Craft CMS Operations

Facts verified as of 2026-07.

Authoritative reference for Craft CMS 5.x development: content modeling, Twig templating, element-query optimization, GraphQL/headless setups, plugin development, and the Craft 4 → 5 migration. Craft is a self-hosted PHP application built on Yii 2, backed by MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Version note (verified against craftcms.com/docs/5.x, 2026-06): Craft 5 is current; Craft 6 exists. The defining Craft 5 change is that Matrix is now an entries-based field — Matrix "blocks" are gone, replaced by nested entries with entry types. Fields are globally reusable across all field layouts. Don't ship Craft 3/4 "Matrix block" guidance.

---

Craft 5 architecture at a glance

Concept	What it is	Craft 5 change
Section	Container exposing entry types + URL rules	Three kinds: Single, Channel, Structure
Entry Type	Atomic unit of content (fields, title, slug)	Now global + reusable across sections, with per-section aliases
Entry	An instance of an entry type	Can be top-level or nested (inside Matrix/CKEditor)
Field	Reusable input attached via field layouts	Globally reusable — no per-field-instance duplication
Matrix field	Repeatable nested content	Now stores entries (entry types), not "blocks". Nesting supported natively
Project Config	Version-controlled schema (config/project/)	Source of truth for sections/fields/settings

Section types

Type	Use for	Has URLs?	Hierarchy?
Single	One-off pages (home, about)	Optional fixed URI	No
Channel	Streams (blog, news, products)	Yes, per-entry-type URI format	No
Structure	Nested/ordered content (docs, nav)	Yes	Yes (drag-to-order, levels)

---

Element queries (the 80/20)

Everything readable in Craft is an element (entries, assets, users, categories, tags). You fetch them with element queries.

{# Channel entries, newest first #}
{% set posts = craft.entries()
  .section('blog')
  .type('article')
  .orderBy('postDate DESC')
  .limit(10)
  .all() %}

{# Eager-load relations to kill N+1 #}
{% set posts = craft.entries()
  .section('blog')
  .with(['author', 'featuredImage', 'categories'])
  .all() %}

{# Single entry by slug #}
{% set page = craft.entries().section('pages').slug('about').one() %}

{# Relations: entries related to a given category #}
{% set related = craft.entries().relatedTo(category).all() %}

Need	Method
Filter by section	.section('handle')
Filter by entry type	.type('handle')
Eager-load relations	.with(['field', 'field.subfield'])
Status	.status('live') / .status(['live','expired'])
One vs many	.one() / .all() / .count() / .exists()
Pagination	{% paginate query as pageInfo, entries %}
Eager-load nested Matrix entries	.with(['matrixField']) then loop nested entries

Eager-loading nested entries (Craft 5): because Matrix content is now entries, eager-load the Matrix field then iterate the nested entries by their entry type:

{% set page = craft.entries().section('pages').with(['body']).one() %}
{% for block in page.body.all() %}
  {% switch block.type.handle %}
    {% case 'text' %}{{ block.richText }}
    {% case 'image' %}{{ block.image.one().url }}
  {% endswitch %}
{% endfor %}

See references/twig-and-queries.md for the full query parameter catalog, pagination, and Twig patterns.

---

Twig conventions

Pattern	Rule
Private templates	Prefix with _ (_layouts/, _partials/) so they're not directly routable
Layout inheritance	{% extends '_layouts/base' %} + {% block content %}
Reusable markup	{% include '_partials/card' with { entry: entry } %} or {{ include() }}
Avoid logic in templates	Push business logic to a module/plugin service, not Twig
Caching	{% cache %} — only after queries are optimized, never to mask N+1

---

Headless / GraphQL

Craft ships a GraphQL API for decoupled frontends (Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, etc.).

Concern	Approach
Schema	Define GraphQL schemas + scopes in Control Panel; generate a token per schema
Auth	Bearer token per schema; public schema for anonymous reads
Alternative	Element API plugin for custom JSON endpoints when GraphQL is overkill
CORS	Configure allowed origins for the headless frontend
Eager loading	GraphQL resolves relations efficiently; still design queries to avoid over-fetching

See references/graphql-and-plugins.md for schema setup, query shape, and plugin/module development.

---

Performance decision table

Symptom	Fix
Slow listing pages	Eager-load with .with([...]) — the #1 Craft perf bug is N+1 inside loops
Repeated identical render	{% cache %} tag (after query optimization)
Whole-site cache needed	Blitz plugin (static page caching, granular invalidation)
Slow orderBy on custom field	Ensure the underlying column/field is indexed
Heavy asset transforms	Pre-generate transforms; use Imgix/CDN

---

Project Config & deployment

• Project Config (config/project/*.yaml) is the version-controlled source of truth for sections, fields, entry types, settings. Commit it.
• Apply on deploy: php craft up (runs migrations + applies project config).
• Environment-specific values go in .env and config/general.php (use App::env() / getenv()).
• Data transformations belong in content migrations, not manual DB edits.

---

Craft 4 → 5 upgrade checklist

Area	What changed	Action
Matrix	Blocks → entries with entry types	Templates iterating .type.handle mostly survive; re-check block-type field handles
Fields	Now globally reusable	Expect field/entry-type proliferation post-upgrade — consolidate duplicates
Content storage	Reworked internal storage	Run php craft up; test queries on staging
PHP/DB	Craft 5 needs PHP 8.2+	Verify host before upgrading
Plugins	Many need a Craft 5-compatible release	Audit plugin compatibility first

Full upgrade guidance: https://craftcms.com/docs/5.x/upgrade.html

---

Common gotchas

Gotcha	Why	Fix
N+1 queries in loops	Element relations lazy-load	Always .with([...]) before iterating
{% cache %} masking slow queries	Cache hides, doesn't fix	Optimize queries first, cache second
Business logic in Twig	Hard to test/reuse	Move to a module/plugin service
Project Config drift in teams	Out-of-band CP edits	Treat config/project/ as source of truth; php craft up on deploy
Untested migrations to prod	Data loss risk	Test on staging clone first
Over-using Matrix	Complexity + perf cost	Use simpler structures when nesting isn't needed
Calling old "Matrix block" APIs	Removed in Craft 5	Use entry/entry-type APIs

---

Assets

File	Use
assets/entry-type-field-layout.md	Annotated content-modeling starter: section + entry type + field layout + Matrix-as-entries shape, mapped to Project Config

---

See also

• laravel-ops — shared PHP/Composer/Twig-adjacent tooling, Eloquent patterns for comparison
• sql-ops — index strategy behind slow orderBy/relation queries
• nginx-ops — serving Craft, caching headers, reverse proxy for headless

Key external resources

• Craft CMS 5.x Docs
• Entries reference
• Matrix fields (Craft 5)
• Eager-loading
• GraphQL API
• Upgrading from Craft 4
• Coding guidelines
• Blitz plugin · nystudio107 blog · Craft Stack Exchange