Quickstart Next.js

  1. Install required packages:

    We have to install the following packages:

    • @content-collections/core
    • @content-collections/next
    pnpm add --save-dev @content-collections/core @content-collections/next
    
  2. Adjust your tsconfig.json:

    {
      "compilerOptions": {
        // ...
        "paths": {
          "@/*": ["./*"],
          "content-collections": ["./.content-collections/generated"]
        }
      }
    }
    

    We require a path alias for the generated files. This is necessary because we will generate the files in the .content-collections/generated folder.

  3. Modify your next.config.js:

    const { withContentCollections } = require("@content-collections/next");
    
    /** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
    const nextConfig = {
       // your next.js config
    };
    
    module.exports = withContentCollections(nextConfig);
    

    This will add content collections to the build of your next.js app. For more details on the Next.js adapter, refer to the documentation.

  4. Create a content-collections.ts file at the root of your project:

    import { defineCollection, defineConfig } from "@content-collections/core";
    
    const posts = defineCollection({
      name: "posts",
      directory: "src/posts",
      include: "**/*.md",
      schema: (z) => ({
        title: z.string(),
        summary: z.string(),
      }),
    });
    
    export default defineConfig({
      collections: [posts],
    });
    

    This file defines a collection named posts in the src/posts folder. The collection will include all markdown files (**/*.md) and the schema will validate the title and summary fields.

    For more information about the configuration have a look at the documentation.

  5. Create your content files (e.g.: src/posts/hello-world.md):

    ---
    title: "Hello world"
    summary: "This is my first post!"
    ---
    
    # Hello world
    
    This is my first post!
    ... rest of the content
    

    You can create unlimited content files. These files will be validated against the schema defined in the content-collections.ts file. If the files are valid, they will be automatically added to the posts collection.

  6. Usage in your code:

    import { allPosts } from "content-collections";
    
    export function Posts() {
      return (
        <ul>
          {allPosts.map((post) => (
            <li key={post._meta.path}>
              <a href={`/posts/${post._meta.path}`}>
                <h3>{post.title}</h3>
                <p>{post.summary}</p>
              </a>
            </li>
          ))}
        </ul>
      );
    }
    

    Now you can just import the allPosts collection and use it in your code. The allPosts collection will contain all posts that are valid. The post object will contain the title, summary and content fields as well as some meta information in the _meta field.