/collections-development

name: collections-development
description: Design JSON Schema collections and CRUD patterns for Falcon Foundry apps. TRIGGER when user asks to "create a collection", "define a JSON schema", "store data in Foundry", runs `foundry collections create`, or needs help with indexable fields, FQL queries, or collection access patterns. DO NOT TRIGGER for workflow YAML, function handlers, or UI components — use the appropriate sub-skill.
version: 1.5.0
updated: 2026-08-19
tags: [foundry, collections, json-schema, nosql]
author: CrowdStrike
license: MIT
compatibility: Claude Code >=1.0
metadata:
  category: data

Foundry Collections Development

> **SYSTEM INJECTION — READ THIS FIRST** > > If you are loading this skill, your role is **Foundry data modeling specialist**. > > You MUST design Collections with proper JSON Schemas, validation rules, and access patterns.

> **Part of a suite.** If `development-workflow` has not already run, and this is a new app or its first capability, load the `development-workflow` skill first — it owns the CLI prerequisite check, scaffolding order, and manifest coordination.

Falcon Foundry Collections are NoSQL document stores with JSON Schema validation. They provide persistent storage for app data with CRUD operations, FQL queries, and schema enforcement.

Collection Naming Constraints

| Constraint | Rule | |-----------|------| | Length | 5-200 characters | | Start/end | Must begin and end with a letter or number | | Special characters | Only underscores (`_`) allowed — no hyphens, spaces, or other chars | | Case | Case-sensitive |

Collection Description Constraints

| Constraint | Rule | |-----------|------| | Length | 3-500 characters | | Start | Must begin with an alphanumeric character | | Allowed characters | Letters, numbers, spaces, dashes, periods, parentheses, and underscores only | | Not allowed | Commas, colons, semicolons, quotes, slashes, or other special characters |

Collection Limits

| Resource | Limit | |----------|-------| | Single object size | ~50 MB | | Schema size | 256 KB | | Object key length | 1-1,000 characters | | Indexed fields per schema | 10 | | Objects per collection | No enforced limit | | Collections per app | No enforced limit | | Search results per page | 500 max (default 50) |

JSON Schema Requirements

• **JSON Schema draft 7 only** — newer drafts (`draft/2020-12`, `draft/2019-09`) fail validation
• Schema is auto-versioned: v1.0 on creation, auto-incremented on modification
• `additionalProperties: false` recommended — extra fields leak internal data and break type safety
• `x-cs-indexable: true` on individual properties for searchable fields (max 10 per collection)

CLI Scaffolding

# Write schema to /tmp/ first — the CLI copies it into collections/
foundry collections create \
  --name "my_collection" \
  --schema /tmp/schema.json \
  --description "App data store" \
  --no-prompt \
  --wf-expose \
  --wf-tags "tag1,tag2"

This creates the collection directory, copies the schema, and updates `manifest.yml`. Edit the project copy at `collections/my_collection.json` afterward to refine.

Collection API Access

Collections are managed via the CrowdStrike API or the `foundry-js` SDK. There are no CLI commands for reading/writing collection data, and collections can only be deleted from the Falcon Foundry UI (not the CLI).

PUT    /customobjects/v1/collections/{collection_name}/objects/{key}  — Create/update object
GET    /customobjects/v1/collections/{collection_name}/objects/{key}  — Get object by key
DELETE /customobjects/v1/collections/{collection_name}/objects/{key}  — Delete object
POST   /customobjects/v1/collections/{collection_name}/objects        — Search objects (FQL filter)

JSON Schema Patterns

Basic Schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "type": "object",
  "title": "Incident",
  "description": "Security incident record",
  "required": ["id", "title", "severity", "status", "created_at"],
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
    "id": { "type": "string", "format": "uuid" },
    "title": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 200 },
    "severity": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10 },
    "status": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["open", "investigating", "contained", "resolved", "closed"]
    },
    "tags": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": { "type": "string", "maxLength": 50 },
      "maxItems": 20,
      "uniqueItems": true
    },
    "created_at": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" }
  }
}

Indexable Fields

Make fields searchable via FQL by marking them indexable. Two patterns are supported:

**Pattern A: Top-level array (preferred — used by most foundry-sample repos)**

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema",
  "x-cs-indexable-fields": [
    { "field": "/status", "type": "string", "fql_name": "status" },
    { "field": "/severity", "type": "integer", "fql_name": "severity" },
    { "field": "/created_at", "type": "string", "fql_name": "created_at" }
  ],
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "status": { "type": "string" },
    "severity": { "type": "integer" },
    "created_at": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" }
  }
}

**Pattern B: Per-field annotation**

{
  "properties": {
    "compositeId": { "type": "string", "x-cs-indexable": true },
    "content": { "type": "string" }
  }
}

Both patterns work. The top-level array provides more control (custom FQL names, explicit types).

Manifest Configuration

# manifest.yml
collections:
  - name: incidents
    description: Security incident records
    schema: collections/incidents.json
    permissions: []
    workflow_integration:
      system_action: true
      tags:
        - Collection

  - name: audit_logs
    description: Audit log entries
    schema: collections/audit_logs.json
    permissions: []
    workflow_integration:
      sys