👉 Visit the DatoCMS homepage or see What is DatoCMS?
A collection of agent skills that teach Claude, Codex, Cursor, and other coding agents how to work effectively with DatoCMS — from GraphQL queries and content management scripts to content modeling, plugin development, and one-shot project setup.
All open source, with native plugin support on Claude Code and Codex and a universal npx skills installer for everything else.
Skills guide the agent's workflow; the DatoCMS MCP server connects it to a live project. They can work together:
- Standalone skills — content modeling, application code, migrations, plugin development, and live operations through the CLI or CMA client. Installing skills does not require or install MCP.
- Standalone MCP — connected project access without installing these skills. The server supplies its own tools and runtime guidance.
- Skills with current remote MCP — content modeling and CMA guidance can help an agent inspect or update a project through an already connected server, including in chat clients without a local development workspace.
Use the requested execution route. Otherwise, keep a usable CLI workflow; current remote MCP is an optional route for live operations. Migrations, repo configuration, and application code still need their local workflows. See installation and compatibility.
The skills are designed to work together — they cross-link and reinforce each other, so the default install brings the full set. Most trigger automatically based on your prompt; datocms-setup is invoked explicitly.
Building with DatoCMS
- Content modeling — schema-design decisions: model vs block, references vs embedded blocks, taxonomies, field shapes, validators, editor appearances.
- Reading content — GraphQL queries against the Content Delivery API with filters, pagination, localization, Structured Text, responsive images, SEO, and typed queries.
- Structured Text — understand, build, edit, validate, and convert DAST documents; import Markdown/HTML, preserve embedded content during edits, and export to other formats.
- Writing content & automation — record CRUD, bulk imports/exports, asset uploads, environment forks and promotions, webhooks, roles, scheduled publishing, audit logs.
- CLI workflows — migrations, schema-type generation, typed CMA scripts, CI/CD pipelines, WordPress/Contentful imports.
- Frontend integrations — draft mode, Web Previews, Visual Editing, Content Link, real-time preview subscriptions, cache-tag invalidation, SEO/sitemap wiring across Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, and Astro.
- One-shot setup (
datocms-setup) — the only skill you invoke explicitly. Bootstraps multi-step flows like "set up visual editing" in a single command, queueing prerequisites automatically.
Extending the DatoCMS dashboard
- Plugin development — create, patch, extend, or restyle DatoCMS plugins with SDK hooks, Vite/React, browser CMA flows, permissions, and DatoCMS UI patterns.
For the full list of skill names, internal setup recipes, and routing rules see docs/skill-catalog.md.
Pick the install method for your agent. Every installer brings the full set by default — the skills are cross-linked and meant to work together.
/plugin marketplace add datocms/agent-skills
/plugin install datocms@datocms-skillsSkills are namespaced under the plugin (e.g. /datocms-cda). Enable auto-update from /plugin → Marketplaces → datocms-skills, or update manually with claude plugin update datocms@datocms-skills.
codex plugin marketplace add datocms/agent-skillsThen open a Codex session and install from the plugin picker:
/pluginsChoose DatoCMS and "Install plugin"
npx skills add datocms/agent-skillsUpdate later with npx skills update. For scopes, single-skill installs, and detached snapshots see docs/install.md.
For editorial work, upload datocms-content-modeling.zip for schema advice and datocms-cma.zip for content operations. Connect the current remote MCP server separately when live project access is needed. Modeling advice alone requires no connection; local development recipes require the relevant workspace and tools.
Upload and enable the .zip files via Customize → Skills in Claude. A local Claude Code skill install does not itself enable them in chat. The full set of pre-built zips lives in zips/.
You don't need to invoke the auto-triggered skills — describe what you want in plain language and the right one activates:
- "Should testimonials be a model or a block?"
- "How should I structure a multi-locale schema with shared blocks?"
- "Write a GraphQL query to fetch all blog posts with images"
- "How do I paginate past the 100-record limit?"
- "Add draft mode to my Next.js app"
- "Why isn't my Visual Editing overlay showing up?"
- "Create a migration that adds a
categoryfield to the blog_post model" - "What's the safest way to run a migration in production?"
- "Bulk-publish all draft records of type
article" - "Publish them"
- "Fix those slugs"
- "Import this CSV into the authors model"
- "Convert this Markdown article into Structured Text"
- "Rewrite this DAST paragraph while preserving its embedded blocks"
- "Validate this Structured Text document"
- "Make my plugin config screen match the DatoCMS style"
- "Create a new DatoCMS plugin from scratch"
datocms-setup is the only skill you invoke explicitly. It handles one-shot project bootstrapping (draft mode, visual editing, migrations workflows, content imports, etc.) and queues prerequisites automatically when needed.
| Platform | Invocation |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | /datocms-setup <your request> |
| Codex | $datocms-setup <your request> |
Phrase the prompt as the outcome you want. Terms like content link, visual editing, click-to-edit, or draft mode help the router pick the right recipe.
/datocms-setup install visual editing in this project
/datocms-setup set up draft mode and web previews
/datocms-setup add migrations and a release workflow
/datocms-setup set up click-to-edit overlays for draft pages
If a prerequisite is missing (e.g. draft mode is needed before web previews), setup queues it in the same run instead of requiring a second call.
Every recipe ends with one of two statuses: scaffolded if it still contains placeholders you need to fill in (API tokens, route mappings, model-to-URL maps, TODO stubs), or production-ready if it's wired to real project values and works end-to-end with no further edits. No guessing whether the output is ready to ship.
For the full recipe catalog and routing rules see docs/skill-catalog.md.
docs/install.md— installation reference (scopes, single-skill installs, detached snapshots, update mechanics)docs/skill-catalog.md— full skill catalog, internal setup recipes, and routing rulesdocs/repo-layout.md— repository layout and the reasoning behind itdocs/maintenance.md— contributor and maintainer workflows (validation, regenerating zips, release notes)evals/README.md— trigger-quality evaluation framework
Issues and pull requests are welcome on github.com/datocms/agent-skills. See docs/maintenance.md for the contributor workflow.
DatoCMS is Headless CMS for the modern web. Trusted by 25,000+ businesses, agencies, and individuals, it gives your team one place to manage content and ship it to any website, app, or device via API.
New here? Start with Create free account and the Documentation. Stuck? Ask the Community. Curious what's new? Product Updates.
Building with AI: Agent Skills guide DatoCMS workflows in compatible assistants. Use local CLI and code workflows for development, or pair content workflows with the optional MCP Server for connected project access.
Talking to DatoCMS from code:
- Content Delivery API (CDA) — the fast, read-only GraphQL API your website/app uses to fetch published content.
- Content Management API (CMA) — the REST API for creating and updating content, models, and project settings (think scripts, migrations, integrations).
- CLI — terminal tool for schema migrations and importing from Contentful/WordPress.
Framework guides: end-to-end recipes for fetching content, rendering Structured Text, optimizing images/video, handling SEO, and setting up live preview with visual editing in Next.js, Nuxt, Svelte, and Astro.
Want a head start? Browse our starter projects — ready-to-deploy example sites for popular frameworks.