Collections & Fields

A collection is a content type (posts, pages, products). Its field definitions set the shape of each entry’s data.

Creating collections

Create collections through the admin panel under Content Types. Each collection has the following properties:

Collection features

When creating a collection, enable the features you need:

The following collection enables all four features:

{
  slug: "posts",
  label: "Blog Posts",
  labelSingular: "Post",
  supports: ["drafts", "revisions", "preview", "scheduling"]
}

Field types

EmDash supports 16 field types that map to SQLite column types.

Text fields

{ slug: "title", type: "string", label: "Title" }

{ slug: "excerpt", type: "text", label: "Excerpt" }

{ slug: "handle", type: "slug", label: "URL Handle" }

Rich content

{ slug: "content", type: "portableText", label: "Content" }

{ slug: "metadata", type: "json", label: "Custom Metadata" }

Numbers

{ slug: "price", type: "number", label: "Price" }

{ slug: "quantity", type: "integer", label: "Stock Quantity" }

Booleans and dates

{ slug: "featured", type: "boolean", label: "Featured Post" }

{ slug: "eventDate", type: "datetime", label: "Event Date" }

Selection

{
  slug: "status",
  type: "select",
  label: "Product Status",
  validation: {
    options: ["active", "discontinued", "coming_soon"]
  }
}

{
  slug: "features",
  type: "multiSelect",
  label: "Product Features",
  validation: {
    options: ["wireless", "waterproof", "eco-friendly"]
  }
}

Media and references

{ slug: "featuredImage", type: "image", label: "Featured Image" }

{ slug: "attachment", type: "file", label: "PDF Attachment" }

{
  slug: "author",
  type: "reference",
  label: "Author",
  options: {
    collection: "authors"
  }
}

Field properties

Every field supports these properties:

Validation rules

The validation object varies by field type. Its full shape is:

interface FieldValidation {
	required?: boolean; // All types
	min?: number; // number, integer
	max?: number; // number, integer
	minLength?: number; // string, text
	maxLength?: number; // string, text
	pattern?: string; // string (regex)
	options?: string[]; // select, multiSelect
}

The following field requires a unique, pattern-matched email address:

{
  slug: "email",
  type: "string",
  label: "Email Address",
  required: true,
  unique: true,
  validation: {
    pattern: "^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$"
  }
}

Widget options

The options object configures field-specific UI behavior. Its full shape is:

interface FieldWidgetOptions {
	rows?: number; // text (textarea rows)
	showPreview?: boolean; // image, file
	collection?: string; // reference (target collection)
	allowMultiple?: boolean; // reference (multiple refs)
	[key: string]: unknown; // Custom widget options
}

The following reference field links to multiple products:

{
  slug: "relatedProducts",
  type: "reference",
  label: "Related Products",
  options: {
    collection: "products",
    allowMultiple: true
  }
}

Querying collections

Use the provided query functions to fetch content. These follow Astro’s live collections pattern, returning structured results. The following example shows the common query options:

import { getEmDashCollection, getEmDashEntry } from "emdash";

// Get all entries - returns { entries, error }
const { entries: posts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts");

// Filter by status
const { entries: drafts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
	status: "draft",
});

// Limit results
const { entries: recent } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
	limit: 5,
});

// Filter by taxonomy
const { entries: newsPosts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
	where: { category: "news" },
});

// Get a single entry by slug - returns { entry, error, isPreview }
const { entry: post } = await getEmDashEntry("posts", "my-post-slug");

// Handle errors
const { entries, error } = await getEmDashCollection("posts");
if (error) {
	console.error("Failed to load posts:", error);
}

Type generation

Run npx emdash types to generate TypeScript types from your schema. The generated file contains one interface per collection:

export interface Post {
	title: string;
	content: PortableTextBlock[];
	excerpt?: string;
	featuredImage?: string;
	author: string; // reference ID
}

export interface Product {
	title: string;
	price: number;
	description: PortableTextBlock[];
}

Database mapping

Field types map to SQLite column types as follows:

Next steps