Collections

A collection is a group of entries that share the same shape — for example, “Blog Posts,” “Products,” or “Team Members.” Each collection has a single schema (its fields) and lives in a single directory on disk. Most sites need three to ten collections; some need only one. This page covers what a collection is, the ways to create one, naming and format conventions, references between collections, and ready-to-use patterns for common content types.

What’s in a Collection?

Every collection in your manifest has:

An id — the stable identifier (blog, products, case-studies)
A name — the human label shown in the CMS panel
A path — where entries live on disk (content/blog/)
A format — mdx (frontmatter + body) or json (structured data only)
Fields — the schema each entry must conform to
An optional routePattern — the URL each entry maps to
An optional defaultSort for the entries table
An optional group — collections sharing a group label cluster together in the collections rail

Each entry in the collection becomes one file in the directory.

Creating a Collection

There are three paths. Pick whichever matches your comfort level.

Presets (fastest)
Ask the AI
Build it visually

Open the CMS panel, click Manage collections (the gear at the bottom of the collections rail), then New collection. The chooser opens with Start with a preset — one-click bundles for the most common content types:

Blog — posts plus an Authors collection, wired together with a reference
Products — a catalog plus a Categories collection
Team Members, Testimonials, FAQs, Case Studies

Presets that use references bundle their target collection in the same click (Authors lands before Blog Posts), so everything resolves immediately. Every preset’s primary collection ships with status and publishAt fields, so publishing and scheduling work from day one. After a preset lands, the panel offers to have the AI generate pages for the new collection.

In the AI chat:

Add a "case-studies" collection. Each entry should have a title,
client name, problem, solution, hero image, and a long-form body.
Route them at /case-studies/{slug}.

The AI will:

Read your existing manifest
Propose the collection schema (fields, format, route)
Confirm with you
Save the manifest update
Optionally create a seed entry so the collection isn’t empty

See Add a New Collection for the full step-by-step.

From the same New collection flow, skip the presets and define the schema field by field:

Pick each field’s type and settings in a dedicated panel — label, help text, required, defaults, validation
Drag fields to reorder them; the form editor follows the order
Nest sub-fields inside object and repeater (array of object) fields, up to four levels deep
Validation runs as you type — problems are flagged inline before anything saves

Prefer raw JSON? Open hiveku.cms.json in the code editor and edit it directly, following the manifest schema. The CMS panel reloads and validates on save.

Naming Conventions

A few rules to keep things consistent across collections:

id — lowercase, hyphenated, singular when ambiguous. Good: blog, case-studies, team. Avoid: blog_posts, BlogPosts, posts (too generic).
name — Title Case, plural. Good: Blog Posts, Case Studies, Team Members.
path — content/<id> or content/<plural>. Whichever you pick, be consistent across the manifest.
Field name — camelCase. Good: publishAt, heroImage, seoTitle. Avoid: published_at, Hero-Image.

Format: MDX vs JSON

Pick mdx when entries have a substantial long-form body and you want Markdown features (headings, embeds, components) in that body. Pick json for purely structured data.

Use MDX for…	Use JSON for…
Blog posts	Testimonials
Case studies	FAQs
Documentation pages	Products
Long-form essays	Team members
Tutorials	Pricing tiers
Newsletters	Site settings

MDX collections require exactly one field with isBody: true. JSON collections must not have any. The visual builder catches this for you; if you hand-edit the manifest, the validator will too.

You can mix formats in one project — most real sites have one or two MDX collections (blog, docs) and several JSON collections (products, testimonials, FAQs).

References Between Collections

A reference field lets one collection point at another. Common patterns:

A blog post references an entry in authors
A product references an entry in categories
A blog post references related entries in blog itself (self-reference is allowed)

In the manifest:

{
  "name": "author",
  "type": "reference",
  "referenceCollection": "authors",
  "required": true
}

In the CMS panel, this renders as a searchable picker. On disk, the value is the referenced entry’s slug. For a list of references, use "type": "array", "items": "reference" with itemReferenceCollection — see Field Types. The entry editor also shows the reverse view: a Referenced by list of every entry pointing at the one you have open. See Linking Collections with References for examples of rendering referenced data on the page.

Reusable Patterns

These are the same schemas the collection presets create — shown here in full so you can adapt them by hand or feed them to the AI. All of them pass manifest validation verbatim. The status and publishAt fields appear on each routed pattern deliberately: they’re the conventional publish signals that drive the Draft / Published / Scheduled badges and scheduled publishing.

Blog

Pairs with an authors collection (name, role, bio, avatar) that the reference points at.

{
  "id": "blog",
  "name": "Blog Posts",
  "path": "content/blog",
  "format": "mdx",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "group": "Blog",
  "routePattern": "/blog/{slug}",
  "defaultSort": "publishAt desc",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "title", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "excerpt", "type": "string", "validation": { "maxLength": 280 } },
    { "name": "publishAt", "type": "date", "label": "Publish at" },
    { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" },
    { "name": "author", "type": "reference", "referenceCollection": "authors", "required": true },
    { "name": "heroImage", "type": "image", "label": "Hero image" },
    { "name": "tags", "type": "array", "items": "string" },
    { "name": "body", "type": "markdown", "isBody": true }
  ]
}

Products (catalog)

Pairs with a categories collection (name, description).

{
  "id": "products",
  "name": "Products",
  "path": "content/products",
  "format": "json",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "group": "Catalog",
  "routePattern": "/products/{slug}",
  "defaultSort": "name asc",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "sku", "type": "string", "required": true, "label": "SKU" },
    { "name": "price", "type": "number", "required": true, "validation": { "min": 0 } },
    { "name": "currency", "type": "select", "options": ["USD", "EUR", "GBP"], "default": "USD" },
    { "name": "inStock", "type": "boolean", "label": "In stock", "default": true },
    { "name": "images", "type": "array", "items": "image" },
    { "name": "shortDescription", "type": "string", "validation": { "maxLength": 280 } },
    { "name": "longDescription", "type": "markdown" },
    { "name": "category", "type": "reference", "referenceCollection": "categories" },
    { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" },
    { "name": "publishAt", "type": "date", "label": "Publish at" }
  ]
}

Team Members

{
  "id": "team",
  "name": "Team Members",
  "path": "content/team",
  "format": "json",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "routePattern": "/team/{slug}",
  "defaultSort": "order asc",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "title", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "bio", "type": "markdown" },
    { "name": "photo", "type": "image" },
    { "name": "email", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "linkedin", "type": "url", "label": "LinkedIn" },
    { "name": "twitter", "type": "url" },
    { "name": "order", "type": "number", "default": 0 },
    { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" }
  ]
}

Testimonials

No routePattern — testimonials render inside other pages, not on their own URLs.

{
  "id": "testimonials",
  "name": "Testimonials",
  "path": "content/testimonials",
  "format": "json",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "defaultSort": "featured desc",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "company", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "role", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "quote", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "avatar", "type": "image" },
    { "name": "featured", "type": "boolean", "default": false },
    { "name": "rating", "type": "number", "validation": { "min": 1, "max": 5 } },
    { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" }
  ]
}

FAQs

{
  "id": "faqs",
  "name": "FAQs",
  "path": "content/faqs",
  "format": "json",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "defaultSort": "category asc",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "question", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "answer", "type": "markdown", "required": true },
    { "name": "category", "type": "select", "options": ["billing", "technical", "general"], "default": "general" },
    { "name": "order", "type": "number", "default": 0 },
    { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" }
  ]
}

Case Studies

Shows a repeater field (metrics — an array of objects).

{
  "id": "case-studies",
  "name": "Case Studies",
  "path": "content/case-studies",
  "format": "mdx",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "routePattern": "/case-studies/{slug}",
  "defaultSort": "publishAt desc",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "title", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "client", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "industry", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "summary", "type": "string", "validation": { "maxLength": 320 } },
    { "name": "heroImage", "type": "image", "label": "Hero image" },
    { "name": "metrics", "type": "array", "items": "object", "fields": [
        { "name": "label", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "value", "type": "string", "required": true }
    ] },
    { "name": "publishAt", "type": "date", "label": "Publish at" },
    { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" },
    { "name": "body", "type": "markdown", "isBody": true }
  ]
}

Site Settings (one entry)

For site-wide values, make a small collection and keep a single entry in it. Give it a group so it files under “Settings” in the rail.

{
  "id": "site-settings",
  "name": "Site Settings",
  "path": "content/site-settings",
  "format": "json",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "group": "Settings",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "siteName", "type": "string", "required": true },
    { "name": "tagline", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "logo", "type": "image" },
    { "name": "primaryColor", "type": "color" },
    { "name": "footerText", "type": "markdown" },
    { "name": "socialLinks", "type": "object", "fields": [
        { "name": "twitter", "type": "url" },
        { "name": "linkedin", "type": "url" },
        { "name": "github", "type": "url" }
    ] }
  ]
}

Editing a Collection’s Schema

You can edit an existing collection’s schema at any time from Manage collections — each field opens in a settings panel, and drag-to-reorder works on existing collections too:

Add a field — safe. Existing entries get the new field’s default; the form shows it on next open.
Remove a field — safe but lossy. The data stays in the file; re-adding a field with the same name restores the editor.
Rename a field — invasive. Old data is orphaned. Ask the AI to write a migration if you have many entries.
Change a field’s type — risky. Some types are convertible (string to markdown); most aren’t. Test on a draft entry first.

Every manifest edit is captured in version history, so you can always roll a schema change back.

What’s Next?

Add a Collection

The step-by-step for all three paths

Field Types

Every supported field type

References

Link collections with reference fields

Migrate to CMS

Move hardcoded content into CMS collections

Get Started

AI Assistant

Code Editor

Design Studio

CMS

Email Marketing

Social Media

Advertising

Marketing Delivery

Commerce

Calendar

Communications

Sales

Publishing

Native Mobile

Email

Integrations

How-Tos

Account & Settings

Partners

What’s in a Collection?

Creating a Collection

Naming Conventions

Format: MDX vs JSON

References Between Collections

Reusable Patterns

Blog

Products (catalog)

Team Members

Testimonials

FAQs

Case Studies

Site Settings (one entry)

Editing a Collection’s Schema

What’s Next?

Add a Collection

Field Types

References

Migrate to CMS

​What’s in a Collection?

​Creating a Collection

​Naming Conventions

​Format: MDX vs JSON

​References Between Collections

​Reusable Patterns

​Blog

​Products (catalog)

​Team Members

​Testimonials

​FAQs

​Case Studies

​Site Settings (one entry)

​Editing a Collection’s Schema

​What’s Next?

Add a Collection

Field Types

References

Migrate to CMS

What’s in a Collection?

Creating a Collection

Naming Conventions

Format: MDX vs JSON

References Between Collections

Reusable Patterns

Blog

Products (catalog)

Team Members

Testimonials

FAQs

Case Studies

Site Settings (one entry)

Editing a Collection’s Schema

What’s Next?