diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-workflow-catalog.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-workflow-catalog.yml
index 2896932..9551d95 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-workflow-catalog.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-workflow-catalog.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ on:
       - main
     paths:
       - 'workflow-templates/**'
+      - 'workflow-catalog.json'
       - 'scripts/sync_catalog.py'
       - '.github/workflows/publish-workflow-catalog.yml'
 
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ jobs:
           python3 scripts/sync_catalog.py sync
           workflow-templates
           catalog/workflow-templates
+          --manifest workflow-catalog.json
           --report catalog-sync-report.json
 
       - name: Create catalog update pull request
diff --git a/scripts/sync_catalog.py b/scripts/sync_catalog.py
index b3322f8..9910eb8 100644
--- a/scripts/sync_catalog.py
+++ b/scripts/sync_catalog.py
@@ -16,15 +16,85 @@ def is_publishable(path: Path) -> bool:
     return path.is_file() and path.name.endswith(PUBLISHABLE_SUFFIXES)
 
 
-def collect_publishable(directory: Path) -> dict[str, Path]:
+def load_catalog_manifest(path: Path) -> tuple[str, ...]:
+    payload = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    if not isinstance(payload, dict):
+        raise ValueError("catalog manifest must be a JSON object")
+
+    templates = payload.get("templates")
+    if (
+        not isinstance(templates, list)
+        or not templates
+        or not all(isinstance(item, str) and item for item in templates)
+    ):
+        raise ValueError("catalog manifest must contain a non-empty templates array")
+
+    if len(set(templates)) != len(templates):
+        raise ValueError("catalog manifest contains duplicate template names")
+
+    for template in templates:
+        if Path(template).name != template:
+            raise ValueError(f"invalid catalog template name: {template}")
+
+    return tuple(sorted(templates))
+
+
+def collect_publishable(
+    directory: Path,
+    template_names: tuple[str, ...] | None = None,
+) -> dict[str, Path]:
     if not directory.is_dir():
         raise ValueError(f"directory does not exist: {directory}")
 
-    files = {
+    all_files = {
         path.name: path
         for path in directory.iterdir()
         if is_publishable(path)
     }
+
+    if template_names is None:
+        files = all_files
+    else:
+        files: dict[str, Path] = {}
+
+        for template in template_names:
+            yml_name = f"{template}.yml"
+            yaml_name = f"{template}.yaml"
+            candidates = [
+                name
+                for name in (yml_name, yaml_name)
+                if name in all_files
+            ]
+            if len(candidates) != 1:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"catalog template must have exactly one workflow file: {template}"
+                )
+
+            metadata_name = f"{template}.properties.json"
+            if metadata_name not in all_files:
+                raise ValueError(f"missing template metadata: {metadata_name}")
+
+            files[candidates[0]] = all_files[candidates[0]]
+            files[metadata_name] = all_files[metadata_name]
+
+        for template in template_names:
+            metadata_name = f"{template}.properties.json"
+            metadata = json.loads(
+                files[metadata_name].read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+            )
+            icon_name = metadata.get("iconName") if isinstance(metadata, dict) else None
+            if (
+                isinstance(icon_name, str)
+                and icon_name
+                and not icon_name.startswith("octicon ")
+            ):
+                icon_file = f"{icon_name}.svg"
+                if icon_file not in all_files:
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        f"metadata references missing icon {icon_file}: {metadata_name}"
+                    )
+                files[icon_file] = all_files[icon_file]
+
     validate_catalog(files)
     return files
 
@@ -74,8 +144,12 @@ def validate_catalog(files: dict[str, Path]) -> None:
                     )
 
 
-def sync_catalog(source: Path, target: Path) -> dict[str, list[str]]:
-    source_files = collect_publishable(source)
+def sync_catalog(
+    source: Path,
+    target: Path,
+    template_names: tuple[str, ...] | None = None,
+) -> dict[str, list[str]]:
+    source_files = collect_publishable(source, template_names)
     target.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
     target_files = {
@@ -112,8 +186,12 @@ def sync_catalog(source: Path, target: Path) -> dict[str, list[str]]:
     }
 
 
-def check_catalog(source: Path, target: Path) -> None:
-    source_files = collect_publishable(source)
+def check_catalog(
+    source: Path,
+    target: Path,
+    template_names: tuple[str, ...] | None = None,
+) -> None:
+    source_files = collect_publishable(source, template_names)
     target_files = {
         path.name: path
         for path in target.iterdir()
@@ -141,12 +219,19 @@ def main() -> int:
     parser.add_argument("command", choices=("sync", "check"))
     parser.add_argument("source", type=Path)
     parser.add_argument("target", type=Path)
+    parser.add_argument("--manifest", type=Path)
     parser.add_argument("--report", type=Path)
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     try:
+        template_names = (
+            load_catalog_manifest(args.manifest)
+            if args.manifest is not None
+            else None
+        )
+
         if args.command == "sync":
-            report = sync_catalog(args.source, args.target)
+            report = sync_catalog(args.source, args.target, template_names)
             if args.report:
                 args.report.write_text(
                     json.dumps(report, indent=2, sort_keys=True) + "\n",
@@ -155,8 +240,8 @@ def main() -> int:
             print(json.dumps(report, indent=2, sort_keys=True))
             return 0
 
-        check_catalog(args.source, args.target)
-    except (OSError, ValueError) as error:
+        check_catalog(args.source, args.target, template_names)
+    except (OSError, ValueError, json.JSONDecodeError) as error:
         parser.error(str(error))
 
     return 0
diff --git a/tests/test_sync_catalog.py b/tests/test_sync_catalog.py
index 556b8d0..022c126 100644
--- a/tests/test_sync_catalog.py
+++ b/tests/test_sync_catalog.py
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@
 import unittest
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from scripts.sync_catalog import check_catalog, collect_publishable, sync_catalog
+from scripts.sync_catalog import (
+    check_catalog,
+    collect_publishable,
+    load_catalog_manifest,
+    sync_catalog,
+)
 
 
 class SyncCatalogTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -124,6 +129,57 @@ def test_invalid_source_does_not_partially_modify_catalog(self) -> None:
                 "name: Published\n",
             )
 
+    def test_manifest_limits_catalog_to_approved_templates(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as directory:
+            root = Path(directory)
+            source = root / "source"
+            target = root / "target"
+            self.write_template(source, "reuse")
+            self.write_template(source, "sensitive")
+
+            target.mkdir()
+            (target / "sensitive.yml").write_text(
+                "name: Published by mistake\n",
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            )
+            (target / "sensitive.properties.json").write_text(
+                '{"name":"Sensitive"}\n',
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            )
+
+            report = sync_catalog(source, target, ("reuse",))
+
+            self.assertTrue((target / "reuse.yml").is_file())
+            self.assertTrue((target / "reuse.properties.json").is_file())
+            self.assertFalse((target / "sensitive.yml").exists())
+            self.assertFalse((target / "sensitive.properties.json").exists())
+            self.assertEqual(
+                report["removed"],
+                ["sensitive.properties.json", "sensitive.yml"],
+            )
+
+    def test_load_catalog_manifest_rejects_duplicates(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as directory:
+            manifest = Path(directory) / "workflow-catalog.json"
+            manifest.write_text(
+                '{"templates":["reuse","reuse"]}\n',
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            )
+
+            with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "duplicate template"):
+                load_catalog_manifest(manifest)
+
+    def test_manifest_requires_declared_template_to_exist(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as directory:
+            source = Path(directory)
+            self.write_template(source, "reuse")
+
+            with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                ValueError,
+                "exactly one workflow file: missing",
+            ):
+                collect_publishable(source, ("reuse", "missing"))
+
     def test_check_detects_drift(self) -> None:
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as directory:
             root = Path(directory)
diff --git a/workflow-catalog.json b/workflow-catalog.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..155f976
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workflow-catalog.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+  "templates": [
+    "block-unconventional-commits",
+    "lint-eslint",
+    "lint-info-xml",
+    "lint-php",
+    "lint-php-cs",
+    "lint-stylelint",
+    "npm-build",
+    "openapi",
+    "psalm",
+    "reuse"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/workflow-catalog.json.license b/workflow-catalog.json.license
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ce4e0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workflow-catalog.json.license
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 LibreCode coop and contributors
+SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later