Create an entity

An entity is a model of objects linked to real-world concepts. Creating an entity in manifest generates CRUD endpoints that can be used by the REST API or the SDK.

All entities are located in the backend.yml file under the entities property.

There are 2 types of entities in Manifest: Collections and Singles. Collections are multiple instances of similar data, stored as a list. E.g., users, customers, videos, etc. Singles are unique, standalone data that are singular in nature. E.g., home content, about content, settings, logo...

Collections

Let's see a simple example:

manifest/backend.yml

name: A pet app

entities:
  Cat 😺:
    properties:
      - name
  Dog 🐶:
    properties:
      - name

This file will generate the Cat and Dog entity both with a name property. You can now add your own pets through the admin panel!

Seed

Dummy data is crucial for app development and testing. You can generate dummy data for all your entities with the simple command:

npm run manifest:seed

warning

The seed replaces the previous data by the new one and thus should never be used in production.

Collection entity params

You can pass different arguments to configure your entities. Example:

entities:
  Member 👤:
    seedCount: 200
    mainProp: lastName
    properties:
      - firstName
      - lastName
      - email

Option	Default	Type	Description
authenticable	false	boolean	Whether the entity is authenticable or not
mainProp	first string field	string	Identifier prop. Used widely on the admin panel
nameSingular	singular lower case name	string	The singular lowercase name of your entity. Used widely on the admin panel.
namePlural	plural lower case name	string	The plural lowercase name of your entity. Used widely on the admin panel Default: plural lowercase name.
policies	-	Policies	The access control policies of your entity
properties	[]	Array	The properties of your entity
seedCount	50	number	the number of entities to seed when running the seed command.
slug	plural dasherized name	string	The kebab-case slug of the entity that will define API endpoints.

Singles

Single entities differ a bit from collections. A single entity is singular in nature, and there can be only one record of them. Examples are website dynamic elements, pages, standalone content or settings. They do not have relations.

On single entities Create and Delete CRUD actions are disabled. Thus, the REST API endpoints for single entities are different.

ContactPage:
  single: true
  slug: contact
  properties:
    - { name: title, type: string }
    - { name: content, type: text }
    - { name: image, type: image }
  validation:
    title: { required: true }

Single entity params

You can pass different arguments to configure your single entities. Example:

entities:
  Member 👤:
    seedCount: 200
    mainProp: lastName
    properties:
      - firstName
      - lastName
      - email

Option	Default	Type	Description
nameSingular	singular lower case name	string	The singular lowercase name of your entity. Used widely on the admin panel.
policies	-	Policies	The access control policies of your entity
properties	[]	Array	The properties of your entity
slug	plural dasherized name	string	The kebab-case slug of the entity that will define API endpoints.