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/seo.md
title: Sanity SEO Best Practices description: SEO best practices for Sanity with Next.js, including metadata, Open Graph, sitemaps, redirects, and JSON-LD structured data.
Sanity SEO Best Practices
1. Core Philosophy
SEO doesn't require complex configurations. A few core principles, applied consistently:
Smart defaults with optional overrides — Don't require SEO fields; use existing content as fallback
Use GROQ for fallback logic — Move conditional logic into queries, not components
Leverage Next.js APIs — Use
generateMetadata,sitemap.ts, not manual<meta>tagsStructured content = structured data — Your content model is already SEO-ready
2. SEO Schema Type (Reusable)
Create a reusable SEO object type for consistent metadata across document types.
// schemaTypes/seoType.ts
import { defineField, defineType } from "sanity";
export const seoType = defineType({
name: "seo",
title: "SEO",
type: "object",
fields: [
defineField({
name: "title",
description: "Overrides the page title if provided",
type: "string",
}),
defineField({
name: "description",
type: "text",
rows: 3,
}),
defineField({
name: "image",
description: "Image for social sharing (1200x630 recommended)",
type: "image",
options: { hotspot: true },
}),
defineField({
name: "noIndex",
description: "Hide this page from search engines",
type: "boolean",
initialValue: false,
}),
],
});Usage in document types:
defineField({
name: "seo",
type: "seo",
})3. GROQ Queries with Fallbacks
Use coalesce() to provide fallback values. This keeps frontend logic clean.
*[_type == "page" && slug.current == $slug][0]{
...,
"seo": {
// Use SEO field if provided, otherwise fall back to main title
"title": coalesce(seo.title, title, ""),
"description": coalesce(seo.description, ""),
"image": seo.image,
"noIndex": seo.noIndex == true
}
}Key principle: seo.title will never be null — it contains either the SEO override, the page title, or empty string.
4. Next.js Metadata (The Right Way)
Use generateMetadata — never render <title> or <meta> tags directly in components.
// app/(frontend)/[slug]/page.tsx
import type { Metadata } from "next";
import { urlFor } from "@/sanity/lib/image";
type RouteProps = {
params: Promise<{ slug: string }>;
};
// Extract fetch to reuse in both functions
const getPage = async (params: RouteProps["params"]) =>
sanityFetch({
query: PAGE_QUERY,
params: await params,
stega: false, // Critical for SEO!
});
export async function generateMetadata({ params }: RouteProps): Promise<Metadata> {
const { data: page } = await getPage(params);
if (!page) return {};
const metadata: Metadata = {
title: page.seo.title,
description: page.seo.description,
};
// Open Graph image
if (page.seo.image) {
metadata.openGraph = {
images: {
url: urlFor(page.seo.image).width(1200).height(630).url(),
width: 1200,
height: 630,
},
};
}
// noIndex robots directive
if (page.seo.noIndex) {
metadata.robots = "noindex";
}
return metadata;
}
export default async function Page({ params }: RouteProps) {
const { data: page } = await getPage(params);
// ... render page
}Critical: Always set stega: false when fetching for metadata. Stega characters in <title> destroy SEO.
5. Dynamic Sitemap
Use Next.js sitemap.ts convention to auto-generate from Sanity content.
GROQ Query
*[_type in ["page", "post"] && defined(slug.current) && seo.noIndex != true] {
"href": select(
_type == "page" => "/" + slug.current,
_type == "post" => "/posts/" + slug.current,
slug.current
),
_updatedAt
}Route Implementation
// app/sitemap.ts
import { MetadataRoute } from "next";
import { client } from "@/sanity/lib/client";
import { SITEMAP_QUERY } from "@/sanity/lib/queries";
export default async function sitemap(): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
const baseUrl = process.env.VERCEL_URL
? `https://${process.env.VERCEL_URL}`
: "http://localhost:3000";
try {
const paths = await client.fetch(SITEMAP_QUERY);
if (!paths) return [];
return paths.map((path) => ({
url: new URL(path.href!, baseUrl).toString(),
lastModified: new Date(path._updatedAt),
changeFrequency: "weekly",
priority: 1,
}));
} catch (error) {
console.error("Sitemap generation failed:", error);
return [];
}
}Note: Sitemap limit is 50,000 URLs per file. For larger sites, use sitemap index.
6. Redirects (Managed in Sanity)
Create a redirect document type for content team management.
Schema
// schemaTypes/redirectType.ts
import { defineField, defineType, SanityDocumentLike } from "sanity";
import { LinkIcon } from "@sanity/icons/Link";
function isValidPath(value: string | undefined) {
if (!value) return "Required";
if (!value.startsWith("/")) return "Must start with /";
if (/[^a-zA-Z0-9\-_/:]/.test(value)) return "Invalid characters";
return true;
}
export const redirectType = defineType({
name: "redirect",
type: "document",
icon: LinkIcon,
validation: (Rule) =>
Rule.custom((doc: SanityDocumentLike | undefined) => {
if (doc?.source === doc?.destination) {
return "Source and destination cannot be the same";
}
return true;
}),
fields: [
defineField({
name: "source",
type: "string",
validation: (Rule) => Rule.required().custom(isValidPath),
}),
defineField({
name: "destination",
type: "string",
validation: (Rule) => Rule.required(),
}),
defineField({
name: "permanent",
description: "301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary)",
type: "boolean",
initialValue: true,
}),
defineField({
name: "isEnabled",
type: "boolean",
initialValue: true,
}),
],
});Next.js Config
// next.config.ts
import { fetchRedirects } from "@/sanity/lib/fetchRedirects";
const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
async redirects() {
return await fetchRedirects();
},
};Limits: Vercel allows max 1,024 redirects in next.config. For more, use middleware.
7. Dynamic Open Graph Images
Generate OG images on-the-fly using Next.js Edge Runtime at /api/og.
// app/api/og/route.tsx
import { ImageResponse } from "next/og";
export const runtime = "edge";
export async function GET(request: Request) {
const id = new URL(request.url).searchParams.get("id");
if (!id) return new Response("Missing id", { status: 400 });
const data = await client.fetch(`*[_id == $id][0]{ title }`, { id });
return new ImageResponse(
<div tw="flex w-full h-full bg-blue-500 text-white p-10">
<h1 tw="text-6xl font-bold">{data?.title || "Untitled"}</h1>
</div>,
{ width: 1200, height: 630 }
);
}Use as fallback in metadata: url: page.seo.image ? urlFor(page.seo.image).url() : \/api/og?id=${page._id}``
8. JSON-LD Structured Data
Use schema-dts for type-safe structured data.
npm install schema-dtsFAQ Example
import { FAQPage, WithContext } from "schema-dts";
const generateFaqData = (faqs: FAQ[]): WithContext<FAQPage> => ({
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "FAQPage",
mainEntity: faqs.map((faq) => ({
"@type": "Question",
name: faq.title,
acceptedAnswer: {
"@type": "Answer",
text: faq.text, // Use pt::text() in GROQ to get plain text
},
})),
});
// In component
<script
type="application/ld+json"
dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: JSON.stringify(generateFaqData(faqs)) }}
/>GROQ for Plain Text
faqs[]->{
_id,
title,
body,
"text": pt::text(body) // Convert Portable Text to plain string
}9. Testing Tools
Open Graph: opengraph.ing
Facebook: Sharing Debugger
Twitter: Card Validator
LinkedIn: Post Inspector
Sitemap: XML Sitemaps Validator
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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