Content Engine Overview

Content Engine eliminates boilerplate for structured data. From a single TypeScript definition, it automatically generates a PostgreSQL table, Zod validation schemas, Hono CRUD endpoints, staff permissions, and AdminCP data management screens.

Quick start

1. Declare the Definition

plugins/blog/src/content/category.ts

import { defineContentType, field } from "@vitnode/core/content"

export const categoryContentType = defineContentType({
  id: "blog.category",
  tableName: "blog_categories",
  fields: {
    name: field.text({ required: true, minLength: 2, maxLength: 100 }),
    slug: field.slug({ from: "name", required: true }),
  },
})

2. Compile the Database Model

plugins/blog/src/database/categories.ts

import { createContentModel } from "@vitnode/core/content/server"
import { categoryContentType } from "../content/category"

export const categoryContent = createContentModel(categoryContentType)
export const blog_categories = categoryContent.table

3. Build & Migrate

Build and migrate

bun run build:plugins && bun run db:migrate

pnpm build:plugins && pnpm db:migrate

npm run build:plugins && npm run db:migrate

PostgreSQL now contains your table, and AdminCP screens are ready at /admin/content/blog/categories.

Generated Features

Layer	Output
Database	Drizzle schema table with foreign keys and index constraints
Validation	Strongly typed Zod schemas for create, update, and filter operations
Hono API	Complete CRUD endpoints with staff permission protection
AdminCP UI	Data table with cursor pagination, sorting, search, and AutoForm dialogs
Events	`content.{id}.created`, `content.{id}.updated`, and `content.{id}.deleted`