craft-content-modeling

# Craft CMS 5 — Content Modeling

How to structure content in Craft CMS 5. Sections, entry types, fields, Matrix,
relations, asset management, and strategic patterns for real projects.

This skill covers **content architecture** — what goes in the CP, how it's
organized, and how templates access it. For extending Craft with PHP
(plugins, modules, custom element types), see the `craftcms` skill.

## Companion Skills — Always Load Together

When this skill triggers, also load:

- **`craft-site`** — Template architecture, component patterns, routing. Required when content decisions affect how templates render data.
- **`craft-twig-guidelines`** — Twig coding standards. Required when writing any Twig examples or template code alongside content modeling.
- **`ddev`** — All commands run through DDEV. Required for running project config commands, Craft CLI, and content migrations.

## Documentation

- Entries: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/reference/element-types/entries.html
- Sections: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/reference/element-types/entries.html#sections
- Fields: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/system/fields.html
- Field types: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/reference/field-types/
- Matrix: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/reference/field-types/matrix.html
- Relations: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/system/relations.html
- Eager loading: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/development/eager-loading.html
- Project config: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/system/project-config.html

Use `WebFetch` on specific doc pages when a reference file doesn't cover enough detail.

## The Craft 5 Mental Model

**Everything is becoming an entry.** Entry types are global (shared across sections and
Matrix fields). Fields come from a global pool. This is the "entrification" of Craft — categories, tags, and globals are being unified into entries over a three-version arc:

- **Craft 4.4** — `entrify` CLI commands added to convert categories, tags, and globals to entries
- **Craft 5** — Categories, tags, and global sets are deprecated and discouraged for new projects. New category groups, tag groups, and global sets can still be created in the CP (the "New" buttons remain, gated by `allowAdminChanges`), and existing ones continue to work. A unified "Content" section replaces the fragmented entries view. Custom entry index pages (5.9.0) solve the sidebar organization concern.
- **Craft 6** — Categories, tags, and global sets will be removed entirely

For **new projects**, always use entries: Structure sections for hierarchical taxonomy, Channel sections for flat taxonomy, Singles for site-wide settings. For **existing projects**, migrate at your own pace using the `entrify` commands.

Three decisions define your content architecture:

1. **Which section type** organizes the content (Single, Channel, Structure)
2. **Which entry types** define its shape (global, reusable across contexts)
3. **Which relation strategy** connects content together (Entries fields, Matrix, CKEditor nested entries, or a combination)

## CMS Editions

Craft CMS has four editions (Solo, Team, Pro, Enterprise) that affect content modeling. The key distinction: if any section needs multiple custom user groups with per-group edit/view restrictions, you need **Pro or Enterprise** (multiple custom user groups are Pro+ only). Team includes one fixed "Team" group whose permissions are customizable for non-admins, plus a 5-user cap. See `references/users-and-permissions.md` for the full editions table and permissions architecture.

Choose the edition before modeling — it determines whether you can scope content access by user group, which affects section and field architecture.

## Section Type Decision

| Need | Section Type | URI Example |
|------|-------------|-------------|
| One-off page (homepage, about, contact) | **Single** | `__home__`, `about` |
| Site-wide settings (footer, header config) | **Single** (no URI, `preloadSingles`) | — |
| Flat collection (blog, news, events) | **Channel** | `blog/{slug}` |
| Hierarchical pages (docs, services) | **Structure** | `{parent.uri}/{slug}` |
| Taxonomy (topics, categories) | **Structure** (replaces categories) | `topics/{slug}` |
| Flat tags | **Channel** (replaces tags) | — |

### Section Properties

Beyond the type, sections have settings that matter for content architecture:

- **`maxAuthors`** (default 1) — allows multiple authors per entry (new in 5.0.0). Set higher for collaborative content.
- **`minAuthors`** (default 1, new in 5.10) — minimum number of authors required to save an entry. Set `1` to enforce that every entry has at least one author. Validated on save; setting `minAuthors > maxAuthors` is rejected by Craft's section validator. Combine with `maxAuthors` to define an exact range (`min: 1, max: 3` = "1 to 3 authors required").
- **`enableVersioning`** (default true) — version history for entries
- **`defaultPlacement`** — `'beginning'` or `'end'` for new entries in structures
- **`previewTargets`** — array of `{label, urlFormat}` objects defining where entries can be previewed. Default: primary entry page. Add custom targets for headless frontends, staging URLs, or PDF previews.

### Singles replace globals

Set `preloadSingles => true` in `config/general.php` to access singles as global
Twig variables by handle — identical to the old globals behavior but with drafts,
revisions, live preview, and scheduling.

```twig
{# With preloadSingles enabled #}
{{ siteSettings.footerText }}
{{ siteSettings.socialLinks.all() }}
```

**Caveat:** Singles always propagate to all sites. This is hard-coded.

### Structure queries for navigation

```twig
{% set topLevel = craft.entries.section('pages').level(1).all() %}
{% set children = craft.entries.descendantOf(entry).descendantDist(1).all() %}
{% set breadcrumbs = craft.entries.ancestorOf(entry).all() %}
{% set siblings = craft.entries.siblingOf(entry).all() %}
```

## Entry Types in Craft 5

Entry types are defined globally (Settings → Entry Types),