Blocks Field

The Blocks Field is incredibly powerful, storing an array of objects based on the fields that you define, where each item in the array is a "block" with its own unique schema.

Blocks are a great way to create a flexible content model that can be used to build a wide variety of content types, including:

A layout builder tool that grants editors to design highly customizable page or post layouts. Blocks could include configs such as Quote, CallToAction, Slider, Content, Gallery, or others.
A form builder tool where available block configs might be Text, Select, or Checkbox.
Virtual event agenda "timeslots" where a timeslot could either be a Break, a Presentation, or a BreakoutSession.

Admin Panel screenshot of add Blocks drawer view

To add a Blocks Field, set the type to blocks in your Field Config:

1import type { Field } from 'payload'
2
3export const MyBlocksField: Field = {
4  // ...
5  type: 'blocks',
6  blocks: [
7    // ...
8  ],
9}

Config Options

Option	Description
`name` *	To be used as the property name when stored and retrieved from the database. More
`label`	Text used as the heading in the Admin Panel or an object with keys for each language. Auto-generated from name if not defined.
`blocks` *	Array of block configs to be made available to this field.
`validate`	Provide a custom validation function that will be executed on both the Admin Panel and the backend. More
`minRows`	A number for the fewest allowed items during validation when a value is present.
`maxRows`	A number for the most allowed items during validation when a value is present.
`saveToJWT`	If this field is top-level and nested in a config supporting Authentication, include its data in the user JWT.
`hooks`	Provide Field Hooks to control logic for this field. More details.
`access`	Provide Field Access Control to denote what users can see and do with this field's data. More details.
`hidden`	Restrict this field's visibility from all APIs entirely. Will still be saved to the database, but will not appear in any API response or the Admin Panel.
`defaultValue`	Provide an array of block data to be used for this field's default value. More
`localized`	Enable localization for this field. Requires localization to be enabled in the Base config. If enabled, a separate, localized set of all data within this field will be kept, so there is no need to specify each nested field as `localized`.
`unique`	Enforce that each entry in the Collection has a unique value for this field.
`labels`	Customize the block row labels appearing in the Admin dashboard.
`admin`	Admin-specific configuration. More details.
`custom`	Extension point for adding custom data (e.g. for plugins)
`typescriptSchema`	Override field type generation with providing a JSON schema
`virtual`	Provide `true` to disable field in the database. See Virtual Fields

* An asterisk denotes that a property is required.

Admin Options

To customize the appearance and behavior of the Blocks Field in the Admin Panel, you can use the admin option:

1import type { Field } from 'payload'
2
3export const MyBlocksField: Field = {
4  // ...
5  admin: { 
6    // ...
7  },
8}

The Blocks Field inherits all of the default options from the base Field Admin Config, plus the following additional options:

Option	Description
`initCollapsed`	Set the initial collapsed state
`isSortable`	Disable order sorting by setting this value to `false`

Customizing the way your block is rendered in Lexical

If you're using this block within the Lexical editor, you can also customize how the block is rendered in the Lexical editor itself by specifying custom components.

admin.components.Label - pass a custom React component here to customize the way that the label is rendered for this block
admin.components.Block - pass a component here to completely override the way the block is rendered in Lexical with your own component

This is super handy if you'd like to present your editors with a very deliberate and nicely designed block "preview" right in your rich text.

For example, if you have a gallery block, you might want to actually render the gallery of images directly in your Lexical block. With the admin.components.Block property, you can do exactly that!

To import these utility components for one of your custom blocks, you can import the following:

1import {
// Edit block buttons (choose the one that corresponds to your usage)
// When clicked, this will open a drawer with your block's fields
// so your editors can edit them
InlineBlockEditButton,
BlockEditButton,
7
// Buttons that will remove this block from Lexical
// (choose the one that corresponds to your usage)
InlineBlockRemoveButton,
BlockRemoveButton,
12
// The label that should be rendered for an inline block
InlineBlockLabel,
15
// The default "container" that is rendered for an inline block
// if you want to re-use it
InlineBlockContainer,
19
// The default "collapsible" UI that is rendered for a regular block
// if you want to re-use it
BlockCollapsible,
23
24} from '@payloadcms/richtext-lexical/client'

Block Configs

Blocks are defined as separate configs of their own.

Option	Description
`slug` *	Identifier for this block type. Will be saved on each block as the `blockType` property.
`fields` *	Array of fields to be stored in this block.
`labels`	Customize the block labels that appear in the Admin dashboard. Auto-generated from slug if not defined.
`imageURL`	Provide a custom image thumbnail to help editors identify this block in the Admin UI.
`imageAltText`	Customize this block's image thumbnail alt text.
`interfaceName`	Create a top level, reusable Typescript interface & GraphQL type.
`graphQL.singularName`	Text to use for the GraphQL schema name. Auto-generated from slug if not defined. NOTE: this is set for deprecation, prefer `interfaceName`.
`dbName`	Custom table name for this block type when using SQL Database Adapter (Postgres). Auto-generated from slug if not defined.
`custom`	Extension point for adding custom data (e.g. for plugins)

Auto-generated data per block

In addition to the field data that you define on each block, Payload will store two additional properties on each block:

blockType

The blockType is saved as the slug of the block that has been selected.

blockName

The Admin Panel provides each block with a blockName field which optionally allows editors to label their blocks for better editability and readability.

Example

collections/ExampleCollection.js

1import { Block, CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3const QuoteBlock: Block = {
slug: 'Quote', // required
imageURL: 'https://google.com/path/to/image.jpg',
imageAltText: 'A nice thumbnail image to show what this block looks like',
interfaceName: 'QuoteBlock', // optional
fields: [
  // required
  {
    name: 'quoteHeader',
    type: 'text',
    required: true,
  },
  {
    name: 'quoteText',
    type: 'text',
  },
],
20}
21
22export const ExampleCollection: CollectionConfig = {
slug: 'example-collection',
fields: [
  {
    name: 'layout', // required
    type: 'blocks', // required
    minRows: 1,
    maxRows: 20,
    blocks: [
      // required
      QuoteBlock,
    ],
  },
],
36}

Custom Components

Field

Server Component

1import type React from 'react'
2import { BlocksField } from '@payloadcms/ui'
3import type { BlocksFieldServerComponent } from 'payload'
4
5export const CustomBlocksFieldServer: BlocksFieldServerComponent = ({
6  clientField,
7  path,
8  schemaPath,
9  permissions
10}) => {
11  return (
12    <BlocksField field={clientField}
13      path={path}
14      schemaPath={schemaPath}
15      permissions={permissions}
16    />
17  )
18}

Client Component

1'use client'
2import React from 'react'
3import { BlocksField } from '@payloadcms/ui'
4import type { BlocksFieldClientComponent } from 'payload'
5
6export const CustomBlocksFieldClient: BlocksFieldClientComponent = (props) => {
7  return <BlocksField {...props} />
8}

Label

Server Component

1import React from 'react'
2import { FieldLabel } from '@payloadcms/ui'
3import type { BlocksFieldLabelServerComponent } from 'payload'
4
5export const CustomBlocksFieldLabelServer: BlocksFieldLabelServerComponent = ({
6  clientField,
7  path,
8}) => {
9  return (
10    <FieldLabel
11      label={clientField?.label || clientField?.name}
12      path={path}
13      required={clientField?.required}
14    />
15  )
16}

Client Component

1'use client'
2import React from 'react'
3import { FieldLabel } from '@payloadcms/ui'
4import type { BlocksFieldLabelClientComponent } from 'payload'
5
6export const CustomBlocksFieldLabelClient: BlocksFieldLabelClientComponent = ({
7  label,
8  path,
9  required,
10}) => {
11  return (
12    <FieldLabel
13      label={field?.label || field?.name}
14      path={path}
15      required={field?.required}
16    />
17  )
18}

Block References

If you have multiple blocks used in multiple places, your Payload Config can grow in size, potentially sending more data to the client and requiring more processing on the server. However, you can optimize performance by defining each block once in your Payload Config and then referencing its slug wherever it's used instead of passing the entire block config.

To do this, define the block in the blocks array of the Payload Config. Then, in the Blocks Field, pass the block slug to the blockReferences array - leaving the blocks array empty for compatibility reasons.

1import { buildConfig } from 'payload'
2import { lexicalEditor, BlocksFeature } from '@payloadcms/richtext-lexical'
3
4// Payload Config
5const config = buildConfig({
// Define the block once
blocks: [
  {
    slug: 'TextBlock',
    fields: [
      {
        name: 'text',
        type: 'text',
      },
    ],
  },
],
collections: [
  {
    slug: 'collection1',
    fields: [
      {
        name: 'content',
        type: 'blocks',
        // Reference the block by slug
        blockReferences: ['TextBlock'],
        blocks: [], // Required to be empty, for compatibility reasons
      },
    ],
  },
   {
    slug: 'collection2',
    fields: [
      {
        name: 'editor',
        type: 'richText',
        editor: lexicalEditor({
          BlocksFeature({
            // Same reference can be reused anywhere, even in the lexical editor, without incurred performance hit
            blocks: ['TextBlock'],
          })
        })
      },
    ],
  },
],
47})

TypeScript

As you build your own Block configs, you might want to store them in separate files but retain typing accordingly. To do so, you can import and use Payload's Block type:

1import type { Block } from 'payload'

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Blocks Field

Config Options

Admin Options

Customizing the way your block is rendered in Lexical

Block Configs

Auto-generated data per block

Example

Custom Components

Field

Server Component

Client Component

Label

Server Component

Client Component

Block References

TypeScript

Checkbox Field