Is it possible to do a path boolean operation, such as union/difference/intersection without having both paths deleted?

I quite often want to use a template for cutting, and reuse it for many different elements. But each time I do an operation the template is removed.

NOTE: if there's a way to apply a path op to many objects at once I'd use that instead. Or a way to bake a clipped group.

While there are the LPE "Boolean Operation" and an available extension called "Multiple Boolean Operations with Inx Pathops" I highly recommend to simply duplicate your objects before applying Boolean operations.