---
name: Building EmDash Site
slug: building-emdash-site
category: Frontend
description: Building EmDash Site helps you build and customize EmDash CMS sites on Astro. Use it for pages, collections, seed files, Portable Text, menus, taxonomies, widgets, deployment, and other site tasks.
github: "https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash/tree/main/templates/marketing/.agents/skills/building-emdash-site"
language: TypeScript
stars: 11579
forks: 1083
install: "npx degit https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash/tree/main/templates/marketing/.agents/skills/building-emdash-site ~/.claude/skills/building-emdash-site"
installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/building-emdash-site
source_path: templates/marketing/.agents/skills/building-emdash-site/SKILL.md
collection_size: 25
category_size: 567
collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/emdash-cms/emdash"
added: 2026-08-12T04:42:42.304Z
last_synced: 2026-08-12T04:42:42.304Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/building-emdash-site"
---

# Building EmDash Site

Building EmDash Site helps you build and customize EmDash CMS sites on Astro. Use it for pages, collections, seed files, Portable Text, menus, taxonomies, widgets, deployment, and other site tasks.

**Install:**

```bash
npx degit https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash/tree/main/templates/marketing/.agents/skills/building-emdash-site ~/.claude/skills/building-emdash-site
```

## README

# Building an EmDash Site

EmDash is a CMS built on Astro. It stores schema in the database (not in code), serves content via live content collections, and provides a full admin UI at `/_emdash/admin`. Sites are standard Astro projects with the `emdash` integration.

## Common Gotchas

These are the things that silently break sites. Know them before you start.

1. **Image fields are objects, not strings.** `post.data.featured_image` is `{ id, src, alt }`. Writing `<img src={post.data.featured_image} />` renders `[object Object]`. Use `<Image image={post.data.featured_image} />` from `"emdash/ui"`.

2. **`entry.id` vs `entry.data.id` are different things.** `entry.id` is the slug (use in URLs). `entry.data.id` is the database ULID (use for `getEntryTerms`, `Comments`, and other API calls that need the real ID). Mixing them up causes silent empty results.

3. **Taxonomy names must match the seed exactly.** If your seed defines `"name": "category"`, you must query `getTerm("category", slug)` -- not `"categories"`. Wrong name = empty results, no error.

4. **Always pass `cacheHint` to `Astro.cache.set()`.** Every query returns a `cacheHint`. Call `Astro.cache.set(cacheHint)` on every page that queries content, or cache invalidation won't work when editors publish changes.

5. **No `getStaticPaths` for CMS content.** EmDash content is dynamic. Pages must be server-rendered (`output: "server"` in `astro.config.mjs`).

## File Structure

Every EmDash site has these key files:

```
my-site/
├── astro.config.mjs          # Astro config with emdash() integration
├── src/
│   ├── live.config.ts         # EmDash loader registration (boilerplate)
│   ├── pages/                 # Astro pages (all server-rendered)
│   ├── layouts/               # Layout components
│   └── components/            # Reusable components
├── seed/
│   └── seed.json              # Schema + demo content
├── emdash-env.d.ts          # Generated types (from `emdash types`)
└── package.json
```

## Workflow

### 1. Configure the project

Read **[references/configuration.md](references/configuration.md)** for `astro.config.mjs`, `live.config.ts`, deployment targets (Node vs Cloudflare), and type generation.

### 2. Design the schema

Read **[references/schema-and-seed.md](references/schema-and-seed.md)** for collection definitions, field types, taxonomies, menus, widget areas, sections, bylines, and the complete seed file format.

### 3. Build the pages

Read **[references/querying-and-rendering.md](references/querying-and-rendering.md)** for content queries, Portable Text rendering, the Image component, visual editing attributes, caching, and common page patterns (list, detail, taxonomy archive, RSS, search, 404).

### 4. Wire up site features

Read **[references/site-features.md](references/site-features.md)** for site settings, navigation menus, taxonomies, widget areas, search, SEO meta, comments, and page contributions.

### 5. Create the seed file

Write `seed/seed.json` with collections, fields, taxonomies, menus, widgets, and sample content.

### 6. Run and verify

```bash
pnpm dev                # Start the Astro dev server
```

The runtime runs pending migrations on the first request and applies the bundled seed when the database is empty and setup has not been completed. The Astro integration generates `emdash-env.d.ts` when the server starts. The admin UI is at `http://localhost:4321/_emdash/admin`.

## Quick API Cheat Sheet

```typescript
// Content (entries have .data.byline and .data.bylines eagerly loaded)
import { getEmDashCollection, getEmDashEntry } from "emdash";
const { entries, nextCursor, cacheHint } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
	limit: 10,
	cursor,
	orderBy: { published_at: "desc" },
});
const { entry: post, cacheHint } = await getEmDashEntry("posts", slug);

// Site features
import {
	getSiteSettings,
	getMenu,
	getTaxonomyTerms,
	getTerm,
	getEntryTerms,
	getEntriesByTerm,
	getWidgetArea,
	search,
	getSection,
	getSeoMeta,
} from "emdash";

// Bylines (standalone queries -- usually not needed since entries have bylines attached)
import { getByline, getBylineBySlug } from "emdash";

// UI components
import {
	PortableText,
	Image,
	WidgetArea,
	EmDashHead,
	EmDashBodyStart,
	EmDashBodyEnd,
} from "emdash/ui";
import { Comments, CommentForm } from "emdash/ui/comments";
import LiveSearch from "emdash/ui/search";

// Page context (for plugin contributions)
import { createPublicPageContext } from "emdash/page";
```

## Plugins

EmDash supports plugins for extending the CMS with hooks, storage, settings, admin UI, API routes, and custom Portable Text block types. Consider a plugin when you need to:

- React to content lifecycle events (e.g., send a notification on publish, sync to an external service)
- Add custom admin pages or dashboard widgets
- Add custom block types to the Portable Text editor (e.g., embedded maps, code playgrounds, CTAs)
- Provide a reusable service (e.g., analytics, forms, comments via a third-party provider)

Plugins are registered in `astro.config.mjs`:

```javascript
emdash({
	database: sqlite({ url: "file:./data.db" }),
	storage: local({ directory: "./uploads", baseUrl: "/_emdash/api/media/file" }),
	plugins: [myPlugin()],
}),
```

**To build a plugin, load the `creating-plugins` skill** (in `.agents/skills/creating-plugins/`). It covers plugin anatomy, hooks, storage, admin UI, API routes, Portable Text blocks, capabilities, and the full `definePlugin()` API.

## Reference Documents

| File                                                                         | Contents                                                            |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [references/configuration.md](references/configuration.md)                   | Project setup, astro.config, live.config, deployment, types         |
| [references/schema-and-seed.md](references/schema-and-seed.md)               | Collections, fields, taxonomies, menus, widgets, seed format        |
| [references/querying-and-rendering.md](references/querying-and-rendering.md) | Content APIs, PortableText, Image, caching, page patterns           |
| [references/site-features.md](references/site-features.md)                   | Settings, menus, widgets, search, SEO, comments, page contributions |