeowner hires a trade for a job you can describe in a few lines. |
| Freelance project | Design, development, writing or video work for one client, with a clear list of deliverables. |
| Personal loan between friends | One person lends another money, with a plan to pay it back. |
Three ways to use one
- A text and a yes. Send the short form as one message and keep the reply. For many small deals, that is enough to remember what was agreed.
- The full form, on paper or by email. Fill in the two people, the five lines and the Agreed block, and each of you keeps a copy.
- An agreement you both sign on TrustChain. Each of you passes an identity check by Sumsub, you both sign the same text, and you each keep a signed, dated record.New identity checks are paused for now. If you verified before, you can still sign; if not, signing waits until they're back. Drafting, reading, sharing a link and looking up records all work.
What a template can and cannot do
A written agreement records what two people said, so neither has to rely on memory later. It does not decide whether a term is allowed where you live. Rules about rent, interest, deposits, permits and licences differ by place, which is why every template ends with a "check the rules where you live" note.
These templates work on paper, in an email or in a text thread.
Licence
The templates are licensed CC BY 4.0. You may copy, share and adapt them for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you give credit, link to the licence and say if you changed them. A credit line such as this is enough:
Based on the TrustChain plain-words templates, https://github.com/TRUSTCHAIN-creator-KK/trustchain-protocol (CC BY 4.0)
Filling in a template for your own agreement? You do not need to put a credit line inside that agreement.
Only the templates are CC BY. The rest of this site is not.
Suggest a template
New templates and better wording are welcome. Tell us the deal it is for, who the two people are and your suggested wording, in plain words.
Questions people ask next
New identity checks are paused for now. If you verified before, you can still sign; if not, signing waits until they're back. Drafting, reading, sharing a link and looking up records all work.
Can I use these for my business?
Yes. The templates are licensed CC BY 4.0, so you can copy, change and share them, including for commercial use, as long as you give credit. Filling one in for your own agreement needs no credit line.
Do I need TrustChain to use them?
No. Every template works as a text message, an email or a printed page. TrustChain is one more way to use one: each of you passes an identity check by Sumsub, you both sign the same text, and you each keep a signed, dated record.
Is a template legally binding?
It depends on where you are and what it says; TrustChain makes no claim about that. A template records what two people agreed, so neither has to rely on memory later, and each one ends with what to check where you live.
Why plain words instead of legal language?
So both people can read the whole thing and know what they agreed. Most small-deal arguments come back to the same five things, and plain words make each one hard to misread.
Can I suggest a new template?
Yes. Open a template suggestion in the open repository on GitHub with the deal it is for and your wording. New templates and better wording are both welcome.