DatoCMS Content Modeling

Design reusable, editor-friendly DatoCMS schemas. Advice needs no CLI, MCP, login, or setup. Use supplied requirements/schema; inspect live schema through an available authorized route only when needed. Decide shape here; route implementation below.

Core principles

1. Content is data, not pages. Structure for meaning, not presentation.
2. Single source of truth. Avoid content duplication.
3. Don't recreate built-ins. Record meta (created_at, published_at, …), asset meta (alt, title, custom_data, focal_point), and ordering (position) all exist already — never add sibling fields, on records or blocks. See references/separation-of-concerns.md and references/model-configuration.md § Behaviour — ordering.
4. Future-proof. Design for unknown channels and redesigns.
5. Editor-centric. Optimize for editors, not developers. Always add hints to fields, fieldsets, models unless obvious — schema is editor UI. See references/separation-of-concerns.md § Hints.

Routing

Once modeling decision made: