@contentrain/types

@contentrain/types

Shared TypeScript types for the Contentrain ecosystem.

Start here:

• 2-minute product demo
• Config and format reference

This package is the common schema layer used by:

• @contentrain/mcp
• contentrain
• @contentrain/query
• @contentrain/rules

It defines the stable type vocabulary for models, config, metadata, validation, scanning, context files, and provider contracts (enabling third-party RepoProvider implementations).

When To Use It

Use @contentrain/types when you are:

• building tooling on top of Contentrain packages
• sharing model/config types between packages in a workspace
• authoring framework integrations or SDK extensions
• consuming Contentrain JSON structures directly in TypeScript
• implementing a custom RepoProvider for a new git backend

Install

pnpm add @contentrain/types

What It Exports

Core unions:

• FieldType
• ModelKind
• ContentStatus
• ContentSource
• WorkflowMode
• StackType
• Platform
• ContextSource
• CollectionRuntimeFormat
• LocaleStrategy

Core interfaces:

• FieldDef
• ModelDefinition
• ModelSummary
• ContentrainConfig
• Vocabulary
• EntryMeta
• AssetEntry
• ValidationError
• ValidationResult
• ScaffoldTemplate
• ScanCandidate
• DuplicateGroup
• GraphNode
• ProjectGraph
• ScanCandidatesResult
• ScanSummaryResult
• ContextJson

Execution/approval unions (see Execution and approval contracts):

• RiskClass
• ApprovalGate
• GrantRejection
• ApprovalMode
• RunStatus
• ScheduleKind
• SourceDeltaOp

Storage/runtime helper types:

• SingletonContentFile
• CollectionContentFile
• DictionaryContentFile
• CollectionEntry
• CollectionContentOutput
• DocumentEntry
• DocumentContentOutput
• SingletonMeta
• CollectionMeta
• DocumentMeta
• DictionaryMeta

Normalize/plan types:

• NormalizePlan
• NormalizePlanModel
• NormalizePlanExtraction
• NormalizePlanPatch

Provider contracts (re-exported from provider.ts — implement these to add a new git backend):

• RepoProvider
• RepoReader
• RepoWriter
• ProviderCapabilities
• FileChange
• CommitAuthor
• Commit
• ApplyPlanInput
• Branch
• FileDiff
• MergeResult (includes optional sync?: SyncResult for local-worktree providers)
• LOCAL_CAPABILITIES (const — capability set for LocalProvider)

Git transaction types:

• SyncResult
• ContentrainError

Validate functions (pure, dependency-free):

• validateSlug(slug) — kebab-case slug validation
• validateEntryId(id) — entry ID format validation
• validateLocale(locale, config) — locale format + config support check
• detectSecrets(value) — detect potential secrets in field values (provider-shaped patterns, plus an api_key = … assignment whose tail passes looksLikeCredential)
• validateFieldValue(value, fieldDef) — full field schema validation (type, required, min/max, pattern, select)

Serialize functions (pure, dependency-free):

• sortKeys(obj, fieldOrder?) — recursive key sorting for canonical output
• canonicalStringify(data, fieldOrder?) — deterministic JSON serialization
• generateEntryId() — 12-char hex ID generation
• parseMarkdownFrontmatter(content) — parse YAML frontmatter + body from markdown
• serializeMarkdownFrontmatter(data, body) — serialize data + body into markdown frontmatter
• parseFrontmatterScalar(raw) / parseFrontmatterScalarString(raw) / splitFrontmatterList(inner) — the scalar grammar those two are built on, exported because a second reader needs it (see Frontmatter round trip)

Constants:

• CONTENTRAIN_DIR — default .contentrain folder name
• CONTENTRAIN_BRANCH — default contentrain branch name for content tracking
• PATH_PATTERNS — file path conventions for models, content, meta. Content and meta paths both name the model: a document is content/{domain}/{modelId}/{slug}/{locale}.md. The patterns show the default locale_strategy: 'file'; a parity test in @contentrain/mcp holds them to what the resolvers actually produce
• SLUG_PATTERN — regex for valid slugs
• ENTRY_ID_PATTERN — regex for valid entry IDs
• LOCALE_PATTERN — regex for valid locale codes
• CANONICAL_JSON — serialization rules (indent, encoding, trailing newline, key sort)
• SECRET_PATTERNS — provider-shaped regex patterns for secret detection (the generic api_key rule lives in detectSecrets, gated by looksLikeCredential)

Stability

This package is intended to be the shared public contract across the Contentrain ecosystem.

In practice that means:

• types exported from the package root are the public surface
• packages should depend on these shared definitions instead of redefining domain types
• breaking changes here should be treated as ecosystem-level breaking changes
• the RepoProvider contract enables third-party implementations without depending on @contentrain/mcp internals

Quick Example

import type {
  ContentrainConfig,
  FieldDef,
  ModelDefinition,
  ValidationResult,
} from '@contentrain/types'

const fields: Record<string, FieldDef> = {
  title: { type: 'string', required: true },
  slug: { type: 'slug', required: true, unique: true },
}

const model: ModelDefinition = {
  id: 'blog-post',
  name: 'Blog Post',
  kind: 'collection',
  domain: 'blog',
  i18n: true,
  fields,
}

const config: ContentrainConfig = {
  version: 1,
  stack: 'next',
  workflow: 'review',
  locales: { default: 'en', supported: ['en', 'tr'] },
  domains: ['blog'],
}

const result: ValidationResult = {
  valid: true,
  errors: [],
}

Import Style

Type-only usage:

import type { ModelDefinition, ContentrainConfig } from '@contentrain/types'

Mixed usage (types + runtime functions):

import type { FieldDef, ValidationError } from '@contentrain/types'
import {
  validateFieldValue,
  validateSlug,
  detectSecrets,
  canonicalStringify,
  parseMarkdownFrontmatter,
} from '@contentrain/types'

Provider contract usage (for custom RepoProvider implementations):

import type { RepoProvider, ProviderCapabilities } from '@contentrain/types'

export class MyCustomProvider implements RepoProvider {
  readonly capabilities: ProviderCapabilities = {
    localWorktree: false,
    sourceRead: true,
    sourceWrite: true,
    pushRemote: true,
    branchProtection: true,
    pullRequestFallback: true,
    astScan: false,
  }
  // ...implement RepoProvider methods
}

Studio Integration

Studio (Nuxt 4, web) cannot import @contentrain/mcp directly because MCP depends on Node.js-only packages (simple-git, @modelcontextprotocol/sdk). The validate and serialize functions in this package are pure, dependency-free, and browser-compatible — designed for Studio to share the same validation contract as MCP.

What Studio gets from @contentrain/types

Function	Use case
validateSlug(slug)	Form validation for document slugs
validateEntryId(id)	Validate collection entry IDs
validateLocale(locale, config)	Locale picker validation
detectSecrets(value)	Content editor secret detection warnings
validateFieldValue(value, fieldDef)	Full field-level validation in content forms
canonicalStringify(data, fieldOrder?)	Preview canonical JSON output
parseMarkdownFrontmatter(content)	Document editor frontmatter parsing
serializeMarkdownFrontmatter(data, body)	Document editor serialization
parseFrontmatterScalar(raw)	One frontmatter scalar: booleans, null, numbers, quoted strings with escapes decoded
parseFrontmatterScalarString(raw)	The same, always as a string — a SKU of "007" must not become 7
splitFrontmatterList(inner)	Split an inline array on commas outside quotes
generateEntryId()	Client-side entry ID generation
SECRET_PATTERNS	Extend or customize secret detection
looksLikeCredential(tail)	Decide whether a value assigned to an API-key setting is a credential or documentation

What stays in MCP (not available to Studio directly)

These require file system I/O or Node.js dependencies:

• checkRelation() — validates relation references against actual content files on disk
• validateProject() — full project validation with file reading
• writeContent() / deleteContent() — content persistence with git worktree
• resolveContentDir() / resolveJsonFilePath() — path resolution with node:path

Unique constraints and relation validation

validateFieldValue handles schema-level checks. Two things require external state:

• Unique constraints — need to check across all entries (Studio should query its API/store)
• Relation references — need to verify target entries exist (Studio should query its content API)

These are left to Studio's server-side or API layer to implement on top of the pure validation.

Design Role

@contentrain/types exists so every package in the monorepo speaks the same domain language.

Examples:

• MCP validates and writes ModelDefinition
• CLI reads ContextJson
• SDK codegen consumes ModelDefinition and FieldDef
• AI rules align with the same model and workflow vocabulary
• Studio uses the same validation functions in the browser
• Third-party providers implement RepoProvider to plug into MCP

This package should stay:

• small
• zero runtime dependencies
• browser + Node.js compatible
• stable
• free of package-specific behavior

Development

From the monorepo root:

pnpm --filter @contentrain/types build
pnpm --filter @contentrain/types test
pnpm --filter @contentrain/types typecheck

Related Packages

• @contentrain/mcp
• contentrain
• @contentrain/query
• @contentrain/rules

License

MIT

Migration contracts

Shared shapes for the WordPress → static-site migration pipeline. They exist here — in the one MIT package every side may depend on — because the documents cross repository and license boundaries: a GPL WordPress plugin produces them, a proprietary migration service consumes them, an open emitter renders from them.

Contract	Role
RawIR	Source-faithful extraction of a WordPress site (posts, terms, menus, comments, media, redirects) with provenance: which access rung produced it (rest_public → rest_auth → wxr → bridge). Unresolved references are kept and marked, never dropped.
CapabilityManifest	Evidence-based inventory of what the site uses (SEO, forms, comments, i18n, ACF, …) — the input for migration planning and the "what happens to X" conversation.
ProjectIR	The reproducible model of the site: route model, layout families, component variants, query bindings, design tokens. Not "this page's HTML" — the design system that generates unseen pages correctly.
MigrationHandoff	What the migration hands the user: repository, per-capability dispositions, and offers for runtime capabilities (with cost comparison) — offering is this document's job; fulfilling is the receiving product's. runtime (RuntimeBinding) records where the generated site's runtime components were bound once an offer was fulfilled.
RuntimeBinding	The provider's public API origin (base_url) and project_id — all a static site needs to mount comments and forms. Never a credential: the public endpoints are unauthenticated by design.

All are plain JSON (snake_case keys), stamped with MIGRATION_CONTRACT_VERSION.

Chrome markers the emitter honours: CHROME_BODY_SLOT (where page content goes), CHROME_REPEAT_OPEN/CHROME_IF_OPEN (per-item and conditional regions), LIST_ITEMS_SLOT (where a list section's items go) and componentSlot(id) (<!--@@component:ID@@-->, where a ComponentDef — a comments thread, a form — is mounted).

ModelDefinition can carry runtime-owned form and comments configuration. MODEL_EXTENSION_KEYS identifies these preserved blocks; canonical model serialization places them after fields. The content engine does not interpret the runtime settings.

Execution and approval contracts

migration.ts describes a site. execution.ts describes an act upon one — an agent run, a bulk edit, a deploy, a cutover — and who had to say yes first.

Three repositories meet here and none may define these shapes for itself. The migration engine produces plans and receipts, Studio renders the plan card and collects approvals, and MCP is where a plan's steps execute. If each wrote its own RiskClass, "destructive" would mean three different things and the approval guarding it would be theatre.

Contract	Role
RiskClass	What is at stake, as an ordered ladder: read_only → low_risk_content → bulk_content → destructive_schema → external_effect → financially_material → deployment. highestRisk() rates a plan by its worst step — a survey that ends in a deploy is a deploy.
ApprovalGate	The three distinct decision moments: plan (before the work, on scope and cost), change (on the produced diff), release (on production effect). Approving what will be done is not approving what was produced, and neither is permission to publish it.
ApprovalRule / ApprovalPolicyFile	.contentrain/approval-policies.json — which risk needs whose approval, in which mode (auto / single / quorum). In git, beside the content it governs, so the policy in force is the policy on the branch. Rules are additive: a policy file can only ever make a project stricter.
ApprovalRequirement / ApprovalGrant	An outstanding demand, and a decision actually given. A grant is bound to an exact plan_hash (and commit_sha for change): change the plan and its grants stop applying. An approval of "publish these 12 posts" must not carry over to a plan that publishes 400.
ExecutionPlan	An operation fully described before it runs: steps, union scope, risk, estimate, rollback, and the repository state it assumes.
ExecutionReceipt	What happened: status, approvals, checkpoints, verification results, measured cost, and the scope actually touched — the same ExecutionScope shape as the plan, so prediction and outcome can be subtracted. Release approvers are the approvals entries with gate: 'release'; read them with approversFor().
DeploymentTarget	Where a build is published. Carries a secret_ref, never a secret — this document is written to git.
AutomationDefinition	Reserved shape for .contentrain/automations.json. Nothing reads it yet; it exists so the first writer does not invent a fourth vocabulary for schedules.
SourceDeltaPlan	The WordPress→repo delta — not contentrain_reconcile, which merges two git branches and knows nothing about WordPress. Carries explicit deletion tombstones, because modified_after is a filter on changed records and never reports a deletion, plus slug moves (which generate redirects) and semantic conflicts. deletions_detectable: false must not be read as "nothing was deleted".

The evaluator

approval.ts is the decision procedure over these shapes: given a plan, a policy and the decisions collected so far, may this proceed?

import { evaluateApproval, requiredApprovals } from '@contentrain/types'

// For the plan card, before anyone has decided:
requiredApprovals(plan, policy)
// → [{ gate: 'release', mode: 'quorum', min_approvals: 2, because: 'deployment' }]

// At the gate:
const decision = evaluateApproval({ plan, policy, grants, commit_sha, now })
decision.allowed          // every requirement met and the plan has not expired
decision.outstanding      // what is still missing, with who has signed so far
decision.rejected_grants  // decisions that did not count, each with a reason
decision.reasons          // one line per blocker, written for a person

It replaces a role check. shouldAutoMerge asks "is this person an owner?", which cannot express "a bulk publish needs a second pair of eyes even from the owner" and cannot tell a typo fix from a domain cutover. This asks about the action: its risk, its scope, and what the project's policy says about that combination.

Rules that matter:

• A plan cannot understate itself. effectiveRisk() takes the worst of the plan's declared class and its steps', so a plan labelled read_only that carries a deploy step is evaluated as a deploy.
• Each matching rule is its own requirement and all must be met. Merging two rules would need a way to combine their modes, roles and counts, and every such rule has a case where the result is looser than one of its inputs.
• auto does not climb the ladder. Every other mode covers its class and everything above it. If auto did too, one auto rule on a low rung would exempt every heavier operation above it — the one mode that demands nothing would become the only mode that can loosen a policy.
• An agent never approves. Not its own work, not anyone's. The author of a plan cannot approve it either unless the project sets allow_self_approval, and that setting does not extend to agents.
• A change decision is a decision about a diff. Presented with a different branch tip than the one reviewed, it does not count.
• now is an input. Nothing reads the clock, so a blocked run can be explained months later by replaying the same arguments.

Every rejected decision carries a machine-readable reason (plan_hash_mismatch, commit_mismatch, expired, agent_approver, self_approval, role_not_permitted, duplicate_approver, no_matching_requirement), because the useful question is never "is it blocked" but "I approved this, why is it still blocked".

With no .contentrain/approval-policies.json, DEFAULT_APPROVAL_POLICY applies: read-only work proceeds, everything else wants one reviewer on the diff. Whether a project consults the evaluator at all is still governed by its workflow setting.

plan_hash

computePlanHash(plan) is SHA-256 over planHashPayload(plan): canonical JSON (sorted keys, 2-space indent, trailing newline) of the plan's semantic fields.

Excluded from the payload: plan_hash itself, and id, created_at, created_by, idempotency_key — who built a plan, when, under which run id and with which deduplication key do not change what the plan will do, and regenerating the same operation must produce the same hash or idempotency and approval binding both break. Everything else is covered, so a widened scope, an added step, a raised estimate or a withdrawn rollback each invalidate every approval the plan had collected.

It is async because it uses Web Crypto (crypto.subtle), available in Node 18+, Deno, Bun, workers and browsers alike — this package is consumed in all of them and must not reach for node:crypto. A non-cryptographic hash was rejected: approvals are pinned to this value, so a collision is an approval bypass.

The digest is reproducible from the contract alone — the test suite pins a golden hash cross-checked against an independent canonical-JSON + SHA-256 implementation in another language.

Reserved paths

RESERVED_PATHS names four files under .contentrain/ that this repository has claimed but does not yet write: capabilities.json, automations.json, approval-policies.json, redirects.json. .contentrain/ is a shared namespace — Studio, the migration engine and a customer's own tooling all write into it — so a name claimed here cannot later be taken for something else, and the tools that walk the directory know these four are expected rather than stray.

Until a tool owns one, the contract is narrow and pinned by tests in @contentrain/mcp:

• contentrain_doctor and contentrain_validate ignore them completely. They are not orphans, not broken content, and not the validator's business.
• contentrain_reconcile treats each as one opaque file: it takes the side that changed it, and reports file_conflict when both sides did. It never merges their interiors, because it does not know their interiors — a field-level union on an approval policy would produce a policy nobody wrote.

Frontmatter round trip

A document's fields live in YAML frontmatter, and two readers open them: the content engine, through parseMarkdownFrontmatter (which @contentrain/mcp re-exports), and @contentrain/query's client generator and Astro loader. The property both depend on is that a value written and read back is the same value — and for four shapes it did not hold.

Value	Came back as
He said "Hi"	He said \"Hi\" — the quotes were stripped without decoding the escapes
C:\path\to	C:\\path\\to — and doubling again on every further save
line one⏎line two	line one — the rest was written as frontmatter lines the reader then skipped
padded	padded
'42' (a string)	42 (a number)
true (a boolean)	'true' (a string)

All six are fixed, and the guarantee is now explicit: for every value serializeMarkdownFrontmatter can write, parseMarkdownFrontmatter returns it unchanged, and a second round trip produces identical bytes. The second trip is part of the test on purpose — backslash doubling only diverges on the trip after the one that introduced it, so a single-trip test passes on content that corrupts a little more with every export.

What that required:

• A quoted scalar's escapes are decoded (\\, \", \n, \r, \t, \uXXXX). An unrecognised escape keeps its backslash rather than erroring — hand-written frontmatter says "C:\Users", and losing that to strictness is a worse trade than keeping the bytes. Text that merely starts and ends with a quote ("a" and "b") is not treated as one scalar, because slicing its ends off would corrupt it.
• A value carrying a newline, tab, backslash or edge whitespace is quoted and escaped, so it occupies one line and no part of it is silently dropped.
• A string that would read back as another type is quoted; a real boolean, number or null is not, so each reads back as itself.
• An empty array is written key: []. A bare key: is genuinely ambiguous — empty array, empty object, or null — and the two readers were guessing it differently.

The scalar grammar is exported (parseFrontmatterScalar, parseFrontmatterScalarString, splitFrontmatterList) and imported by the SDK reader rather than replicated. That is the actual fix: when each side had its own copy, correcting one of them would have turned a shared bug into a silent disagreement between the generated client and the content engine. A parity suite in @contentrain/query asserts both readers return the same values for the same bytes.

Body text keeps its internal blank lines; only its leading and trailing whitespace is normalised, which is markdown behaviour rather than loss.