diff --git a/src/app/dashboard/[teamSlug]/terminal/page.tsx b/src/app/dashboard/[teamSlug]/terminal/page.tsx
index 9aa4103ae..d2e70a3c9 100644
--- a/src/app/dashboard/[teamSlug]/terminal/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/dashboard/[teamSlug]/terminal/page.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ import type { components as InfraComponents } from '@/core/shared/contracts/infr
 import { createSandboxManagementAuth } from '@/core/shared/sandbox-management-auth.server'
 import { SandboxIdSchema } from '@/core/shared/schemas/api'
 import DashboardTerminal from '@/features/dashboard/terminal/dashboard-terminal'
-import { normalizeTerminalTemplate } from '@/features/dashboard/terminal/template'
+import {
+  isPublicTemplateReference,
+  normalizeTerminalTemplate,
+} from '@/features/dashboard/terminal/template'
 import { Button } from '@/ui/primitives/button'
 
 export const metadata: Metadata = {
@@ -192,6 +195,10 @@ async function isTerminalTemplateAvailable({
     return { ok: true as const, available: true }
   }
 
+  if (isPublicTemplateReference(template)) {
+    return { ok: true as const, available: true }
+  }
+
   const defaultTemplatesRepository = createDefaultTemplatesRepository({
     accessToken,
   })
diff --git a/src/features/dashboard/terminal/template.ts b/src/features/dashboard/terminal/template.ts
index d320bc870..6ae414988 100644
--- a/src/features/dashboard/terminal/template.ts
+++ b/src/features/dashboard/terminal/template.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ export function normalizeTerminalTemplate(template?: string) {
   return value
 }
 
+export function isPublicTemplateReference(template: string) {
+  const [owner, name, ...rest] = template.split('/')
+
+  return Boolean(owner && name && rest.length === 0)
+}
+
 export function resolveTerminalTemplateOverride(
   template: string | undefined,
   fallback: string
diff --git a/tests/unit/dashboard-terminal.test.ts b/tests/unit/dashboard-terminal.test.ts
index e8ab4b345..f383f4c95 100644
--- a/tests/unit/dashboard-terminal.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/dashboard-terminal.test.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
   writeStoredTerminalSession,
 } from '@/features/dashboard/terminal/storage'
 import {
+  isPublicTemplateReference,
   normalizeTerminalTemplate,
   resolveTerminalTemplateOverride,
 } from '@/features/dashboard/terminal/template'
@@ -85,6 +86,21 @@ describe('dashboard terminal helpers', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  describe('isPublicTemplateReference', () => {
+    it('detects owner-qualified public template references', () => {
+      expect(isPublicTemplateReference('team-slug/python:default')).toBe(true)
+      expect(
+        isPublicTemplateReference('aiengineer-d56d/aiengineer-guide')
+      ).toBe(true)
+    })
+
+    it('does not treat bare or multi-path template names as public references', () => {
+      expect(isPublicTemplateReference('base')).toBe(false)
+      expect(isPublicTemplateReference('python_3.12-dev')).toBe(false)
+      expect(isPublicTemplateReference('owner/nested/template')).toBe(false)
+    })
+  })
+
   describe('resolveTerminalTemplateOverride', () => {
     it('preserves the current template when no override is provided', () => {
       expect(resolveTerminalTemplateOverride(undefined, 'python')).toBe(