diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/core/template.py b/src/spikeinterface/core/template.py
index b64f0610ea..7aa4bb5b38 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/core/template.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/core/template.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 from probeinterface import Probe
 from pathlib import Path
 from .sparsity import ChannelSparsity
+from multiprocessing.shared_memory import SharedMemory
+from .core_tools import make_shared_array
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -453,3 +455,73 @@ def get_channel_locations(self) -> np.ndarray:
         assert self.probe is not None, "Templates.get_channel_locations() needs a probe to be set"
         channel_locations = self.probe.contact_positions
         return channel_locations
+
+
+class SharedMemoryTemplates(Templates):
+
+    def __init__(self, shm_name, shape, dtype, sampling_frequency, nbefore, sparsity_mask,
+                 channel_ids, unit_ids, probe, is_scaled, main_shm_owner=True):
+
+        assert len(shape) == 3
+        assert shape[0] > 0, "SharedMemoryTemplates only supported with no empty templates"
+
+        self.shm = SharedMemory(shm_name, create=False)
+        templates_array = np.ndarray(shape=shape, dtype=dtype, buffer=self.shm.buf)
+        
+        Templates.__init__(self, templates_array=templates_array, 
+                           sampling_frequency=sampling_frequency, 
+                           nbefore=nbefore, 
+                           sparsity_mask=sparsity_mask,
+                           channel_ids=channel_ids, 
+                           unit_ids=unit_ids, 
+                           probe=probe, 
+                           is_scaled=is_scaled)
+        
+        # self._serializability["memory"] = True
+        # self._serializability["json"] = False
+        # self._serializability["pickle"] = False
+
+        # this is very important for the shm.unlink()
+        # only the main instance need to call it
+        # all other instances that are loaded from dict are not the main owner
+        self.main_shm_owner = main_shm_owner
+
+        self._kwargs = dict(
+            shm_name=shm_name,
+            shape=shape,
+            sampling_frequency=sampling_frequency,
+            nbefore=self.nbefore,
+            sparsity_mask=self.sparsity_mask,
+            channel_ids=self.channel_ids,
+            unit_ids=self.unit_ids,
+            probe=self.probe,
+            is_scaled=self.is_scaled,
+            # this ensure that all dump/load will not be main shm owner
+            main_shm_owner=False,
+        )
+
+    def __del__(self):
+        self.shm.close()
+        if self.main_shm_owner:
+            self.shm.unlink()
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def from_templates(templates):
+        data = templates.get_dense_templates()
+        shm_templates, shm = make_shared_array(data.shape, data.dtype)
+        shm_templates[:] = data
+        shared_templates = SharedMemoryTemplates(
+            shm.name,
+            data.shape,
+            data.dtype,
+            templates.sampling_frequency,
+            templates.nbefore,
+            templates.sparsity_mask,
+            templates.channel_ids,
+            templates.unit_ids,
+            templates.probe,
+            templates.is_scaled,
+            main_shm_owner=True,
+        )
+        shm.close()
+        return shared_templates
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/core/tests/test_template_class.py b/src/spikeinterface/core/tests/test_template_class.py
index 4e0a0c8567..ee694892a1 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/core/tests/test_template_class.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/core/tests/test_template_class.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import pytest
 import numpy as np
 import pickle
-from spikeinterface.core.template import Templates
+from spikeinterface.core.template import Templates, SharedMemoryTemplates
 from spikeinterface.core.sparsity import ChannelSparsity
 
 from probeinterface import generate_multi_columns_probe
@@ -170,6 +170,21 @@ def test_select_channels(template_type, is_scaled):
     if template.sparsity_mask is not None:
         assert np.array_equal(selected_template.sparsity_mask, template.sparsity_mask[:, selected_channel_ids_indices])
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("is_scaled", [True, False])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("template_type", ["dense"])
+def test_shm_templates(template_type, is_scaled):
+    template = generate_test_template(template_type, is_scaled)
+    shm_templates = SharedMemoryTemplates.from_templates(template)
+
+    # Verify that the channel ids match
+    assert np.array_equal(shm_templates.channel_ids, template.channel_ids)
+    # Verify that the templates data matches
+    assert np.array_equal(
+        shm_templates.templates_array, template.templates_array
+    )
+
+    if template.sparsity_mask is not None:
+        assert np.array_equal(shm_templates.sparsity_mask, template.sparsity_mask)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     # test_json_serialization("sparse")