Inside BCMS

Working with Groups

Groups in BCMS are reusable building blocks made up of multiple properties. You can include groups in any template, widget, or even within other groups.

Groups in BCMS are reusable building blocks made up of multiple properties. They help you organize and nest structured content in Templates and Widgets.

A group is like a mini-template: defined once and reused anywhere. You can use groups:

  • Inside templates

  • Inside widgets

  • Inside other groups (nested groups)

This makes groups powerful for representing repeating or nested content structures, such as FAQs, social links, testimonials, or sections with shared structure.

Creating and Editing a Group

To create a group in the BCMS dashboard:

  1. Navigate to Groups in the sidebar.

  2. Click Create New Group.

  3. Set a label and optional description.

  4. Add properties by dragging field types into the group builder.

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To edit a group:

  • Click on the group name to open it.

  • Use Edit Group to rename or update the description.

  • Modify its properties directly in the builder interface.

Adding Properties to a Group

You can add any supported BCMS field type to a group, including:

  • String

  • Media

  • Rich text

  • Boolean

  • Number

  • Date

  • Entry pointer

  • Other groups (for nesting)

Each property becomes part of the reusable group definition and can be type-safe in code thanks to BCMS’s automatic type generation.

Groups in Templates, Widgets, and Other Groups

Groups can be used almost anywhere:

  • In templates: Add a group field to create a shared block of properties used in every entry.

  • In widgets: For modular content blocks that need structured fields.

  • In other groups: To create nested, reusable patterns of data.

You can also make a group repeatable (an array), which is useful for:

  • Testimonials

  • Steps in a guide

  • Features or pricing tiers

  • FAQs

Type-safe usage in code

BCMS generates TypeScript types for every group you define. You can import and use these types for full type safety when rendering entries:

import type { TestimonialGroup } from '@bcms-types/ts';

type Props = {
  data: TestimonialGroup[];
};

export const Testimonials = ({ data }: Props) => (
  <section>
    {data.map((testimonial) => (
      <blockquote key={testimonial.quote}>
        <p>{testimonial.quote}</p>
        <footer>— {testimonial.name}</footer>
      </blockquote>
    ))}
  </section>
);

Example: Group inside a template

Imagine you have a Team Member template, and you want each member to have multiple social links. You can create a SocialLink group with properties like platform, url, and icon.

Then add the group to your template as a repeatable field.

import { bcms } from '@/bcms';
import type { TeamMemberEntryMetaItem } from '@bcms-types/ts';

const entry = await bcms.entry.getById<TeamMemberEntryMetaItem>(
  'team-member-slug',
  'team-member'
);

entry.meta.social_links.forEach((link) => {
  console.log(link.platform, link.url);
});

Finding where a Group is used

To programmatically find out where a group is used, call:

const usage = await bcms.group.whereIsItUsed('group_id');

console.log(usage);
// Output: list of templates, widgets, and groups where this group is referenced

This is helpful for impact analysis before deleting or updating a group.

Fetching Groups via SDK

You can retrieve group definitions directly in your code using the @thebcms/client:

// Get all groups
const groups = await bcms.group.getAll();

// Get one group by ID
const group = await bcms.group.getById('group_id');

The SDK uses in-memory caching for performance. Use skipCache: true to force-refresh data.

Deleting a Group

To delete a group:

  1. Open the group from the Groups section.

  2. Click Edit Group.

  3. Click Delete Group.

⚠️ Deleting a group will remove it from any template, widget, or group that uses it. Check where it's used before deleting, especially in production.

Conclusion

Groups are a core part of creating structured, maintainable, and scalable content models in BCMS.

Use them to:

  • Define reusable, structured patterns of fields

  • Organize complex templates

  • Avoid duplication

  • Render type-safe components in your frontend

Combined with BCMS's automatic type generation and content parsing utilities, groups make content modeling clean and developer-friendly.