Schema-Driven Content: From Field Definition to API Response

You add a publishedAt date field to your Article type in ContentGrid. Immediately, your REST API response includes a publishedAt ISO 8601 string. Your GraphQL schema gains a publishedAt: DateTime field. Your TypeScript SDK types update to include publishedAt: Date. One decision, three places updated automatically.

How Fields Become API Properties

ContentGrid maps each field type to a specific API output format. Text fields return strings. Number fields return integers or floats. Date fields return ISO 8601 strings. Rich text fields return structured JSON — not HTML strings — so your frontend can render them however it wants. Reference fields return the linked entry's ID by default, with an option to expand them into inline objects in a single query.

This mapping is predictable and documented, which means your TypeScript types match your API response exactly. There's no runtime surprise where a field you defined as a number comes back as a string because the CMS serialised it differently.

Field Types and Their API Shapes

• Short text: Returns a plain string. Use for titles, slugs, labels.
• Rich text: Returns a structured JSON document with node types like paragraph, heading, list. Render it with a custom renderer in your Next.js components.
• Reference (single): Returns an object with id and type, or the full entry when expanded.
• Reference (multiple): Returns an array. Use for related posts, feature lists, or navigation items.
• Boolean: Returns true or false. Use for feature flags like isFeatured or showInNav.
• JSON: Returns raw JSON. Use sparingly, for data that doesn't fit a structured type.

Validations as API Contracts

Validation rules aren't just editor guardrails — they're implicit API contracts. If you mark a field as required, the API will never return an entry where that field is null. If you set a maximum character count on a slug field, you can safely truncate display logic in your frontend knowing the value won't exceed that length. Design validations with the API consumer in mind, not just the editor experience.

From Schema to TypeScript SDK

ContentGrid's TypeScript SDK generates interfaces from your schema automatically. Run the SDK's type generation command and you get a Article interface with every field typed correctly. Your Next.js getStaticProps or server component can import that interface and get full autocomplete and compile-time checking on every API response. The schema you designed in the CMS becomes the type system your frontend depends on.