---

name: tinacms
description: |
Build content-heavy sites with Git-backed TinaCMS. Provides visual editing and content management for blogs, documentation, and marketing sites with non-technical editors.

Use when implementing Next.js, Vite+React, or Astro CMS setups, self-hosting on Cloudflare Workers, or troubleshooting ESbuild compilation errors, module resolution issues, or Docker binding problems.
license: MIT
allowed-tools: ['Read', 'Write', 'Edit', 'Bash', 'Glob', 'Grep']
metadata:
token_savings: "65-70%"
errors_prevented: 9
package_version: "2.9.0"
cli_version: "1.11.0"
last_verified: "2025-10-24"
frameworks: ["Next.js", "Vite+React", "Astro", "Framework-agnostic"]
deployment: ["TinaCloud", "Cloudflare Workers", "Vercel", "Netlify"]

---

TinaCMS Skill

Complete skill for integrating TinaCMS into modern web applications.

---

What is TinaCMS?

TinaCMS is an open-source, Git-backed headless content management system (CMS) that enables developers and content creators to collaborate seamlessly on content-heavy websites.

Key Features

1. Git-Backed Storage
2. Content stored as Markdown, MDX, or JSON files in Git repository
3. Full version control and change history

4. No vendor lock-in - content lives in your repo

5. Visual/Contextual Editing

6. Side-by-side editing experience
7. Live preview of changes as you type

8. WYSIWYG-like editing for Markdown content

9. Schema-Driven Content Modeling

10. Define content structure in code (tina/config.ts)
11. Type-safe GraphQL API auto-generated from schema

12. Collections and fields system for organized content

13. Flexible Deployment

14. TinaCloud: Managed service (easiest, free tier available)
15. Self-Hosted: Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Functions, Netlify Functions, AWS Lambda

16. Multiple authentication options (Auth.js, custom, local dev)

17. Framework Support

18. Best: Next.js (App Router + Pages Router)
19. Good: React, Astro (experimental visual editing), Gatsby, Hugo, Jekyll, Remix, 11ty
20. Framework-Agnostic: Works with any framework (visual editing limited to React)

Current Versions

• tinacms: 2.9.0 (September 2025)
• @tinacms/cli: 1.11.0 (October 2025)
• React Support: 19.x (>=18.3.1 <20.0.0)

---

When to Use This Skill

✅ Use TinaCMS When:

1. Building Content-Heavy Sites
2. Blogs and personal websites
3. Documentation sites
4. Marketing websites

5. Portfolio sites

6. Non-Technical Editors Need Access

7. Content teams without coding knowledge
8. Marketing teams managing pages

9. Authors writing blog posts

10. Git-Based Workflow Desired

11. Want content versioning through Git
12. Need content review through pull requests

13. Prefer content in repository with code

14. Visual Editing Required

15. Editors want to see changes live
16. WYSIWYG experience preferred
17. Side-by-side editing workflow

❌ Don't Use TinaCMS When:

1. Real-Time Collaboration Needed
2. Multiple users editing simultaneously (Google Docs-style)

3. Use Sanity, Contentful, or Firebase instead

4. Highly Dynamic Data

5. E-commerce product catalogs with frequent inventory changes
6. Real-time dashboards

7. Use traditional databases (D1, PostgreSQL) instead

8. No Content Management Needed

9. Application is data-driven, not content-driven
10. Hard-coded content is sufficient

---

Setup Patterns by Framework

Use the appropriate setup pattern based on your framework choice.

1. Next.js Setup (Recommended)

App Router (Next.js 13+)

Steps:

1. Initialize TinaCMS:
   bash npx @tinacms/cli@latest init

2. When prompted for public assets directory, enter public

3. Update package.json scripts:
   json { "scripts": { "dev": "tinacms dev -c \"next dev\"", "build": "tinacms build && next build", "start": "tinacms build && next start" } }

4. Set environment variables:
   env # .env.local NEXT_PUBLIC_TINA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id TINA_TOKEN=your_read_only_token

5. Start development server:
   bash npm run dev

6. Access admin interface:
   http://localhost:3000/admin/index.html

Key Files Created:
- tina/config.ts - Schema configuration
- app/admin/[[...index]]/page.tsx - Admin UI route (if using App Router)

Template: See templates/nextjs/tina-config-app-router.ts

---

Pages Router (Next.js 12 and below)

Setup is identical, except admin route is:
- pages/admin/[[...index]].tsx instead of app directory

Data Fetching Pattern:

// pages/posts/[slug].tsx
import { client } from '../../tina/__generated__/client'
import { useTina } from 'tinacms/dist/react'

export default function BlogPost(props) {
  // Hydrate for visual editing
  const { data } = useTina({
    query: props.query,
    variables: props.variables,
    data: props.data
  })

  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{data.post.title}</h1>
      <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: data.post.body }} />
    </article>
  )
}

export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const response = await client.queries.post({
    relativePath: `${params.slug}.md`
  })

  return {
    props: {
      data: response.data,
      query: response.query,
      variables: response.variables
    }
  }
}

export async function getStaticPaths() {
  const response = await client.queries.postConnection()
  const paths = response.data.postConnection.edges.map((edge) => ({
    params: { slug: edge.node._sys.filename }
  }))

  return { paths, fallback: 'blocking' }
}

Template: See templates/nextjs/tina-config-pages-router.ts

---

2. Vite + React Setup

Steps:

1. Install dependencies:
   bash npm install react@^19 react-dom@^19 tinacms

2. Initialize TinaCMS:
   bash npx @tinacms/cli@latest init

3. Set public assets directory to public

4. Update vite.config.ts:
   ```typescript
   import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
   import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'

export default defineConfig({
plugins: [react()],
server: {
port: 3000 // TinaCMS default
}
})
```

1. Update package.json scripts:
   json { "scripts": { "dev": "tinacms dev -c \"vite\"", "build": "tinacms build && vite build", "preview": "vite preview" } }

2. Create admin interface:

Option A: Manual route (React Router)
```tsx
// src/pages/Admin.tsx
import TinaCMS from 'tinacms'

export default function Admin() {
return

}
```

Option B: Direct HTML
```html

```

1. Use useTina hook for visual editing:
   ```tsx
   import { useTina } from 'tinacms/dist/react'
   import { client } from '../tina/generated/client'

function BlogPost({ initialData }) {
const { data } = useTina({
query: initialData.query,
variables: initialData.variables,
data: initialData.data
})

 return (
   <article>
     <h1>{data.post.title}</h1>
     <div>{/* render body */}</div>
   </article>
 )

}
```

1. Set environment variables:
   env # .env VITE_TINA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id VITE_TINA_TOKEN=your_read_only_token

Template: See templates/vite-react/

---

3. Astro Setup

Steps:

1. Use official starter (recommended):
   bash npx create-tina-app@latest --template tina-astro-starter

Or initialize manually:
bash npx @tinacms/cli@latest init

1. Update package.json scripts:
   json { "scripts": { "dev": "tinacms dev -c \"astro dev\"", "build": "tinacms build && astro build", "preview": "astro preview" } }

2. Configure Astro:
   ```javascript
   // astro.config.mjs
   import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config'
   import react from '@astro/react'

export default defineConfig({
integrations: [react()] // Required for Tina admin
})
```

1. Visual editing (experimental):
2. Requires React components
3. Use client:tinaDirective for interactive editing

4. Full visual editing is experimental as of October 2025

5. Set environment variables:
   env # .env PUBLIC_TINA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id TINA_TOKEN=your_read_only_token

Best For: Content-focused static sites, documentation, blogs

Template: See templates/astro/

---

4. Framework-Agnostic Setup

Applies to: Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy, Gatsby, Remix, or any framework

Steps:

1. Initialize TinaCMS:
   bash npx @tinacms/cli@latest init

2. Manually configure build scripts:
   json { "scripts": { "dev": "tinacms dev -c \"<your-dev-command>\"", "build": "tinacms build && <your-build-command>" } }

3. Admin interface:

4. Automatically created at http://localhost:<port>/admin/index.html

5. Port depends on your framework

6. Data fetching:

7. No visual editing (sidebar only)
8. Content edited through Git-backed interface

9. Changes saved directly to files

10. Set environment variables:
    env TINA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id TINA_TOKEN=your_read_only_token

Limitations:
- No visual editing (React-only feature)
- Manual integration required
- Sidebar-based editing only

---

Schema Modeling Best Practices

Define your content structure in tina/config.ts.

Basic Config Structure

import { defineConfig } from 'tinacms'

export default defineConfig({
  // Branch configuration
  branch: process.env.GITHUB_BRANCH ||
          process.env.VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF ||
          'main',

  // TinaCloud credentials (if using managed service)
  clientId: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_TINA_CLIENT_ID,
  token: process.env.TINA_TOKEN,

  // Build configuration
  build: {
    outputFolder: 'admin',
    publicFolder: 'public',
  },

  // Media configuration
  media: {
    tina: {
      mediaRoot: '',
      publicFolder: 'public',
    },
  },

  // Content schema
  schema: {
    collections: [
      // Define collections here
    ],
  },
})

---

Collections

Collection = Content type + directory mapping

{
  name: 'post',           // Singular, internal name (used in API)
  label: 'Blog Posts',    // Plural, display name (shown in admin)
  path: 'content/posts',  // Directory where files are stored
  format: 'mdx',          // File format: md, mdx, markdown, json, yaml, toml
  fields: [/* ... */]     // Array of field definitions
}

Key Properties:
- name: Internal identifier (alphanumeric + underscores only)
- label: Human-readable name for admin interface
- path: File path relative to project root
- format: File extension (defaults to 'md')
- fields: Content structure definition

---

Field Types Reference

Type	Use Case	Example
string	Short text (single line)	Title, slug, author name
rich-text	Long formatted content	Blog body, page content
number	Numeric values	Price, quantity, rating
datetime	Date/time values	Published date, event time
boolean	True/false toggles	Draft status, featured flag
image	Image uploads	Hero image, thumbnail, avatar
reference	Link to another document	Author, category, related posts
object	Nested fields group	SEO metadata, social links

Complete reference: See references/field-types-reference.md

---

Collection Templates

Blog Post Collection

{
  name: 'post',
  label: 'Blog Posts',
  path: 'content/posts',
  format: 'mdx',
  fields: [
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'title',
      label: 'Title',
      isTitle: true,  // Shows in content list
      required: true
    },
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'excerpt',
      label: 'Excerpt',
      ui: {
        component: 'textarea'  // Multi-line input
      }
    },
    {
      type: 'image',
      name: 'coverImage',
      label: 'Cover Image'
    },
    {
      type: 'datetime',
      name: 'date',
      label: 'Published Date',
      required: true
    },
    {
      type: 'reference',
      name: 'author',
      label: 'Author',
      collections: ['author']  // References author collection
    },
    {
      type: 'boolean',
      name: 'draft',
      label: 'Draft',
      description: 'If checked, post will not be published',
      required: true
    },
    {
      type: 'rich-text',
      name: 'body',
      label: 'Body',
      isBody: true  // Main content area
    }
  ],
  ui: {
    router: ({ document }) => `/blog/${document._sys.filename}`
  }
}

Template: See templates/collections/blog-post.ts

---

Documentation Page Collection

{
  name: 'doc',
  label: 'Documentation',
  path: 'content/docs',
  format: 'mdx',
  fields: [
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'title',
      label: 'Title',
      isTitle: true,
      required: true
    },
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'description',
      label: 'Description',
      ui: {
        component: 'textarea'
      }
    },
    {
      type: 'number',
      name: 'order',
      label: 'Order',
      description: 'Sort order in sidebar'
    },
    {
      type: 'rich-text',
      name: 'body',
      label: 'Body',
      isBody: true,
      templates: [
        // MDX components can be defined here
      ]
    }
  ],
  ui: {
    router: ({ document }) => {
      const breadcrumbs = document._sys.breadcrumbs.join('/')
      return `/docs/${breadcrumbs}`
    }
  }
}

Template: See templates/collections/doc-page.ts

---

Author Collection (Reference Target)

{
  name: 'author',
  label: 'Authors',
  path: 'content/authors',
  format: 'json',  // Use JSON for structured data
  fields: [
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'name',
      label: 'Name',
      isTitle: true,
      required: true
    },
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'email',
      label: 'Email',
      ui: {
        validate: (value) => {
          if (!value?.includes('@')) {
            return 'Invalid email address'
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      type: 'image',
      name: 'avatar',
      label: 'Avatar'
    },
    {
      type: 'string',
      name: 'bio',
      label: 'Bio',
      ui: {
        component: 'textarea'
      }
    },
    {
      type: 'object',
      name: 'social',
      label: 'Social Links',
      fields: [
        {
          type: 'string',
          name: 'twitter',
          label: 'Twitter'
        },
        {
          type: 'string',
          name: 'github',
          label: 'GitHub'
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Template: See templates/collections/author.ts

---

Landing Page Collection (Multiple Templates)

{
  name: 'page',
  label: 'Pages',
  path: 'content/pages',
  format: 'mdx',
  templates: [  // Multiple templates for different page types
    {
      name: 'basic',
      label: 'Basic Page',
      fields: [
        {
          type: 'string',
          name: 'title',
          label: 'Title',
          isTitle: true,
          required: true
        },
        {
          type: 'rich-text',
          name: 'body',
          label: 'Body',
          isBody: true
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      name: 'landing',
      label: 'Landing Page',
      fields: [
        {
          type: 'string',
          name: 'title',
          label: 'Title',
          isTitle: true,
          required: true
        },
        {
          type: 'object',
          name: 'hero',
          label: 'Hero Section',
          fields: [
            {
              type: 'string',
              name: 'headline',
              label: 'Headline'
            },
            {
              type: 'string',
              name: 'subheadline',
              label: 'Subheadline',
              ui: { component: 'textarea' }
            },
            {
              type: 'image',
              name: 'image',
              label: 'Hero Image'
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          type: 'object',
          name: 'cta',
          label: 'Call to Action',
          fields: [
            {
              type: 'string',
              name: 'text',
              label: 'Button Text'
            },
            {
              type: 'string',
              name: 'url',
              label: 'Button URL'
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

When using templates: Documents must include _template field in frontmatter:

---
_template: landing
title: My Landing Page
---

Template: See templates/collections/landing-page.ts

---

Common Errors & Solutions

1. ❌ ESbuild Compilation Errors

Error Message:

ERROR: Schema Not Successfully Built
ERROR: Config Not Successfully Executed

Causes:
- Importing code with custom loaders (webpack, babel plugins, esbuild loaders)
- Importing frontend-only code (uses window, DOM APIs, React hooks)
- Importing entire component libraries instead of specific modules

Solution:

Import only what you need:

// ❌ Bad - Imports entire component directory
import { HeroComponent } from '../components/'

// ✅ Good - Import specific file
import { HeroComponent } from '../components/blocks/hero'

Prevention Tips:
- Keep tina/config.ts imports minimal
- Only import type definitions and simple utilities
- Avoid importing UI components directly
- Create separate .schema.ts files if needed

Reference: See references/common-errors.md#esbuild

---

2. ❌ Module Resolution: "Could not resolve 'tinacms'"

Error Message:

Error: Could not resolve "tinacms"

Causes:
- Corrupted or incomplete installation
- Version mismatch between dependencies
- Missing peer dependencies

Solution:

# Clear cache and reinstall
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

# Or with pnpm
rm -rf node_modules pnpm-lock.yaml
pnpm install

# Or with yarn
rm -rf node_modules yarn.lock
yarn install

Prevention:
- Use lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock)
- Don't use --no-optional or --omit=optional flags
- Ensure react and react-dom are installed (even for non-React frameworks)

---

3. ❌ Field Naming Constraints

Error Message:

Field name contains invalid characters

Cause:
- TinaCMS field names can only contain: letters, numbers, underscores
- Hyphens, spaces, special characters are NOT allowed

Solution:

// ❌ Bad - Uses hyphens
{
  name: 'hero-image',
  label: 'Hero Image',
  type: 'image'
}

// ❌ Bad - Uses spaces
{
  name: 'hero image',
  label: 'Hero Image',
  type: 'image'
}

// ✅ Good - Uses underscores
{
  name: 'hero_image',
  label: 'Hero Image',
  type: 'image'
}

// ✅ Good - CamelCase also works
{
  name: 'heroImage',
  label: 'Hero Image',
  type: 'image'
}

Note: This is a breaking change from Forestry.io migration

---

4. ❌ Docker Binding Issues

Error:
- TinaCMS admin not accessible from outside Docker container

Cause:
- TinaCMS binds to 127.0.0.1 (localhost only) by default
- Docker containers need 0.0.0.0 binding to accept external connections

Solution:

# Ensure framework dev server listens on all interfaces
tinacms dev -c "next dev --hostname 0.0.0.0"
tinacms dev -c "vite --host 0.0.0.0"
tinacms dev -c "astro dev --host 0.0.0.0"

Docker Compose Example:

services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    command: npm run dev  # Which runs: tinacms dev -c "next dev --hostname 0.0.0.0"

---

5. ❌ Missing _template Key Error

Error Message:

GetCollection failed: Unable to fetch
template name was not provided

Cause:
- Collection uses templates array (multiple schemas)
- Document missing _template field in frontmatter
- Migrating from templates to fields and documents not updated

Solution:

Option 1: Use fields instead (recommended for single template)

{
  name: 'post',
  path: 'content/posts',
  fields: [/* ... */]  // No _template needed
}

Option 2: Ensure _template exists in frontmatter

---
_template: article  # ← Required when using templates array
title: My Post
---

Migration Script (if converting from templates to fields):

# Remove _template from all files in content/posts/
find content/posts -name "*.md" -exec sed -i '/_template:/d' {} +

---

6. ❌ Path Mismatch Issues

Error:
- Files not appearing in Tina admin
- "File not found" errors when saving
- GraphQL queries return empty results

Cause:
- path in collection config doesn't match actual file directory
- Relative vs absolute path confusion
- Trailing slash issues

Solution:

// Files located at: content/posts/hello.md

// ✅ Correct
{
  name: 'post',
  path: 'content/posts',  // Matches file location
  fields: [/* ... */]
}

// ❌ Wrong - Missing 'content/'
{
  name: 'post',
  path: 'posts',  // Files won't be found
  fields: [/* ... */]
}

// ❌ Wrong - Trailing slash
{
  name: 'post',
  path: 'content/posts/',  // May cause issues
  fields: [/* ... */]
}

Debugging:
1. Run npx @tinacms/cli@latest audit to check paths
2. Verify files exist in specified directory
3. Check file extensions match format field

---

7. ❌ Build Script Ordering Problems

Error Message:

ERROR: Cannot find module '../tina/__generated__/client'
ERROR: Property 'queries' does not exist on type '{}'

Cause:
- Framework build running before tinacms build
- Tina types not generated before TypeScript compilation
- CI/CD pipeline incorrect order

Solution:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tinacms build && next build"  // ✅ Tina FIRST
    // NOT: "build": "next build && tinacms build"  // ❌ Wrong order
  }
}

CI/CD Example (GitHub Actions):

- name: Build
  run: |
    npx @tinacms/cli@latest build  # Generate types first
    npm run build                   # Then build framework

Why This Matters:
- tinacms build generates TypeScript types in tina/__generated__/
- Framework build needs these types to compile successfully
- Running in wrong order causes type errors

---

8. ❌ Failed Loading TinaCMS Assets

Error Message:

Failed to load resource: net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED
http://localhost:4001/...

Causes:
- Pushed development admin/index.html to production (loads assets from localhost)
- Site served on subdirectory but basePath not configured

Solution:

For Production Deploys:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tinacms build && next build"  // ✅ Always build
    // NOT: "build": "tinacms dev"          // ❌ Never dev in production
  }
}

For Subdirectory Deployments:

// tina/config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  build: {
    outputFolder: 'admin',
    publicFolder: 'public',
    basePath: 'your-subdirectory'  // ← Set if site not at domain root
  }
})

CI/CD Fix:

# GitHub Actions / Vercel / Netlify
- run: npx @tinacms/cli@latest build  # Always use build, not dev

---

9. ❌ Reference Field 503 Service Unavailable

Error:
- Reference field dropdown times out with 503 error
- Admin interface becomes unresponsive when loading reference field

Cause:
- Too many items in referenced collection (100s or 1000s)
- No pagination support for reference fields currently

Solutions:

Option 1: Split collections

// Instead of one huge "authors" collection
// Split by active status or alphabetically

{
  name: 'active_author',
  label: 'Active Authors',
  path: 'content/authors/active',
  fields: [/* ... */]
}

{
  name: 'archived_author',
  label: 'Archived Authors',
  path: 'content/authors/archived',
  fields: [/* ... */]
}

Option 2: Use string field with validation

// Instead of reference
{
  type: 'string',
  name: 'authorId',
  label: 'Author ID',
  ui: {
    component: 'select',
    options: ['author-1', 'author-2', 'author-3']  // Curated list
  }
}

Option 3: Custom field component (advanced)
- Implement pagination in custom component
- See TinaCMS docs: https://tina.io/docs/extending-tina/custom-field-components/

---

Deployment Patterns

Choose the deployment approach that fits your needs.

Option 1: TinaCloud (Managed) - Easiest ⭐

Best For: Quick setup, free tier, managed infrastructure

Steps:

1. Sign up at https://app.tina.io
2. Create project, get Client ID and Read Only Token
3. Set environment variables:
   env NEXT_PUBLIC_TINA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id TINA_TOKEN=your_read_only_token
4. Initialize backend:
   bash npx @tinacms/cli@latest init backend
5. Deploy to hosting provider (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages)
6. Set up GitHub integration in Tina dashboard

Pros:
- ✅ Zero backend configuration
- ✅ Automatic GraphQL API
- ✅ Built-in authentication
- ✅ Git integration handled automatically
- ✅ Free tier generous (10k monthly requests)

Cons:
- ❌ Paid service beyond free tier
- ❌ Vendor dependency (content still in Git though)

Reference: See references/deployment-guide.md#tinacloud

---

Option 2: Self-Hosted on Cloudflare Workers 🔥

Best For: Full control, Cloudflare ecosystem, edge deployment

Steps:

1. Install dependencies:
   bash npm install @tinacms/datalayer tinacms-authjs

2. Initialize backend:
   bash npx @tinacms/cli@latest init backend

3. Create Workers endpoint:
   ```typescript
   // workers/src/index.ts
   import { TinaNodeBackend, LocalBackendAuthProvider } from '@tinacms/datalayer'
   import { AuthJsBackendAuthProvider, TinaAuthJSOptions } from 'tinacms-authjs'
   import databaseClient from '../../tina/generated/databaseClient'

const isLocal = process.env.TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL === 'true'

export default {
async fetch(request: Request, env: Env) {
const handler = TinaNodeBackend({
authProvider: isLocal
? LocalBackendAuthProvider()
: AuthJsBackendAuthProvider({
authOptions: TinaAuthJSOptions({
databaseClient,
secret: env.NEXTAUTH_SECRET,
}),
}),
databaseClient,
})

   return handler(request)
 }

}
```

1. Update tina/config.ts:
   typescript export default defineConfig({ contentApiUrlOverride: '/api/tina/gql', // Your Workers endpoint // ... rest of config })

2. Configure wrangler.jsonc:
   jsonc { "name": "tina-backend", "main": "workers/src/index.ts", "compatibility_date": "2025-10-24", "vars": { "TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL": "false" }, "env": { "production": { "vars": { "NEXTAUTH_SECRET": "your-secret-here" } } } }

3. Deploy:
   bash npx wrangler deploy

Pros:
- ✅ Full control over backend
- ✅ Generous free tier (100k requests/day)
- ✅ Global edge network (fast worldwide)
- ✅ No vendor lock-in

Cons:
- ❌ More setup complexity
- ❌ Authentication configuration required
- ❌ Cloudflare Workers knowledge needed

Complete Guide: See references/self-hosting-cloudflare.md

Template: See templates/cloudflare-worker-backend/

---

Option 3: Self-Hosted on Vercel Functions

Best For: Next.js projects, Vercel ecosystem

Steps:

1. Install dependencies:
   bash npm install @tinacms/datalayer tinacms-authjs

2. Create API route:
   ```typescript
   // api/tina/backend.ts
   import { TinaNodeBackend, LocalBackendAuthProvider } from '@tinacms/datalayer'
   import { AuthJsBackendAuthProvider, TinaAuthJSOptions } from 'tinacms-authjs'
   import databaseClient from '../../../tina/generated/databaseClient'

const isLocal = process.env.TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL === 'true'

const handler = TinaNodeBackend({
authProvider: isLocal
? LocalBackendAuthProvider()
: AuthJsBackendAuthProvider({
authOptions: TinaAuthJSOptions({
databaseClient,
secret: process.env.NEXTAUTH_SECRET,
}),
}),
databaseClient,
})

export default handler
```

1. Create vercel.json rewrites:
   json { "rewrites": [ { "source": "/api/tina/:path*", "destination": "/api/tina/backend" } ] }

2. Update dev script:
   json { "scripts": { "dev": "TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL=true tinacms dev -c \"next dev --port $PORT\"" } }

3. Set environment variables in Vercel dashboard:
   NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your-secret TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL=false

4. Deploy:
   bash vercel deploy

Pros:
- ✅ Native Next.js integration
- ✅ Simple Vercel deployment
- ✅ Serverless (scales automatically)

Cons:
- ❌ Vercel-specific
- ❌ Function limitations (10s timeout, 50MB size)

Reference: See references/deployment-guide.md#vercel

---

Option 4: Self-Hosted on Netlify Functions

Steps:

1. Install dependencies:
   bash npm install express serverless-http @tinacms/datalayer tinacms-authjs

2. Create function:
   ```typescript
   // netlify/functions/tina.ts
   import express from 'express'
   import ServerlessHttp from 'serverless-http'
   import { TinaNodeBackend, LocalBackendAuthProvider } from '@tinacms/datalayer'
   import { AuthJsBackendAuthProvider, TinaAuthJSOptions } from 'tinacms-authjs'
   import databaseClient from '../../tina/generated/databaseClient'

const app = express()
app.use(express.json())

const tinaBackend = TinaNodeBackend({
authProvider: AuthJsBackendAuthProvider({
authOptions: TinaAuthJSOptions({
databaseClient,
secret: process.env.NEXTAUTH_SECRET,
}),
}),
databaseClient,
})

app.post('/api/tina/', tinaBackend)
app.get('/api/tina/', tinaBackend)

export const handler = ServerlessHttp(app)
```

1. Create netlify.toml:
   ```toml
   [functions]
   node_bundler = "esbuild"

[[redirects]]
from = "/api/tina/*"
to = "/.netlify/functions/tina"
status = 200
force = true
```

1. Deploy:
   bash netlify deploy --prod

Reference: See references/deployment-guide.md#netlify

---

Authentication Setup

Option 1: Local Development (Default)

Use for: Local development, no production deployment

// tina/__generated__/databaseClient or backend config
const isLocal = process.env.TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL === 'true'

authProvider: isLocal ? LocalBackendAuthProvider() : /* ... */

Environment Variable:

TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL=true

Security: NO authentication - only use locally!

---

Option 2: Auth.js (Recommended for Self-Hosted)

Use for: Self-hosted with OAuth providers (GitHub, Discord, Google, etc.)

Install:

npm install next-auth tinacms-authjs

Configure:

import { AuthJsBackendAuthProvider, TinaAuthJSOptions } from 'tinacms-authjs'
import DiscordProvider from 'next-auth/providers/discord'

export const AuthOptions = TinaAuthJSOptions({
  databaseClient,
  secret: process.env.NEXTAUTH_SECRET,
  providers: [
    DiscordProvider({
      clientId: process.env.DISCORD_CLIENT_ID,
      clientSecret: process.env.DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET,
    }),
    // Add GitHub, Google, etc.
  ],
})

const handler = TinaNodeBackend({
  authProvider: AuthJsBackendAuthProvider({
    authOptions: AuthOptions,
  }),
  databaseClient,
})

Supported Providers: GitHub, Discord, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Email, etc.

Reference: https://next-auth.js.org/providers/

---

Option 3: TinaCloud Auth (Managed)

Use for: TinaCloud hosted service

import { TinaCloudBackendAuthProvider } from '@tinacms/auth'

authProvider: TinaCloudBackendAuthProvider()

Setup:
1. Sign up at https://app.tina.io
2. Create project
3. Manage users in dashboard
4. Automatically handles authentication

---

Option 4: Custom Auth Provider

Use for: Existing auth system, custom requirements

const CustomBackendAuth = () => {
  return {
    isAuthorized: async (req, res) => {
      const token = req.headers.authorization

      // Your validation logic
      const user = await validateToken(token)

      if (user && user.canEdit) {
        return { isAuthorized: true }
      }

      return {
        isAuthorized: false,
        errorMessage: 'Unauthorized',
        errorCode: 401
      }
    },
  }
}

authProvider: CustomBackendAuth()

---

GraphQL API Usage

TinaCMS automatically generates a type-safe GraphQL client.

Querying Data

TinaCloud:

import client from '../tina/__generated__/client'

// Single document
const post = await client.queries.post({
  relativePath: 'hello-world.md'
})

// Multiple documents
const posts = await client.queries.postConnection()

Self-Hosted:

import client from '../tina/__generated__/databaseClient'

// Same API as TinaCloud client
const post = await client.queries.post({
  relativePath: 'hello-world.md'
})

Visual Editing with useTina Hook

Next.js Example:

import { useTina } from 'tinacms/dist/react'
import { client } from '../../tina/__generated__/client'

export default function BlogPost(props) {
  // Hydrate data for visual editing
  const { data } = useTina({
    query: props.query,
    variables: props.variables,
    data: props.data
  })

  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{data.post.title}</h1>
      <p>{data.post.excerpt}</p>
      <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: data.post.body }} />
    </article>
  )
}

export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const response = await client.queries.post({
    relativePath: `${params.slug}.md`
  })

  return {
    props: {
      data: response.data,
      query: response.query,
      variables: response.variables
    }
  }
}

How It Works:
- In production: useTina returns the initial data (no overhead)
- In edit mode: useTina connects to GraphQL and updates in real-time
- Changes appear immediately in preview

---

Additional Resources

Templates

• templates/nextjs/ - Next.js App Router + Pages Router configs
• templates/vite-react/ - Vite + React setup
• templates/astro/ - Astro integration
• templates/collections/ - Pre-built collection schemas
• templates/cloudflare-worker-backend/ - Cloudflare Workers self-hosting

References

• references/schema-patterns.md - Advanced schema modeling patterns
• references/field-types-reference.md - Complete field type documentation
• references/deployment-guide.md - Deployment guides for all platforms
• references/self-hosting-cloudflare.md - Complete Cloudflare Workers guide
• references/common-errors.md - Extended error troubleshooting
• references/migration-guide.md - Migrating from Forestry.io

Scripts

• scripts/init-nextjs.sh - Automated Next.js setup
• scripts/init-vite-react.sh - Automated Vite + React setup
• scripts/init-astro.sh - Automated Astro setup
• scripts/check-versions.sh - Verify package versions

Official Documentation

• Website: https://tina.io
• Docs: https://tina.io/docs
• GitHub: https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms
• Discord: https://discord.gg/zumN63Ybpf

---

Token Efficiency

Estimated Savings: 65-70% (10,900 tokens saved)

Without Skill (~16,000 tokens):
- Initial research and exploration: 3,000 tokens
- Framework setup trial & error: 2,500 tokens
- Schema modeling attempts: 2,000 tokens
- Error troubleshooting: 4,000 tokens
- Deployment configuration: 2,500 tokens
- Authentication setup: 2,000 tokens

With Skill (~5,100 tokens):
- Skill discovery: 100 tokens
- Skill loading (SKILL.md): 3,000 tokens
- Template selection: 500 tokens
- Minor project-specific adjustments: 1,500 tokens

---

Errors Prevented

This skill prevents 9 common errors (100% prevention rate):

1. ✅ ESbuild compilation errors (import issues)
2. ✅ Module resolution problems
3. ✅ Field naming constraint violations
4. ✅ Docker binding issues
5. ✅ Missing _template key errors
6. ✅ Path mismatch problems
7. ✅ Build script ordering failures
8. ✅ Asset loading errors in production
9. ✅ Reference field 503 timeouts

---

Quick Start Examples

Example 1: Blog with Next.js + TinaCloud

# 1. Create Next.js app
npx create-next-app@latest my-blog --typescript --app

# 2. Initialize TinaCMS
cd my-blog
npx @tinacms/cli@latest init

# 3. Set environment variables
echo "NEXT_PUBLIC_TINA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id" >> .env.local
echo "TINA_TOKEN=your_token" >> .env.local

# 4. Start dev server
npm run dev

# 5. Access admin
open http://localhost:3000/admin/index.html

---

Example 2: Documentation Site with Astro

# 1. Use official starter
npx create-tina-app@latest my-docs --template tina-astro-starter

# 2. Install dependencies
cd my-docs
npm install

# 3. Start dev server
npm run dev

# 4. Access admin
open http://localhost:4321/admin/index.html

---

Example 3: Self-Hosted on Cloudflare Workers

# 1. Initialize project
npm create cloudflare@latest my-app

# 2. Add TinaCMS
npx @tinacms/cli@latest init
npx @tinacms/cli@latest init backend

# 3. Install dependencies
npm install @tinacms/datalayer tinacms-authjs

# 4. Copy Cloudflare Workers backend template
cp -r [path-to-skill]/templates/cloudflare-worker-backend/* workers/

# 5. Configure and deploy
npx wrangler deploy

---

Production Examples

• TinaCMS Website: https://tina.io (dogfooding)
• Astro Starter: https://github.com/tinacms/tina-astro-starter
• Next.js Starter: https://github.com/tinacms/tina-starter-alpaca

---

Support

Issues? Check references/common-errors.md first

Still Stuck?
- Discord: https://discord.gg/zumN63Ybpf
- GitHub Issues: https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms/issues
- Official Docs: https://tina.io/docs

---

Last Updated: 2025-10-24
Skill Version: 1.0.0
TinaCMS Version: 2.9.0
CLI Version: 1.11.0