Database & Migrations

Content Engine content types compile directly into standard PostgreSQL database tables via Drizzle ORM.

Prerequisites & Context

Before setting up database tables, you must have a content type definition (e.g. articleContentType) created using defineContentType in src/content/article.ts:

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

// 1. Client-safe definition (imported by both API and AdminCP)
export const articleContentType = defineContentType({
  id: 'example.article',
  tableName: 'example_articles',
  fields: {
    title: field.text({ required: true }),
    code: field.text({ required: true }),
  },
})

• createContentModel(definition, options): A backend utility from @vitnode/core/content/server that converts a client-safe content definition into a server-side Drizzle ORM model.
• articleContent: The compiled model object containing .table (raw Drizzle table), .service(c) (CRUD helper), and .schemas (Zod schemas).

Step-by-Step Database Setup

import { createContentModel } from '@vitnode/core/content/server'
import { articleContentType } from '@/content/article'
import { example_categories } from './categories'

// Compile client definition into a server Drizzle model
export const articleContent = createContentModel(articleContentType, {
  references: {
    category: () => example_categories.id,
  },
})

// Export raw Drizzle tables for migration discovery
export const example_articles = articleContent.table

// When localization is enabled, export the translation table
export const example_articles_translations = articleContent.translationTable

// When to-many relations or repeatables are used, export junction and child tables
export const example_articles_categories =
  articleContent.advancedTables.junctions.categories
export const example_articles_faq =
  articleContent.advancedTables.repeatables.faqItems

export const articleContentType = defineContentType({
  id: 'example.article',
  tableName: 'example_articles',
  fields: {
    title: field.text({ required: true }),
    code: field.text({ required: true }),
    status: field.enum({ values: ['draft', 'published'] }),
  },
  indexes: [
    { on: ['status', 'createdAt'] }, // Composite index
    { on: ['code'], unique: true }, // Unique constraint
  ], 
})

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

Automatic System Columns

When createContentModel compiles a model, it automatically includes standard system columns on the base table:

If publication is enabled, status (varchar(32)) and publishedAt (timestamp) columns are added.
If editorial is enabled, a version (integer) column is added for optimistic concurrency control.

When localization is enabled, the secondary translation table ({tableName}_translations) carries its own system columns: