Sanity Best Practices
SanityOfficialPublished by Sanity
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- Tool integration
- Software development
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AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill provides a comprehensive collection of best practices, architectural patterns, and integration guides for the Sanity ecosystem. It covers the full development lifecycle, including schema design, GROQ query optimization, TypeGen configuration, and framework-specific integrations like Next.js, Angular, and Remix. It also includes guidance on infrastructure management via Blueprints, content automation with Sanity Functions, and building custom applications with the Sanity App SDK.
What it does
- Provides standardized patterns for Sanity schema design and content modeling.
- Offers integration guides for major frontend frameworks and the Sanity App SDK.
- Defines best practices for GROQ query performance and type safety with TypeGen.
- Outlines rules for media handling, including video asset management.
- Details configuration for Sanity Studio structure and Visual Editing.
- Explains infrastructure-as-code workflows using Sanity Blueprints.
When to use it
- When starting a new Sanity project or onboarding team members.
- When integrating Sanity with frameworks like Next.js, Astro, or Angular.
- When optimizing GROQ queries or implementing type-safe data fetching.
- When designing complex content schemas or implementing localization.
- When setting up live previews, Visual Editing, or custom Studio structures.
- When automating content workflows or managing infrastructure via Blueprints.
Advantages
- Maintained by Sanity, ensuring alignment with current platform standards.
- Reduces technical debt by enforcing consistent schema and query patterns.
- Provides clear decision matrices for complex topics like video and localization.
- Includes framework-specific guidance to accelerate frontend integration.
- Promotes maintainable project structures and type-safe development workflows.
Usage examples
- “What are the best practices for handling video in Sanity?”
- The skill advises against using standard file assets for production video due to bandwidth costs, recommending the Sanity Media Library with Mux for Enterprise plans or dedicated services like Mux, YouTube, or Vimeo for others.
- “How do I set up TypeGen for an Angular monorepo?”
- The skill provides a configuration example for studio/sanity.cli.ts to point TypeGen at the Angular source files, ensuring generated types are correctly integrated into the Angular project.
- “What is the recommended way to structure singleton documents?”
- The skill recommends using explicit document IDs for singleton documents and controlling them via the Studio Structure, while letting Sanity generate IDs for all other document types.
- “How should I fetch data in a React app using the App SDK?”
- The skill mandates wrapping data-fetching components in Suspense, using documentId as a React key, and preferring useDocuments and useDocumentProjection over raw GROQ hooks.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/sanity-io/sanity-best-practices/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip sanity-best-practices.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by Sanity
Sanity Best Practices
Comprehensive best practices and integration guides for Sanity development, maintained by Sanity. Use the quick reference below to load only the one or two topic files that match the task.
When to Apply
Reference these guidelines when:
Setting up a new Sanity project or onboarding
Integrating Sanity with a frontend framework (Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, Remix, SvelteKit, Hydrogen)
Writing GROQ queries or optimizing performance
Designing content schemas
Implementing Visual Editing and live preview
Working with images, Portable Text, or page builders
Configuring Sanity Studio structure
Setting up TypeGen for type safety
Implementing localization
Migrating content from other systems
Building custom apps with the Sanity App SDK
Developing or deploying a Studio or app in the Sanity Dashboard
Managing infrastructure with Blueprints
Automating content workflows with Sanity Functions or webhooks
Global Rules
Let Sanity generate
_idvalues for ordinary documents. Do not create deterministic UUIDs, slug-derived IDs, or legacy-system IDs when creating documents.Model relationships with
referencefields, then resolve related documents with GROQ lookups, source-key fields, or returned_idvalues from created documents.Use explicit document IDs mainly for singleton documents controlled by Studio Structure, including localized singletons such as
homePage-en.
Video
Do not store or serve video from Sanity
fileassets for production playback. File assets are delivered as raw downloads with no transcoding or adaptive streaming, and video traffic drives very high bandwidth usage and unexpectedly large bills.On Enterprise plans with the video add-on, use Sanity Media Library for video: uploads are transcoded and streamed adaptively via Mux. Model video fields with
defineVideoField()fromsanity/media-libraryand play them with@mux/mux-player-reactusing the asset's playback ID.On other plans, use a dedicated video service: install
sanity-plugin-mux-inputto upload and manage videos in your Mux account from the Studio, or host video on a platform such as YouTube or Vimeo and store only the embed URL in Sanity.Small clips and short previews in a
filefield are acceptable, but any user-facing video at scale must go through Media Library or a streaming service.
Quick Reference
Integration Guides
get-started- Interactive onboarding for new Sanity projectsnextjs- Next.js App Router, Live Content API, standalone Studionuxt- Nuxt integration with @nuxtjs/sanityangular- Angular integration with @sanity/client, signals, resource APIastro- Astro integration with @sanity/astroremix- React Router / Remix integrationsvelte- SvelteKit integration with @sanity/svelte-loaderhydrogen- Shopify Hydrogen with Sanityproject-structure- Standalone Studio and monorepo patternsapp-sdk- Custom applications with Sanity App SDKdashboard- Studios and apps in the Sanity Dashboard: defineApplication, local dev, deploys, Dashboard hooksblueprints- Infrastructure as Code: blueprint files, stacks, plan/deploy workflow, error recovery, CI deploysfunctions- Automating content workflows with Sanity Functions and webhooks
Topic Guides
groq- GROQ query patterns, type safety, performance optimizationschema- Schema design, field definitions, validation, deprecation patternsvisual-editing- Presentation Tool, Stega, overlays, live previewpage-builder- Page Builder arrays, block components, live editingportable-text- Rich text rendering and custom componentsimage- Image schema, URL builder, hotspots, LQIP, Next.js Imagestudio-structure- Desk structure, singletons, navigationtypegen- TypeGen configuration, workflow, type utilitiesseo- Metadata, sitemaps, Open Graph, JSON-LDlocalization- i18n patterns, document vs field-level, locale managementmigration- Content import overview (see alsomigration-html-import)migration-html-import- HTML to Portable Text with @portabletext/block-tools
How to Use
Start with the single framework or topic guide that best matches the request, then read additional references only when the task crosses concerns. Use these reference files for detailed explanations and code examples:
references/groq.md
references/schema.md
references/nextjs.mdEach reference file contains:
Comprehensive topic or integration coverage
Incorrect and correct code examples
Decision matrices and workflow guidance
Framework-specific patterns where applicable
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer873 B
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.0 KiB
- SKILL.md5.4 KiB
- references/angular.md18.6 KiB
- references/app-sdk.md12.0 KiB
- references/astro.md4.9 KiB
- references/blueprints.md14.1 KiB
- references/dashboard.md6.5 KiB
- references/functions.md29.7 KiB
- references/get-started.md21.0 KiB
- references/groq.md14.4 KiB
- references/hydrogen.md6.8 KiB
- references/image.md3.3 KiB
- references/localization.md12.0 KiB
- references/migration-html-import.md5.2 KiB
- references/migration.md2.7 KiB
- references/nextjs.md16.3 KiB
- references/nuxt.md5.9 KiB
- references/page-builder.md8.2 KiB
- references/portable-text.md9.8 KiB
- references/project-structure.md3.5 KiB
- references/remix.md8.8 KiB
- references/schema.md12.4 KiB
- references/seo.md8.3 KiB
- references/studio-structure.md4.0 KiB
- references/svelte.md10.0 KiB
- references/typegen.md6.1 KiB
- references/visual-editing.md8.4 KiB
references/portable-text.md
title: "Sanity Portable Text Rules" description: Portable Text (Rich Text) rendering and custom component creation for React/Next.js.
Sanity Portable Text Rules
Portable Text is Sanity's rich text format, used for content like article bodies (body[]). This guide covers rendering and creating custom PTE components.
Note: For page-level layout blocks (pageBuilder[]), see page-builder.md.
1. The Component
Use the PortableText component from next-sanity (or @portabletext/react).
import { PortableText } from "next-sanity";
// or import { PortableText } from "@portabletext/react";
export function Content({ value }: { value: any }) {
return <PortableText value={value} components={components} />;
}2. Custom Components (components prop)
Always define a typed components object to handle custom blocks, marks, and list styles.
import { PortableTextComponents } from "next-sanity";
const components: PortableTextComponents = {
// 1. Block styles (paragraphs, headings)
block: {
h1: ({ children }) => <h1 className="text-4xl font-bold">{children}</h1>,
h2: ({ children }) => <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold">{children}</h2>,
blockquote: ({ children }) => <blockquote className="border-l-4 pl-4">{children}</blockquote>,
},
// 2. Custom types (non-text blocks like images, videos)
types: {
image: ({ value }) => <SanityImage value={value} />,
callToAction: ({ value }) => <Button href={value.url}>{value.text}</Button>,
},
// 3. Marks (inline decorators and annotations)
marks: {
strong: ({ children }) => <strong className="font-bold">{children}</strong>,
em: ({ children }) => <em className="italic">{children}</em>,
link: ({ children, value }) => {
const rel = !value.href.startsWith("/") ? "noreferrer noopener" : undefined;
return <a href={value.href} rel={rel} className="underline text-blue-600">{children}</a>;
},
},
// 4. Lists
list: {
bullet: ({ children }) => <ul className="list-disc ml-4">{children}</ul>,
number: ({ children }) => <ol className="list-decimal ml-4">{children}</ol>,
},
};3. Component Categories
Portable Text has three types of custom components, each with different patterns:
| Type | Examples | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Block styles | h1, h2, blockquote, normal | Text blocks with children prop |
| Custom types | image, video, callToAction | Non-text blocks with value prop |
| Marks | link, strong, productRef | Inline annotations wrapping text |
4. Creating Block Style Components
Block styles are text blocks like headings and paragraphs. For simple styling, inline components work fine:
block: {
h2: ({ children }) => <h2 className="mt-8 mb-4 text-3xl font-bold">{children}</h2>,
normal: ({ children }) => <p className="mb-4 leading-relaxed">{children}</p>,
}With Visual Editing Support
For live editing in the Presentation Tool, block style components may need both a client and server version:
// Heading2.tsx (Server - simple SSR for production)
export function Heading2({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
return <h2 className="mt-8 mb-4 text-3xl font-bold">{children}</h2>;
}
// Heading2Client.tsx (Client - for visual editing context)
'use client'
export function Heading2Client({ children, value }: { children: React.ReactNode; value: any }) {
// Can access block data via `value` for advanced patterns
return <h2 className="mt-8 mb-4 text-3xl font-bold">{children}</h2>;
}Use useIsPresentationTool to conditionally render the client version:
import { useIsPresentationTool } from 'next-sanity/hooks'
function Heading2Wrapper(props) {
const isPresentationTool = useIsPresentationTool()
if (isPresentationTool) {
return <Heading2Client {...props} />
}
return <Heading2 {...props} />
}5. Creating Custom Type Components
Custom types are non-text blocks like images, videos, or CTAs embedded in rich text.
Schema Definition
// schemaTypes/blocks/pteImageBlock.ts
import { defineType, defineField } from 'sanity'
export const pteImageBlock = defineType({
name: 'pteImage',
title: 'Image',
type: 'object',
fields: [
defineField({ name: 'image', type: 'image', options: { hotspot: true } }),
defineField({ name: 'caption', type: 'string' }),
defineField({ name: 'alt', type: 'string', validation: (r) => r.required() }),
],
preview: {
select: { title: 'caption', media: 'image' },
},
})Register in Body Schema
defineField({
name: 'body',
type: 'array',
of: [
{ type: 'block' }, // Standard text
{ type: 'pteImage' }, // Custom image block
{ type: 'pteVideo' }, // Custom video block
],
})Frontend Component
// PteImageComponent.tsx
'use client'
type PteImageProps = {
value: {
_key: string
image: any
caption?: string
alt: string
}
}
export function PteImageComponent({ value }: PteImageProps) {
if (!value.image) return null
return (
<figure className="my-8">
<SanityImage value={value.image} alt={value.alt} />
{value.caption && (
<figcaption className="text-sm text-gray-600 mt-2">{value.caption}</figcaption>
)}
</figure>
)
}
// Register in components
const components: PortableTextComponents = {
types: {
pteImage: PteImageComponent,
},
}6. Creating Mark Components
Marks are inline annotations that wrap text—links, highlights, or custom references.
Schema Definition (Annotation)
// In your block configuration
defineField({
name: 'body',
type: 'array',
of: [
{
type: 'block',
marks: {
decorators: [
{ title: 'Strong', value: 'strong' },
{ title: 'Emphasis', value: 'em' },
{ title: 'Highlight', value: 'highlight' },
],
annotations: [
{
name: 'link',
type: 'object',
fields: [
{ name: 'href', type: 'url', title: 'URL' },
{ name: 'openInNewTab', type: 'boolean' },
],
},
{
name: 'productRef',
type: 'object',
title: 'Product Reference',
fields: [
{ name: 'product', type: 'reference', to: [{ type: 'product' }] },
],
},
],
},
},
],
})Frontend Component
// LinkMark.tsx
type LinkMarkProps = {
children: React.ReactNode
value: {
href: string
openInNewTab?: boolean
}
}
export function LinkMark({ children, value }: LinkMarkProps) {
const { href, openInNewTab } = value
const target = openInNewTab ? '_blank' : undefined
const rel = openInNewTab ? 'noopener noreferrer' : undefined
return (
<a href={href} target={target} rel={rel} className="text-blue-600 underline">
{children}
</a>
)
}
// Register in components
const components: PortableTextComponents = {
marks: {
link: LinkMark,
highlight: ({ children }) => <mark className="bg-yellow-200">{children}</mark>,
},
}7. Presentation Queries for PTE Blocks
For faster live editing of custom PTE blocks, use presentation queries that fetch only the specific block:
// queries.ts
export const PTE_IMAGE_PRESENTATION_QUERY = defineQuery(`
*[_id == $documentId][0]{
_id,
_type,
"pteImageBlock": body[_key == $blockKey && _type == "pteImage"][0]{
_key,
image,
caption,
alt
}
}
`)Then in your component:
'use client'
import { usePresentationQuery } from 'next-sanity/hooks'
export function PteImageComponent({ value, documentId }: { value: any; documentId?: string }) {
const { data } = usePresentationQuery({
query: PTE_IMAGE_PRESENTATION_QUERY,
params: { documentId, blockKey: value._key },
})
const blockData = data?.pteImageBlock || value
// ... render with blockData
}Note: You'll need to pass documentId through to your PTE components. See visual-editing.md for context patterns.
8. GROQ Fragment for PTE
When querying documents with Portable Text, expand custom blocks:
*[_type == "article" && slug.current == $slug][0]{
...,
body[]{
...,
_type == "pteImage" => {
...,
"imageUrl": image.asset->url
},
_type == "pteVideo" => {
...,
video->{ title, url }
}
}
}9. Stega and Visual Editing
When Visual Editing is enabled, text content contains invisible stega characters for click-to-edit functionality.
For text rendering: Let stega characters pass through—they enable overlays:
// Good - stega preserved for click-to-edit
<h2>{children}</h2>For logic/comparisons: Clean the values first:
import { stegaClean } from '@sanity/client/stega'
// Clean before using in logic
const cleanedStyle = stegaClean(block.style)
if (cleanedStyle === 'h2') { ... }10. Type Safety
When using TypeGen, the Portable Text value usually has a complex generated type. You can often use any or PortableTextBlock[] for the prop, but cast specific blocks if needed.
import { PortableTextBlock } from "next-sanity";
type Props = {
value: PortableTextBlock[];
};11. Best Practices
Tailwind Typography: For simple blogs, wrap
<PortableText />in a<div className="prose">(from@tailwindcss/typography) instead of manually styling every block.Handling Nulls: Always check if
valueexists and is an array before rendering.Keys: The
PortableTextcomponent handles React keys automatically using the_keyfrom Sanity. Do not add keys manually.Separate from Page Builder: PTE blocks live in
body[](rich text fields), notpageBuilder[](page layout). Keep these patterns separate.
Requirements and compatibility
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
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Attribution and licence
- Published by
- Sanity
- Publisher
- Sanity (Official)
- Source
- sanity-io/agent-toolkit · skills/sanity-best-practices · commit 3ed3a14
- Licence
- MIT License (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
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