Content types in code

A content type in the config file is the same thing an editor builds under Content types in the admin, written down. Put it in contentTypes of defineConfig(), or declare it with defineContentType() and import it: the result is identical.

import { defineContentType } from '@manablox/core';

export const teaser = defineContentType({
  name: 'teaser',
  label: 'Teaser',
  kind: 'block',
  fields: [
    { name: 'headline', type: 'string', required: true },
    { name: 'body', type: 'richtext' },
    { name: 'image', type: 'asset', settings: { accept: ['image/'] } },
  ],
});

export const page = defineContentType({
  name: 'page',
  label: 'Page',
  icon: 'doc',
  hasSlug: true,
  isPublishable: true,
  fields: [
    { name: 'summary', type: 'string', settings: { editor: 'textarea', max: 300 }, localized: true },
    {
      name: 'components',
      type: 'blocks',
      settings: { types: [teaser.id] },
      admin: { zone: 'main' },
    },
    { name: 'meta_title', type: 'string', settings: { max: 60 }, admin: { zone: 'sidebar' } },
  ],
});

Type options

Option	Default	Meaning
name	required	The technical name: ^[a-z][a-z0-9_-]*$. Becomes the GraphQL type name (blog-post -> BlogPost) and the type a frontend sees. Immutable once documents exist
label	from name	What the admin shows
description, icon		icon is the symbol the admin draws for the type everywhere it appears - the tree, the lists, the pickers. It is one of the admin’s own icon names, the set the builder’s Icon picker offers - Lucide icons chosen for what a type is about (newspaper, book-open, calendar, map-pin, shopping-bag, building-2, image, video, …); a name it does not ship falls back to the default for the kind
kind	content	content lives in the tree; block only ever lives inside another document’s block field; data is a databag, flat records outside the tree
spaceId	null	null means global: available in every space. Set it to confine a code type to one space
hasSlug	true	The type has a slug and a permalink, so its documents are pages with URLs. Off for a container or a data record
isPublishable	true	Documents have a draft and a published state. Off for a type that is live as soon as it is saved
isVisibleInTree	true	Documents appear in the admin’s content tree and can be created from it
canBeVisibleInMenu	true	Documents may be added to a menu
requiresApproval	false	Documents go through review: an author who cannot publish asks, whoever can is told. Ignored when isPublishable is off
plugins		Data for plugins by plugin id, checked by each plugin when the config loads. The website plugin takes a BlockDesign on block types (plugins.website), which a designed site uses until a space stores its own. Data for a plugin that is not loaded is refused (contentType.plugin.unknown), invalid data too (contentType.plugin.invalid)
id	derived from name	Leave it out. Pinning an id ties the config to one database

A block type may not set hasSlug, isPublishable, isVisibleInTree, canBeVisibleInMenu or requiresApproval (a block is not a page), and the config refuses to load if it does (contentType.block.flagsNotAllowed). A databag type may not turn on hasSlug, isVisibleInTree or canBeVisibleInMenu (contentType.data.flagsNotAllowed); it keeps isPublishable and requiresApproval.

Every document additionally carries the built-in fields (title, slug, permalink, status, publishedAt, parentId, position, locale, createdAt, updatedAt, version), which follow the switches above. Do not declare fields with those names.

Field options

Option	Default	Meaning
name	required	Technical name, same rules as a type’s. Immutable: it is part of the GraphQL schema
label	from name	Shown in the editor
type	required	A field type’s name: string, richtext, number, boolean, date, select, asset, content, user, block, blocks, or one you added. See Field types
settings	{}	The field type’s own settings, validated by its settingsSchema
required	false	A save without a value is refused (field.required)
localized	false	Each translation keeps its own value. Off, the value is shared: saving one translation copies it to the others. See Locales and translations
unique	false	Recorded on the definition and carried through the admin’s config export; the server does not enforce it yet
readRoles	everyone	Roles that may read the field. A field with readRoles is absent from the public GraphQL schema, not present-and-null
writeRoles	everyone	Roles that may change it
admin.zone	main	main or sidebar: which column of the editor
admin.width	100	Percent of the column
admin.position	its index	Order within the zone
admin.help, admin.placeholder		Text under and inside the input

blocks and block settings name the allowed block types by id. A code-defined type’s id is derived from its name, so teaser.id above is stable across databases; a runtime type’s id is the one shown in the admin.

Fields for several types

A group of fields several types share, such as search engine fields, is either a list the config spreads into each type, or fields a plugin adds with extend to types declared in the config or by another plugin (settings of a field two plugins touch are merged). The first keeps the type’s fields in one place; the second lets a plugin bring its fields along. See Adding fields to other content types.

import { defineContentType, type FieldInput } from '@manablox/core';

const seoFields: FieldInput[] = [
  { name: 'meta_title', type: 'string', settings: { max: 60 }, admin: { zone: 'sidebar' } },
];

export const article = defineContentType({
  name: 'article',
  fields: [{ name: 'body', type: 'richtext' }, ...seoFields],
});

From the admin to code

Build the type in the admin, then let the admin write this file for you: Settings > Spaces > Transfer > The space as config renders the runtime types of a space as defineContentType calls, along with its workflows, endpoints, vault slots and templates if you tick them. What to watch for when you deploy the result is in Moving a space.