Payload CMS

Key Features

• Automatic TypeScript type generation from content collections with full IntelliSense support
• Built-in authentication and authorization with role-based access control and field-level permissions
• Rich text editor with custom React components and serializable JSON output
• Advanced relationship fields supporting one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many associations
• Configurable file upload handling with support for local storage, S3, and Cloudinary adapters
• Live preview functionality for draft content with webhook integration
• MongoDB aggregation pipeline support for complex content queries and analytics
• Custom React components in admin UI with hooks for extending functionality

Common Use Cases

• 1Multi-site content management for agencies serving multiple clients from single installation
• 2E-commerce platforms requiring complex product relationships and inventory management
• 3Documentation websites with versioning, team collaboration, and API-driven content delivery
• 4SaaS applications needing user-generated content with role-based publishing workflows
• 5Mobile app backends requiring structured content delivery with offline sync capabilities
• 6Corporate websites with multilingual content and approval workflows for compliance
• 7Developer portfolios and blogs with custom post types and automated deployment triggers

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed with at least 4GB available RAM for development workloads
• Node.js 18+ and npm/yarn knowledge for Payload project initialization and customization
• TypeScript familiarity for schema configuration and custom field development
• Basic MongoDB concepts including document structure and indexing strategies
• Understanding of environment variable management for secrets and database connections
• Port 3000 available for Payload admin interface and API endpoints

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  payload: 
3    build: .
4    container_name: payload
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    environment: 
7      MONGODB_URI: mongodb://mongodb:27017/${DB_NAME}
8      PAYLOAD_SECRET: ${PAYLOAD_SECRET}
9    ports: 
10      - "3000:3000"
11    depends_on: 
12      - mongodb
13    networks: 
14      - payload-network
15
16  mongodb: 
17    image: mongo:7
18    container_name: payload-mongodb
19    volumes: 
20      - mongodb_data:/data/db
21    networks: 
22      - payload-network
23
24volumes: 
25  mongodb_data: 
26
27networks: 
28  payload-network: 
29    driver: bridge

.env Template

1DB_NAME=payload
2PAYLOAD_SECRET=your-secret-here

Usage Notes

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

payload:
  build: .
  container_name: payload
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    MONGODB_URI: mongodb://mongodb:27017/${DB_NAME}
    PAYLOAD_SECRET: ${PAYLOAD_SECRET}
  ports:
    - "3000:3000"
  depends_on:
    - mongodb
  networks:
    - payload-network

mongodb:
  image: mongo:7
  container_name: payload-mongodb
  volumes:
    - mongodb_data:/data/db
  networks:
    - payload-network

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  payload:
5    build: .
6    container_name: payload
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    environment:
9      MONGODB_URI: mongodb://mongodb:27017/${DB_NAME}
10      PAYLOAD_SECRET: ${PAYLOAD_SECRET}
11    ports:
12      - "3000:3000"
13    depends_on:
14      - mongodb
15    networks:
16      - payload-network
17
18  mongodb:
19    image: mongo:7
20    container_name: payload-mongodb
21    volumes:
22      - mongodb_data:/data/db
23    networks:
24      - payload-network
25
26volumes:
27  mongodb_data:
28
29networks:
30  payload-network:
31    driver: bridge
32EOF
33
34# 2. Create the .env file
35cat > .env << 'EOF'
36DB_NAME=payload
37PAYLOAD_SECRET=your-secret-here
38EOF
39
40# 3. Start the services
41docker compose up -d
42
43# 4. View logs
44docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/payload-cms/run | bash

Troubleshooting