Working with Collections

Difficulty: Intermediate | Time: 15-20 minutes

This guide explains Astrolock’s collection system and how to use it effectively for organizing audio, image, video, and text content.

What are Collections?

Collections are groups of related content. Astrolock has two types:

Built-in Collections

Blog - Traditional blog posts
Authors - Author profiles and bios

These exist in every Astrolock site.

Media Collections

User-defined collections for different media types:

Audio - Music, mixes, podcasts, recordings
Image - Photos, galleries, artwork
Video - Tutorials, vlogs, films

You define these during bootstrap or add them later.

Why Collections?

Collections provide:

Organization: Keep related content together
Type Safety: Audio collections expect audio files
URL Structure: Clean URLs like /mixes/summer-2025
Flexibility: Create ANY type of media collection
Scalability: Manage hundreds of items per collection

Creating Collections

During Bootstrap

When you run astrolock init, you’re asked:

? Create a media collection (Y/n): y

Then for each collection:

? Choose type (1-3):
  1) Audio (MP3, WAV, etc.)
  2) Image (JPG, PNG, etc.)
  3) Video (MP4, etc.)

? Collection name (URL-friendly): mixes
? Display name: DJ Mixes
? File extension: .mp3
? Enable genres (Y/n): y

After Bootstrap

Add collections anytime by editing .astrolock/astrolock.yaml:

collections:
  mixes:
    displayName: "DJ Mixes"
    contentType: "audio"
    defaults:
      contentExtension: "mp3"
    features:
      genres: true
      archive: true

After adding a collection, restart the development server to see your changes.

Collection Types

Audio Collections

Use For:

DJ mixes
Podcasts
Music tracks
Sound recordings
Radio shows

Example:

collections:
  podcasts:
    displayName: "Podcast Episodes"
    contentType: "audio"
    defaults:
      contentExtension: "mp3"

Media Location:

public/audio/content/podcasts/

Image Collections

Use For:

Photo galleries
Portfolios
Artwork
Event photos
Product images

Example:

collections:
  galleries:
    displayName: "Photo Galleries"
    contentType: "images"
    defaults:
      contentExtension: "jpg"

Media Location:

public/images/content/galleries/

Video Collections

Use For:

Tutorials
Vlogs
Documentaries
Product demos
Performances

Example:

collections:
  tutorials:
    displayName: "Video Tutorials"
    contentType: "video"
    defaults:
      contentExtension: "mp4"

Media Location:

public/video/content/tutorials/

Naming Collections

Collection Name (Internal)

This is the URL-safe name:

Rules:

Lowercase only
No spaces (use hyphens)
Letters, numbers, hyphens only
Used in URLs
Used in directory names

Good Examples:

mixes
photo-galleries
dj-sets
tutorials

Bad Examples:

DJ Mixes (uppercase, spaces)
my_gallery (underscores)
2024-photos (starts with number)

Display Name

This is the human-readable name:

Rules:

Any characters allowed
Used in navigation
Used in page titles
Can include spaces, capitals

Examples:

“DJ Mixes”
“Photo Galleries”
“Video Tutorials”
“My Awesome Podcasts”

Viewing Collections

Check Your Collections

View your collections configuration in .astrolock/astrolock.yaml:

cat .astrolock/astrolock.yaml

Example:

collections:
  # Your collections
  mixes:
    displayName: "DJ Mixes"
    contentType: "audio"
    defaults:
      author: "DJ Awesome"
      contentExtension: "mp3"
    features:
      genres: true

  galleries:
    displayName: "Photo Galleries"
    contentType: "images"
    defaults:
      author: "Photographer"
      contentExtension: "jpg"