---
title: MARKLESS_TEMPLATE_AS_VALUE
description: "Markup is stored in a variable, in state, or in an array."
sidebar: { hidden: true }
search: { keywords: ["TEMPLATE_AS_VALUE","template as value","markless error"] }
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---

**Error** from the compiler, while it builds your `.tsrx` files.

## What happened

In Markless, markup is not a value. You cannot store it in a variable, in state, or in an array.

Markless prints the message, the reason, and a suggestion:

```text
MARKLESS_TEMPLATE_AS_VALUE: <siteSource> puts a template<target> where Markless needs runtime data. Templates compile into page structure with locators, not values to store, pass, or serialize.
Markless has no VDOM. Templates compile to DOM structure and resume locators, so there is no render-output object that can live in state, a computed value, a local variable, or an array.
Keep templates in the tree. Use @if/@for for conditional or repeated structure, extract child components for reusable structure, or pass nested content through children projection.
https://markless.dev/errors/MARKLESS_TEMPLATE_AS_VALUE
```

Words in angle brackets change from case to case.

## How to fix it

Keep markup in the component tree. Use `@if` and `@for` for conditional or repeated markup. Move reusable markup into a child component, or pass it as children.

## Where it comes from

`@markless/compiler` raises this code. Source:

- [packages/compiler/src/passes/semantic-graph/diagnostics.ts](https://github.com/compiled-run/markless/blob/main/packages/compiler/src/passes/semantic-graph/diagnostics.ts)

Read [how to read a Markless error](/tooling/diagnostics), or go back to [all error codes](/errors).