Content modelling glossary
The terms used in CMMF, explained through a Customer Story and its reusable customer profile.
A customer story needs a title, an account of the outcome, a customer profile and sometimes a quote. These terms describe those pieces and the decisions behind them.
Content model
Section titled “Content model”A definition of a kind of content: its fields, constraints, relationships and editorial intent. Customer Story is a model; a particular story about a particular customer is a content instance. CMMF describes models. It does not store the published stories.
Model set and manifest
Section titled “Model set and manifest”A model set contains the definitions needed to understand a project together. Its manifest.yaml declares the format version, namespace, model directory and supported defaults. The Customer Story set includes Customer Story, Customer and Quote; checking only the story file cannot resolve its targets.
Field and canonical type
Section titled “Field and canonical type”A field is one named part of a model, such as title or customer. Its canonical type describes the value it carries: string, richText, reference and so on. The type reference lists the exact identifiers.
Model kind
Section titled “Model kind”The role of a model. An entry stands alone; an object is embedded; a component is a reusable composable block; a taxonomy classifies content; settings describes configuration. Model kinds explain these distinctions. A kind does not prescribe a CMS storage mechanism.
Reference and target
Section titled “Reference and target”A reference links a field to content described by another model. A Customer Story’s customer field targets the Customer model. The profile can be reused across stories. Targets name model IDs, rather than particular content records.
Object and composition
Section titled “Object and composition”An object groups fields inside another model. The Quote belongs to its story and travels with it. Its field uses objectType: quote. See embed or reference for the decision behind this choice.
Repeatability and cardinality
Section titled “Repeatability and cardinality”Repeatability means a field can contain a list: use list: true in CMMF 1.2.0. Cardinality describes how many items a relationship permits. Older reference fields use relation.cardinality; migration guidance explains the compatibility rules. Requiredness and item limits are separate decisions.
Ownership
Section titled “Ownership”The intended lifecycle of a relationship. linked describes independently reusable content; contained expresses content that belongs with its container. A contained reference still needs a translation decision about how a particular CMS represents it.
Validation
Section titled “Validation”A check with a defined scope. Schema validation checks a model’s structure; semantic checks inspect the complete graph; content-instance validation checks real values against constraints. See validation.
Editorial intent and governance
Section titled “Editorial intent and governance”Editorial metadata helps people use the model: help text, labels and preview fields. Governance records ownership and lifecycle information. Neither establishes CMS permissions or an approval workflow. See editorial intent.
Translation and decisions log
Section titled “Translation and decisions log”Translation maps a CMMF model to a target platform. The decisions log records mappings, compromises and unsupported features. It makes implementation choices reviewable alongside the portable model. The translation contract describes the expected record.