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Contentstack Developers

What this is

This site is the developer homebase for Contentstack, an API-first headless CMS. Use it when you are building a website or app on Contentstack and need kickstarts, guides, live streams, a public JSON API, or an MCP server — not when you need the main product marketing site.

When to use it

  • You are implementing a Contentstack-powered frontend (Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, Angular, or similar).
  • An AI agent needs to search, read, or cite this site's public developer content.
  • You want OpenAPI, markdown, or MCP access instead of scraping HTML.

Getting started

  1. Read this page and Platform API & AI.
  2. Create a free Contentstack account if you need a stack. Browsing this site does not require an account.
  3. Pick a kickstart or follow a guide.
  4. Point an agent at /llms.txt, /agents.md, /api/openapi.json, or the MCP endpoint.

Prerequisites

  • A public HTTP client (curl, an MCP client, or a browser).
  • Optional: a Contentstack stack and delivery tokens if you are building an app, not if you are only reading this site.
  • Node.js is not required to consume the public JSON API or markdown.

Authentication

No authentication is required for this website, the public JSON API, markdown URLs, or the MCP server. Do not send API keys to developers.contentstack.com. Do not call unpublished or preview APIs.

Minimal example

Search public content:

curl "https://developers.contentstack.com/api/content?q=kickstart&limit=5"

Read a page as markdown:

curl "https://developers.contentstack.com/index.md"

OpenAPI contract:

curl "https://developers.contentstack.com/api/openapi.json"

MCP Streamable HTTP (no auth): https://developers.contentstack.com/api/mcp

Failure behavior

JSON endpoints return:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "bad_request",
    "message": "Invalid 'limit' parameter"
  }
}
StatusMeaning
400Invalid query or path input (code: bad_request)
404Unknown resource (code: not_found)
500Unexpected server error (code: internal_error)

Unknown HTML paths return HTTP 404 with recovery links to /, /search, /llms.txt, /agents.md, /sitemap.xml, /sitemap.md, and /api/content. Markdown .md fallbacks use the same 404 body as text/markdown. Do not invent a replacement URL. There is no authentication challenge on public routes.

Where the API lives

ResourceURL
OpenAPI/api/openapi.json
Content search/api/content
MCP discovery/.well-known/mcp
MCP endpoint/api/mcp
Agent policy/agents.md
LLM guidance/llms.txt
Full platform referencePlatform API & AI

Component documentation

This directory also documents the React components used to build this website.

Structure

Components are organized using Atomic Design principles, a methodology for creating design systems:

  • atoms/ - Basic, indivisible UI elements (buttons, icons, typography, etc.)
  • molecules/ - Simple combinations of atoms (search bars, tags, cards, etc.)
  • organisms/ - Complex components composed of molecules and atoms (headers, footers, sections, etc.)
  • layout/ - Layout-specific components (navigation components, theme-aware logos, etc.)
  • pages/ - Page-level components that compose organisms
  • system/ - System-level components (error boundaries, renderers)
  • cards/ - Specialized card components (search result cards)

Platform Docs

  • Platform API & AI - Public JSON API, MCP server, LLM discovery, and all AI-native endpoints
  • Architecture - High-level architecture and data flow

Atomic Design Explained

Atoms

The most basic building blocks. These are fundamental UI elements that cannot be broken down further:

  • Button - Basic button element with variants
  • Icons - Icon component
  • MediaItem - Image/media element
  • Title - Typography component
  • RichTextRenderer - Text rendering
  • YouTubeVideo - YouTube video embed component
  • CodeBlock - Syntax-highlighted code block
  • CodeBlockWithCopy - Code block with copy-to-clipboard
  • CopyButton - Copy-to-clipboard button
  • DateDisplay - Date display
  • ReadingTime - Reading time estimation
  • JsonLd - Metadata
  • Sidebar - Layout wrapper

Molecules

Combinations of atoms that form simple, reusable functional units:

  • SearchBar - Input + Icon atom
  • SearchSidebar - Filter sidebar (content type, subjects, technology, person)
  • HeaderSearch - Search with typeahead suggestions
  • TaxonomyTags - Subject tags with button styling
  • TechnologyTags - Technology terms with icons
  • AuthorCard - MediaItem + Link atoms
  • AuthorLinks - List of author external links
  • Breadcrumb - Multiple Link atoms
  • ChapterNavigation - Guide chapter sidebar navigation
  • ChapterPagination - Previous/next chapter cards
  • ContentTaxonomies - Technology + subject terms
  • KickstarterLinks - Kickstart resource links
  • NoticesSection - Notices from additional_items
  • TableOfContents - H2 table of contents
  • Cta - Button atom wrapped in Link
  • FAQ - Title atom + accordion structure
  • Notice - Alert/notice component
  • Canonical - Canonical link attribution

Organisms

Larger, more complex components composed of molecules and/or atoms:

  • AdditionalItemsSection - FAQ and Related Items from additional_items
  • Persons - Multiple AuthorCard molecules
  • ContentActions - Copy for LLM and markdown view
  • DefaultCard - MediaItem + Title + TaxonomyTags
  • IconCard - MediaItem + Title atoms
  • Header - AnnouncementBar + MainNavigation organisms
  • MainNavigation - DesktopNavigation + MobileNavigation
  • Footer - Server component that renders FooterClient
  • FooterClient - Client-side footer with accordions and Live Preview
  • AnnouncementBar - Links + utility navigation
  • Hero - Title + RichTextRenderer + SearchBar + Cta
  • List - Title + RichTextRenderer + Cards (DefaultCard/IconCard)
  • Media - MediaItem atom
  • RichText - Title + RichTextRenderer atom
  • TwoColumn - Two-column layout with nested ComponentsRenderer

Dependency Rules

  • Atoms should never depend on molecules or organisms
  • Molecules should only depend on atoms
  • Organisms can depend on molecules, atoms, and other organisms
  • Pages compose organisms to create complete page layouts

Atoms

Molecules

Organisms

Layout

Pages

System

Cards