Text

The text field stores a single line of plain text. It is the field you reach for most often: titles, names, slugs, short labels, and any short free-form value. When the value needs line breaks, use Textarea; when it needs formatting like bold or links, use Rich Text; when it comes from a fixed set of choices, use Select.

defineTextField({ name: 'title', label: 'Title', required: true })

Guiding entry with length limits

Text fields accept two advisory limits: maxLength (characters) and maxWords. Both show a live counter in the admin editor, so writers can see where they stand as they type.

defineTextField({ name: 'summary', label: 'Summary', maxLength: 160 })

These limits guide the editing experience but do not reject an over-length value on their own. When you need a hard cap enforced on every write, add a hook that validates the value.

Filtering and sorting

If you filter or sort on a text field often — a slug or a status-like label — mark it promoted so it becomes an indexed column instead of living inside the JSON document. See Database indexes for when that trade-off is worth it.

Formatting how the value displays

Set admin.format to change how a text value reads in the admin list — without touching what's stored. The simple transforms take a shorthand string:

defineTextField({ name: 'sku', label: 'SKU', admin: { format: 'code' } })

code renders the value in a monospace pill, which suits IDs, SKUs, and reference codes. uppercase, lowercase, and capitalize change the letter case for display only.

Two formats take options. Use truncate to keep a long value from stretching a column, and mask to hide all but the last few characters of something sensitive like a token or key:

defineTextField({ name: 'apiKey', label: 'API key', admin: { format: { type: 'mask', reveal: 4 } } })

That shows sk_live_1234 as ••••••••1234 in the list. reveal defaults to 4; set character to change the masking symbol. Since this is display-only, the full value is still stored and still editable in the form — it's just not shown in full in the list.

Generated reference

The contract below is generated from the public @dyrected/core exports by @dyrected/knowledge, so it stays in sync with the package. See Fields for the shared field options every type accepts.

TextField

Exported type from @dyrected/core.

export type TextField = TypedField<"text", string, TextFieldAdmin> &
  CharacterLimitFieldConfig &
  WordLimitFieldConfig;

TextFieldAdmin

Exported type from @dyrected/core.

export type TextFieldAdmin = CharacterLimitFieldAdmin &
  WordLimitFieldAdmin & {
    /** How the value is displayed in read-only Admin surfaces. Does not affect storage or editing. */
    format?: TextFormat;
  };

TextFormat

How a text or textarea value is presented in read-only Admin surfaces. Display only — the stored string is unchanged. Pass a shorthand string for the simple transforms, or an object for truncate and mask.

export type TextFormat =
  /** Shorthand for the matching object form. */
  | "uppercase"
  | "lowercase"
  | "capitalize"
  | "code"
  /** Change the letter case for display. */
  | { type: "uppercase" | "lowercase" | "capitalize" }
  /** Render in a monospace pill — good for IDs, SKUs, and short codes. */
  | { type: "code" }
  /** Cut the text to `length` characters with a trailing ellipsis. */
  | { type: "truncate"; length: number }
  /**
   * Hide all but the last few characters — for tokens, keys, or reference
   * numbers you don't want fully visible in a list.
   */
  | {
      type: "mask";
      /** How many trailing characters stay visible. Defaults to `4`. */
      reveal?: number;
      /** Character used for the hidden portion. Defaults to `"•"`. */
      character?: string;
    };