The template editor user right allows trusted coders to edit templates and modules that have been protected with the "protected template" protection level (usually due to a high transclusion rate). It also allows those editors to edit edit notices, all of which are permanently uneditable without template editor or administrator rights.

The template editor user right is granted by administrators. Administrators use their own discretionary assessment of an editor's template contribution value, as well as the following general guidelines:

1. The editor should be a registered Wikipedia user who has been editing for at least 1 year.
2. The editor should have made at least 1,000 overall edits.
3. The editor should have made at least 150 total edits to the Template and Module namespaces.
4. The editor should have no behavioral blocks (including partial blocks) or 3RR violations for a span of 6 months prior to applying.

Additionally, an editor should have demonstrated a need for the right, as well as a familiarity with the care and responsibility required when dealing with high-risk template modification:

5. The editor should have worked on the sandbox version of at least three template-protected templates or modules.
6. The editor should have requested and had successfully enacted at least five significant edits to template-protected templates or modules.

The above items are merely guidelines. An administrator may choose to substitute other proofs of an editor's competence in handling high-risk template responsibilities.

Tools to assist in evaluating a candidate's suitability:

• Special:Contributions (check contribs in the "Template talk" and "Module talk" namespaces for protected edit requests)
• xtools
• supercount

Note if a request was recently declined for a given user/permission, a bot will comment with a link to that discussion. You may wish to ping the administrator who declined the previous request asking for their input before responding to the new request.

To grant the permission:

• Grant the user right(s) to the user at Special:UserRights. Indicate the request was approved at WP:PERM (or a specific page therein) in the "Reason", along with any other information you deem appropriate.
• Issue the corresponding notification template to the user for the permissions that were added:

To respond to the request:

• On the permissions page, mark the request as approved or denied using {{done}} or {{not done}}. Include any relevant rationale for the decision. If you are revoking a permission, use the template {{revoked}} which will archive as done. If the user has withdrawn their request, you can mark it as {{withdrawn}} which will archive as not done. For some permissions, there is a convenient template for canned responses, such as with Confirmed and Rollback.
• 36 hours after the last comment was made (or whatever is specified in the config), a bot will automatically archive the request. You can force the bot to archive as soon as possible with the code {{User:MusikBot/archivenow}}

Helper script: The above process can be expedited using the script User:MusikAnimal/userRightsManager.js. Once installed, click "assign permissions" on any PERM page, enter optional closing remarks in the popup dialog, and the script will grant the right with a permalink to the discussion, and issue the corresponding talk page template.

To override where the bot archives, use {{User:MusikBot/override|d}} for approved, or {{User:MusikBot/override|nd}} for denied. This will override any other {{done}} or {{not done}} templates, and make the bot ignore the user's rights.

To re-open a request, deactivate the resolution template using the code {{tl|template name}}, as with {{done}} or {{not done}}. Strikethroughs like <s>{{done}}</s> or other means to suppress the original resolution template will still be registered as resolved by the bot. Only deactivating or removing the template will work.

Archiving

All requests are archived at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Archive as approved or denied. This is done as a historical reference, namely so that admins can review previously declined requests.

N hours after the last comment was made on a request (as specified by the bot's config), the discussion is removed from that page and an entry containing a PermaLink to the discussion is added to the archives, noting the user and the permission. This archiving process is fully automated and should not be attempted manually.

Bot clerking

For convenience, the requests for permissions pages are clerked by MusikBot. See User:MusikBot/PermClerk for more information on the tasks and how to configure them.