EmDash for Astro Developers

EmDash is a CMS built specifically for Astro—not a generic headless CMS with an Astro adapter. It extends your Astro site with database-backed content, a polished admin UI, and WordPress-style features (menus, widgets, taxonomies) while preserving the developer experience you expect.

Everything you know about Astro still applies. EmDash enhances your site; it doesn’t replace your workflow.

What EmDash Adds

EmDash provides the content management features that file-based Astro sites lack:

Feature	Description
Admin UI	Full WYSIWYG editing interface at /_emdash/admin
Database storage	Content stored in SQLite, libSQL, or Cloudflare D1
Media library	Upload, organize, and serve images and files
Navigation menus	Drag-and-drop menu management with nesting
Widget areas	Dynamic sidebars and footer regions
Site settings	Global configuration (title, logo, social links)
Taxonomies	Categories, tags, and custom taxonomies
Preview system	Signed preview URLs for draft content
Revisions	Content version history

Tip

Content changes appear immediately without rebuilding your site. EmDash sites run in SSR mode by default.

Astro Collections vs EmDash

Astro’s astro:content collections are file-based and resolved at build time. EmDash collections are database-backed and resolved at runtime.

	Astro Collections	EmDash Collections
Storage	Markdown/MDX files in src/content/	SQLite/D1 database
Editing	Code editor	Admin UI
Content format	Markdown with frontmatter	Portable Text (structured JSON)
Updates	Requires rebuild	Instant (SSR)
Schema	Zod in content.config.ts	Defined in admin, stored in database
Best for	Developer-managed content	Editor-managed content

Use Both Together

Astro collections and EmDash can coexist. Use Astro collections for developer content (docs, changelogs) and EmDash for editor content (blog posts, pages):

src/pages/index.astro

---
import { getCollection } from "astro:content";
import { getEmDashCollection } from "emdash";

// Developer-managed docs from files
const docs = await getCollection("docs");

// Editor-managed posts from database
const { entries: posts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
  status: "published",
  limit: 5,
});
---

Configuration

EmDash requires two configuration files.

Astro Integration

astro.config.mjs

import { defineConfig } from "astro/config";
import emdash, { local } from "emdash/astro";
import { sqlite } from "emdash/db";

export default defineConfig({
  output: "server", // Required for EmDash
  integrations: [
    emdash({
      database: sqlite({ url: "file:./data.db" }),
      storage: local({
        directory: "./uploads",
        baseUrl: "/_emdash/api/media/file",
      }),
    }),
  ],
});

Live Collections Loader

src/live.config.ts

import { defineLiveCollection } from "astro:content";
import { emdashLoader } from "emdash/runtime";

export const collections = {
  _emdash: defineLiveCollection({
    loader: emdashLoader(),
  }),
};

This registers EmDash as a live content source. The _emdash collection internally routes to your content types (posts, pages, products).

Querying Content

EmDash provides query functions that follow Astro’s live content collections pattern, returning { entries, error } or { entry, error }:

EmDash

import { getEmDashCollection, getEmDashEntry } from "emdash";

// Get all published posts - returns { entries, error }
const { entries: posts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
status: "published",
});

// Get a single post by slug - returns { entry, error, isPreview }
const { entry: post } = await getEmDashEntry("posts", "my-post");

Astro

import { getCollection, getEntry } from "astro:content";

// Get all blog entries
const posts = await getCollection("blog");

// Get a single entry by slug
const post = await getEntry("blog", "my-post");

Filtering Options

getEmDashCollection supports filtering that Astro’s getCollection doesn’t:

const { entries: posts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
  status: "published", // draft | published | archived
  limit: 10, // max results
  where: { category: "news" }, // taxonomy filter
});

Rendering Content

EmDash stores rich text as Portable Text, a structured JSON format. Render it with the PortableText component:

EmDash

src/pages/posts/[slug].astro

---
import { getEmDashEntry } from "emdash";
import { PortableText } from "emdash/ui";

const { slug } = Astro.params;
const { entry: post } = await getEmDashEntry("posts", slug);

if (!post) {
return Astro.redirect("/404");
}

---

<article>
  <h1>{post.data.title}</h1>
  <PortableText value={post.data.content} />
</article>

Astro

src/pages/blog/[slug].astro

---
import { getEntry, render } from "astro:content";

const { slug } = Astro.params;
const post = await getEntry("blog", slug);
const { Content } = await render(post);

---

<article>
  <h1>{post.data.title}</h1>
  <Content />
</article>

Note

Portable Text preserves content structure without embedding HTML. This makes content portable across renderers and prevents XSS vulnerabilities.

Dynamic Features

EmDash provides APIs for WordPress-style features that don’t exist in Astro’s content layer.

Navigation Menus

src/layouts/Base.astro

---
import { getMenu } from "emdash";

const primaryMenu = await getMenu("primary");
---

{primaryMenu && (
  <nav>
    <ul>
      {primaryMenu.items.map(item => (
        <li>
          <a href={item.url}>{item.label}</a>
          {item.children.length > 0 && (
            <ul>
              {item.children.map(child => (
                <li><a href={child.url}>{child.label}</a></li>
              ))}
            </ul>
          )}
        </li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  </nav>
)}

Widget Areas

src/layouts/BlogPost.astro

---
import { getWidgetArea } from "emdash";
import { PortableText } from "emdash/ui";

const sidebar = await getWidgetArea("sidebar");
---

{sidebar && sidebar.widgets.length > 0 && (
  <aside>
    {sidebar.widgets.map(widget => (
      <div class="widget">
        {widget.title && <h3>{widget.title}</h3>}
        {widget.type === "content" && widget.content && (
          <PortableText value={widget.content} />
        )}
      </div>
    ))}
  </aside>
)}

Site Settings

src/components/Header.astro

---
import { getSiteSettings, getSiteSetting } from "emdash";

const settings = await getSiteSettings();
// Or fetch individual values:
const title = await getSiteSetting("title");
---

<header>
  {settings.logo ? (
    <img src={settings.logo.url} alt={settings.title} />
  ) : (
    <span>{settings.title}</span>
  )}
  {settings.tagline && <p>{settings.tagline}</p>}
</header>

Plugins

Extend EmDash with plugins that add hooks, storage, settings, and admin UI:

astro.config.mjs

import emdash from "emdash/astro";
import seoPlugin from "@emdash-cms/plugin-seo";

export default defineConfig({
  integrations: [
    emdash({
      // ...
      plugins: [seoPlugin({ generateSitemap: true })],
    }),
  ],
});

Create custom plugins with definePlugin:

src/plugins/analytics.ts

import { definePlugin } from "emdash";

export default definePlugin({
  id: "analytics",
  version: "1.0.0",
  capabilities: ["read:content"],

  hooks: {
    "content:afterSave": async (event, ctx) => {
      ctx.log.info("Content saved", { id: event.content.id });
    },
  },

  admin: {
    settingsSchema: {
      trackingId: { type: "string", label: "Tracking ID" },
    },
  },
});

Server Rendering

EmDash sites run in SSR mode. Content changes appear immediately without rebuilds.

For static pages with getStaticPaths, content is fetched at build time:

src/pages/posts/[slug].astro

---
import { getEmDashCollection, getEmDashEntry } from "emdash";

export async function getStaticPaths() {
  const { entries: posts } = await getEmDashCollection("posts", {
    status: "published",
  });

  return posts.map((post) => ({
    params: { slug: post.data.slug },
  }));
}

const { slug } = Astro.params;
const { entry: post } = await getEmDashEntry("posts", slug);
---

For dynamic pages, set prerender = false to fetch content on each request:

src/pages/posts/[slug].astro

---
export const prerender = false;

import { getEmDashEntry } from "emdash";

const { slug } = Astro.params;
const { entry: post, error } = await getEmDashEntry("posts", slug);

if (error) {
  return new Response("Server error", { status: 500 });
}

if (!post) {
  return new Response(null, { status: 404 });
}
---

Tip

Use server rendering for frequently updated content. Use static generation for content that changes rarely and benefits from CDN caching.

Next Steps

Getting Started

Create your first EmDash site in under 5 minutes.

Querying Content

Learn the query API in detail.

Create a Blog

Build a complete blog with categories and tags.

Deploy to Cloudflare

Take your site to production on Workers.