The Manifest (hiveku.cms.json)

The manifest is a single JSON file at your project root that declares every collection in your CMS. It’s the source of truth for collection IDs, field schemas, on-disk paths, URL routes, and webhooks. The CMS panel reads this file to render forms; your build reads it to find entries; the AI reads it to know what’s editable.

The manifest is just a file in your repo — hiveku.cms.json at the root. You can edit it from the CMS panel’s Collection Manager, ask the AI to update it, or open it directly in the code editor.

File Location

your-project/
├── hiveku.cms.json        ← the manifest
├── content/
│   ├── blog/              ← entries for the "blog" collection
│   ├── authors/
│   └── products/
├── app/
└── package.json

The manifest must be at the repo root and named exactly hiveku.cms.json. The CMS panel won’t pick it up from a subdirectory.

Top-Level Schema

{
  "version": 1,
  "collections": [...],
  "webhooks": []
}

Key	Type	Required	Description
`version`	number	Yes	Schema version. Always `1` for the current format. Bumped if a future release introduces breaking changes.
`collections`	array	Yes	The list of collections. Order doesn’t affect behavior but does affect display order in the CMS panel’s collections rail.
`webhooks`	array	No	Outbound webhooks fired when entries change. Leave as `[]` if not used.
`locales`	array	No	Project-wide locale declarations (`{ "code": "en", "label": "English", "default": true }`). With two or more locales, collections that set `localized: true` get per-locale entry variants and a locale tab strip in the editor.

Per-Collection Schema

Each entry in collections looks like:

{
  "id": "blog",
  "name": "Blog Posts",
  "path": "content/blog",
  "format": "mdx",
  "slugFrom": "filename",
  "fields": [...],
  "routePattern": "/blog/{slug}",
  "defaultSort": "publishedAt desc"
}

Key	Type	Required	Description
`id`	string	Yes	Stable identifier used in references, AI tools, and API URLs. Lowercase, valid identifier characters only. Must be unique across the manifest.
`name`	string	Yes	Human-readable label shown in the CMS panel’s collections rail.
`path`	string	Yes	Directory (relative to repo root) where entries are stored. By convention `content/<id>` or `content/<plural-id>`.
`format`	`"mdx"` or `"json"`	Yes	Storage format. `mdx` for content with a long-form body, `json` for purely structured data.
`slugFrom`	`"filename"`	Yes	How the slug is derived. `"filename"` — the file’s basename — is the only supported strategy.
`fields`	array	Yes	Field definitions. See Field Types.
`routePattern`	string	No	URL pattern for the rendered page. Leave off for collections that aren’t directly routed. See below.
`defaultSort`	string	No	Default sort for the entry list, e.g. `"publishedAt desc"`, `"title asc"`. Defaults to most-recently-saved.
`group`	string	No	Grouping label for the collections rail — collections sharing a `group` cluster under one header. Purely organizational.

Route Patterns

routePattern supports four placeholder shapes:

{slug} — the entry’s slug, as-is: /blog/{slug}
{field:fieldName} — a slugified field value; the pattern fails to resolve if the field is empty
{field:fieldName?} — same, but the path segment collapses when the field is empty
{ref:fieldName.subField} — walk a reference chain across collections and slugify the deepest field, e.g. /{ref:service.city.state}/{ref:service.city}/{slug}

The CMS panel uses the pattern for the entry’s Open on the preview site link and the URL column in the entries table.

Validation Rules

The CMS panel and the AI tools validate the manifest before saving. Common rules:

Unique id per collection — two collections can’t share an ID.
Valid identifiers — id should match [a-z][a-z0-9-]*. Lowercase, no spaces, hyphens allowed.
Path must be a relative directory — no absolute paths, no .. traversal.
Exactly one isBody: true field per MDX collection — the body slot is required for MDX format. JSON collections must not have any isBody fields.
Field names are unique within a collection — no duplicate name values inside a single collection’s fields array.
References point at real collection IDs — a reference field’s referenceCollection value must match another collection’s id in the same manifest.
Nested fields cap at four levels — object and array-of-object fields can nest sub-fields up to four levels deep.

If validation fails when saving from the CMS panel, the save is rejected with a list of errors. The Collection Manager surfaces them inline next to the offending field.

Full Example

Here’s a manifest covering a real site with blog posts, authors, products, and testimonials:

{
  "version": 1,
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "authors",
      "name": "Authors",
      "path": "content/authors",
      "format": "json",
      "slugFrom": "filename",
      "fields": [
        { "name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "bio", "type": "markdown" },
        { "name": "avatar", "type": "image" },
        { "name": "twitter", "type": "url" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "blog",
      "name": "Blog Posts",
      "path": "content/blog",
      "format": "mdx",
      "slugFrom": "filename",
      "fields": [
        { "name": "title", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "excerpt", "type": "string" },
        { "name": "publishedAt", "type": "date", "required": true },
        { "name": "status", "type": "select", "options": ["draft", "published"], "default": "draft" },
        { "name": "publishAt", "type": "date", "help": "Optional: published entries stay hidden until this date passes." },
        { "name": "author", "type": "reference", "referenceCollection": "authors", "required": true },
        { "name": "heroImage", "type": "image" },
        { "name": "tags", "type": "array", "items": "string" },
        { "name": "body", "type": "markdown", "isBody": true }
      ],
      "routePattern": "/blog/{slug}",
      "defaultSort": "publishedAt desc"
    },
    {
      "id": "products",
      "name": "Products",
      "path": "content/products",
      "format": "json",
      "slugFrom": "filename",
      "fields": [
        { "name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "sku", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "price", "type": "number", "required": true },
        { "name": "currency", "type": "select", "options": ["USD", "EUR", "GBP"], "default": "USD" },
        { "name": "inStock", "type": "boolean", "default": true },
        { "name": "images", "type": "array", "items": "image" },
        { "name": "description", "type": "markdown" },
        { "name": "category", "type": "string" }
      ],
      "routePattern": "/products/{slug}",
      "defaultSort": "name asc"
    },
    {
      "id": "testimonials",
      "name": "Testimonials",
      "path": "content/testimonials",
      "format": "json",
      "slugFrom": "filename",
      "fields": [
        { "name": "name", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "company", "type": "string" },
        { "name": "quote", "type": "string", "required": true },
        { "name": "avatar", "type": "image" },
        { "name": "featured", "type": "boolean", "default": false }
      ]
    },
    {
      "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" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "webhooks": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/hooks/cms-changed",
      "events": ["save", "delete"],
      "collections": ["blog", "products"]
    }
  ]
}

Webhooks

Webhooks fire when CMS entries change. Each webhook entry takes:

Key	Type	Description
`url`	string	The endpoint to POST to
`events`	array	Subset of `save` and `delete`. Omit for both
`collections`	array	Which collection IDs to listen to. Omit for all
`secret`	string	Optional shared secret; when set, requests include an `X-Hiveku-Cms-Signature` header (HMAC-SHA256 of the body)

Deliveries are best-effort and never block a save — a webhook endpoint that’s down doesn’t stop your content from saving.

Editing the Manifest

From the AI
From the CMS Panel
From the Code Editor

Just describe what you want:

Add a "case-studies" collection with title, client, summary,
body, and a hero image. Route it at /case-studies/{slug}.

The AI reads the manifest, proposes the addition, and saves it after you confirm.

Open hiveku.cms.json in the file tree and edit it as JSON. Save — the CMS panel reloads and validates. Invalid manifests show an error banner with the offending field.

Versioning

Every edit to hiveku.cms.json is versioned the same way as any other file in your project. Open the version history for the manifest from the code editor to roll back schema changes.

Removing a field from the manifest doesn’t delete data from existing entries — the data stays in the file but won’t show in the form. Re-adding a field with the same name restores the editor for that data. Renaming a field, however, orphans the old data; ask the AI to write a migration if you need to rename safely.

What’s Next?

Field Types

Every supported field type with examples

Collections

Naming, format choice, and reusable patterns

Add a Collection

Three ways to add a new collection

Initialize Your CMS

Scaffold a manifest from scratch

Get Started

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The Manifest (hiveku.cms.json)

File Location

Top-Level Schema

Per-Collection Schema

Route Patterns

Validation Rules

Full Example

Webhooks

Editing the Manifest

Versioning

What’s Next?

Field Types

Collections

Add a Collection

Initialize Your CMS

​File Location

​Top-Level Schema

​Per-Collection Schema

​Route Patterns

​Validation Rules

​Full Example

​Webhooks

​Editing the Manifest

​Versioning

​What’s Next?

Field Types

Collections

Add a Collection

Initialize Your CMS

File Location

Top-Level Schema

Per-Collection Schema

Route Patterns

Validation Rules

Full Example

Webhooks

Editing the Manifest

Versioning

What’s Next?