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/remix.md
title: React Router (Remix) & Sanity Integration Rules description: Integration guide for React Router v7 (and Remix v2) with Sanity, including loaders and visual editing.
React Router (Remix) & Sanity Integration Rules
Version Note
The primary examples below use React Router v7 (the current shape — Remix v2 was renamed to React Router v7 starting with the v7 release). Import paths and the route-types file (./+types/<route>) come from the react-router package and the framework's typegen.
If you are on the older Remix v2 stack, the integration shape is identical; only the import paths differ:
| React Router v7 | Remix v2 |
|---|---|
react-router | @remix-run/node / @remix-run/react |
import type { Route } from "./+types/<route>" | import type { LoaderFunctionArgs } from "@remix-run/node" + useLoaderData<typeof loader>() |
react-router.config.ts | remix.config.js |
1. Setup & Client Pattern
Scaffold a new React Router v7 app
npx create-react-router@latest my-app -y
cd my-app
npm install @sanity/client @sanity/react-loader @sanity/visual-editing @portabletext/react groq-y accepts defaults. The Sanity packages cover server loaders (@sanity/react-loader, @sanity/client), live preview (@sanity/visual-editing), Portable Text rendering (@portabletext/react), and typed queries (groq).
To support both server-side fetching and client-side live previews, use the Split Loader Pattern.
A. Environment Variables
React Router runs on Vite. Any module reachable from a route component gets bundled into the client — process.env doesn't exist there and will throw ReferenceError: process is not defined on client-side route transitions (SSR will still work, which makes this trap easy to miss).
Split publishable values from secrets:
Publishable (
projectId,dataset,apiVersion,studioUrl): prefix withVITE_and read viaimport.meta.env. Safe to import from anywhere.Secrets (read tokens, webhook secrets): keep unprefixed and read via
process.envonly inside*.server.tsfiles. Never re-export them from a shared module.
.env:
VITE_SANITY_PROJECT_ID=your-project-id
VITE_SANITY_DATASET=production
VITE_SANITY_API_VERSION=2026-02-01
VITE_SANITY_STUDIO_URL=http://localhost:3333
SANITY_API_READ_TOKEN=your-read-tokenapp/sanity/env.ts — browser-safe, publishable values only:
export const projectId = import.meta.env.VITE_SANITY_PROJECT_ID!
export const dataset = import.meta.env.VITE_SANITY_DATASET!
export const apiVersion = import.meta.env.VITE_SANITY_API_VERSION ?? '2026-02-01'
export const studioUrl = import.meta.env.VITE_SANITY_STUDIO_URLB. Shared Loader (app/sanity/loader.ts)
Defines the store config (SSR enabled, client deferred).
import { createQueryStore } from '@sanity/react-loader'
export const {
loadQuery,
setServerClient,
useQuery,
useLiveMode,
} = createQueryStore({ client: false, ssr: true })C. Server Loader (app/sanity/loader.server.ts)
Initializes the server client. Read the token directly from process.env here — do not import it from env.ts, or it will leak into the client bundle the moment any client-reachable module touches env.ts.
import { createClient } from '@sanity/client'
import { loadQuery, setServerClient } from './loader'
import { projectId, dataset, apiVersion, studioUrl } from './env'
const client = createClient({
projectId,
dataset,
apiVersion,
useCdn: true,
token: process.env.SANITY_API_READ_TOKEN,
stega: {
// Stega encodes invisible markers into string fields for click-to-edit
// overlays in the Presentation tool. Those markers can leak into copy/paste,
// screen readers, and some downstream renderers, so only enable when actually
// previewing — gate on an env var that's only set in preview environments.
enabled: Boolean(studioUrl),
studioUrl,
},
})
setServerClient(client)
export { loadQuery }D. Browser-safe Client + Image URL Builder (app/sanity/client.ts, app/sanity/image.ts)
Anything used by a route component runs in the browser too. Build a separate publishable-only client for things like the image URL builder:
// app/sanity/client.ts
import { createClient } from '@sanity/client'
import { projectId, dataset, apiVersion } from './env'
export const client = createClient({
projectId,
dataset,
apiVersion,
useCdn: true,
})// app/sanity/image.ts
import imageUrlBuilder from '@sanity/image-url'
import { client } from './client'
const builder = imageUrlBuilder(client)
export const urlFor = (source: Parameters<typeof builder.image>[0]) => builder.image(source)Install @sanity/image-url if you'll render images:
npm install @sanity/image-urlE. Queries (app/sanity/queries.ts)
Keep query definitions in one place so route loaders, components, and TypeGen all read the same source.
import { defineQuery } from "groq";
export const POSTS_QUERY = defineQuery(
`*[_type == "post" && defined(slug.current)] | order(_createdAt desc){
_id, title, slug
}`
);
export const POST_QUERY = defineQuery(
`*[_type == "post" && slug.current == $slug][0]{
_id, title, body, image
}`
);2. Data Fetching (Loaders)
Use loadQuery from your server file in route loaders. Import the generated Route type from ./+types/<route> — React Router writes one type module per route file.
// app/routes/home.tsx
import type { Route } from "./+types/home";
import { loadQuery } from "~/sanity/loader.server";
import { POSTS_QUERY } from "~/sanity/queries";
export async function loader() {
const initial = await loadQuery(POSTS_QUERY, {});
return { initial, query: POSTS_QUERY, params: {} };
}
export default function Home({ loaderData }: Route.ComponentProps) {
const { initial } = loaderData;
// …pass to component
}For Remix v2: replace Route.ComponentProps / Route.LoaderArgs with useLoaderData<typeof loader>() and LoaderFunctionArgs from @remix-run/node.
3. Dynamic Routes (:slug)
Register the dynamic route in app/routes.ts:
import { type RouteConfig, index, route } from "@react-router/dev/routes";
export default [
index("routes/home.tsx"),
route(":slug", "routes/post.tsx"),
] satisfies RouteConfig;Then in app/routes/post.tsx:
import type { Route } from "./+types/post";
import { PortableText } from "@portabletext/react";
import { loadQuery } from "~/sanity/loader.server";
import { useQuery } from "~/sanity/loader";
import { urlFor } from "~/sanity/image";
import { POST_QUERY } from "~/sanity/queries";
export async function loader({ params }: Route.LoaderArgs) {
const initial = await loadQuery(POST_QUERY, { slug: params.slug });
return { initial, query: POST_QUERY, params: { slug: params.slug } };
}
export default function Post({ loaderData }: Route.ComponentProps) {
const { initial, query, params } = loaderData;
const { data: post } = useQuery(query, params, { initial });
return (
<article>
<h1>{post?.title}</h1>
{post?.image && (
<img src={urlFor(post.image).width(1200).url()} alt={post.title ?? ""} />
)}
{post?.body && <PortableText value={post.body} />}
</article>
);
}This route is the canonical shape that exposes the env trap: urlFor → client.ts → env.ts. If env.ts reads process.env, the route works under SSR (curl returns HTML) but the client-side <Link> navigation will throw ReferenceError: process is not defined in the browser console and React Router will hard-reload back to /.
4. Real-time Preview & Visual Editing
A. Use useQuery in Components
Import useQuery from your shared loader file.
import { useQuery } from "~/sanity/loader";
export default function Page({ loaderData }: Route.ComponentProps) {
const { initial, query, params } = loaderData;
const { data, encodeDataAttribute } = useQuery(query, params, { initial });
return (
<h1 data-sanity={encodeDataAttribute("title")}>
{data?.title}
</h1>
);
}B. Enable Live Mode (VisualEditing.tsx)
Create a component to handle the connection.
import { enableVisualEditing } from '@sanity/visual-editing'
import { useLiveMode } from '~/sanity/loader'
import { client } from '~/sanity/client' // Your browser-safe client
import { useEffect } from 'react'
export default function VisualEditing() {
useEffect(() => enableVisualEditing(), [])
useLiveMode({ client })
return null
}Render this component in root.tsx only when valid (e.g., check env vars or user session).
5. Stega Cleaning
When using data for logic (routing, classNames), use stegaClean.
import { stegaClean } from "@sanity/client/stega"
// ...
if (stegaClean(slug) === 'home') { ... }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.
Security
No issues found by our static scan· No issues found
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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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