Collection
Overview
Collections are a core concept in the theme for organizing and managing documents. Each collection points to a specific folder in the source directory, treating all Markdown files within it as a logical unit for management.
Through flexible collection configuration, you can easily build various content architectures:
- Blog - Personal essays and technical sharing
- Column - Thematic series articles
- User Manual - Product usage documentation
- Notes - Study notes and knowledge organization
- Product Documentation - Complete project documentation
- Knowledge Base - Team knowledge management system
- And more...
Creating a Collection
A typical VuePress static site has the following file structure:
.vuepress
…
README.md# Homepage
package.json
When you want to add a collection for a blog:
Create a blog directory
post-1.md
post-2.md
…
…
Add a collection of type
postin the theme configurationSet the
dirconfiguration option to point to theblogdirectory.vuepress/config.tsimport {defineUserConfig} from 'vuepress' import {plumeTheme} from 'vuepress-theme-plume' export defaultdefineUserConfig({theme:plumeTheme({collections: [ {type: 'post',dir: 'blog',title: 'Blog' } ] }) }).vuepress/plume.config.tsimport {defineThemeConfig} from 'vuepress-theme-plume' export defaultdefineThemeConfig({collections: [ {type: 'post',dir: 'blog',title: 'Blog' } ] })Markdown articles in the
blogdirectory are read as article lists in the post collection, generating list pages, category pages, tag pages, and other pages.Complete
Key considerations in this process:
dirConfiguration OptionThe
diroption in the collection configuration points to a specific folder in the source directory. All Markdown files within this folder will belong to the collection.typeConfiguration OptionThe
typeoption in the collection configuration specifies the collection type.The collection type determines which features are provided for documents within that collection. Currently supported types include:
post: Represents a collection of fragmented articles with no or weak relationships between them.doc: Represents a collection of structured articles with strong, structured relationships between them, treated as a whole.
titleConfiguration OptionThe
titleoption in the collection configuration specifies the collection name.In the theme,
titleis used in the breadcrumb navigation of pages.
Collection Types
The collection type determines which features are provided for documents within that collection.
About Frontmatter
The frontmatter mentioned in the table below refers to the YAML format metadata at the top of a Markdown file, used to configure the page's title, creation time, tags, categories, and other information. It is wrapped by three dashes ---, for example:
---
title: Article Title
createTime: 2024-01-01
tags:
- Tag1
- Tag2
---
Content...The theme supports automatic frontmatter generation. See Auto Frontmatter for details.
| Feature | Post Collection | Doc Collection |
|---|---|---|
| Use Case | Blogs, essays, fragmented articles | Documentation, tutorial series, knowledge bases |
| Article List Page | ✅ Auto-generated | ❌ Not generated |
| Category Page | ✅ Generated from directory structure | ❌ Not generated |
| Tag Page | ✅ Generated from frontmatter.tags | ❌ Not generated |
| Archive Page | ✅ Generated from createTime | ❌ Not generated |
| Sidebar | ❌ Not generated | ✅ Auto-generated or manually configured |
| Directory Structure | Flat, no strong relationships between articles | Hierarchical, structured relationships between articles |
| Auto Frontmatter | ✅ Supports title, createTime, etc. | ✅ Supports title, createTime, etc. |
Post Collection
The post collection provides the following feature implementations:
- Article list page - Article pinning, article cover images, article excerpts, etc.
- Article category page - Categories are automatically generated based on the directory structure.
- Article tag page - Tags are generated based on the page's
frontmatter.tags. - Article archive page - Archives are generated based on the page's
frontmatter.createTime.
Doc Collection
The doc collection provides the following feature implementations:
- Sidebar Navigation - Provides clear document structure navigation
- Auto-generated Table of Contents - Intelligently generates sidebars based on file structure
- Multi-level Nesting Support - Supports complex document hierarchy structures
Deprecated
The notes configuration option from the old version has been deprecated. Please use the collections configuration instead. notes will be removed in a future major version.
The directories and document structures in the notes configuration can be migrated to the doc type collection in collections. Refer to Collection Configuration for more details.
