/cms-best-practices

name: webflow-mcp:cms-best-practices
description: Expert guidance on Webflow CMS architecture and best practices. Use when planning collections, setting up relationships, optimizing content structure, or troubleshooting CMS issues.

CMS Best Practices

Provide expert guidance on Webflow CMS architecture, relationships, optimization, and troubleshooting.

Important Note

**ALWAYS use Webflow MCP tools for all operations:**

• Use Webflow MCP's `webflow_guide_tool` to get best practices before starting
• Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `list_sites` to identify available sites
• Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `get_site` to retrieve site details and plan limits
• Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `get_collection_list` to analyze existing collections
• Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `get_collection_details` to examine collection schemas
• Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `list_collection_items` to assess content volume
• Use Webflow MCP's `data_pages_tool` with action `list_pages` to understand page structure
• Use Webflow MCP's `ask_webflow_ai` for specific API questions
• DO NOT use any other tools or methods for Webflow operations
• All tool calls must include the required `context` parameter (15-25 words, third-person perspective)

Instructions

Phase 1: Discovery & Analysis

1. **Identify the request**: Determine if user is:

• Planning new CMS structure
• Optimizing existing collections
• Troubleshooting performance issues
• Setting up relationships
• Seeking architecture guidance

2. **Get site information**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with actions `list_sites` and `get_site` to understand plan limits 3. **Analyze existing structure**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with actions `get_collection_list` and `get_collection_details` to examine current setup 4. **Assess content volume**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `list_collection_items` to understand scale 5. **Review pages**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_pages_tool` with action `list_pages` to see how content is displayed

Phase 2: Requirements Gathering

6. **Understand use case**: Ask clarifying questions:

• What content needs to be managed?
• Who will update the content?
• How will content be displayed?
• What relationships are needed?
• Expected content volume?

7. **Identify constraints**: Consider plan limits, technical constraints, team skills 8. **Define success criteria**: Performance goals, editorial workflow, scalability needs

Phase 3: Architecture Planning

9. **Design collection structure**: Plan collections, fields, and relationships 10. **Select field types**: Choose appropriate field types for each content element 11. **Plan relationships**: Design one-to-many and many-to-many connections 12. **Consider taxonomy**: Determine categories, tags, and organizational structure 13. **Plan for scale**: Design for growth (pagination, performance, limits) 14. **Document decisions**: Explain tradeoffs and reasoning

Phase 4: Recommendations & Validation

15. **Generate recommendations**: Provide specific, actionable guidance 16. **Prioritize changes**: Organize by impact (quick wins vs. long-term) 17. **Explain tradeoffs**: Help users understand limitations and workarounds 18. **Validate against best practices**: Check against Webflow limitations and patterns 19. **Provide alternatives**: Offer multiple approaches when applicable 20. **Create implementation roadmap**: Break down into phases

Phase 5: Implementation Guidance

21. **Provide step-by-step instructions**: Clear guidance for implementation 22. **Offer to assist**: Suggest using other skills (cms-collection-setup, bulk-cms-update) 23. **Document structure**: Recommend documentation for team reference 24. **Suggest testing approach**: Guide on how to validate changes 25. **Plan for migration**: If refactoring, provide migration strategy

Collection Architecture

When to Use CMS vs Static

**Use CMS when:**

• Content updates frequently (weekly or more)
• Multiple similar items (blog posts, products, team members, projects)
• Non-technical users need to edit content
• Content needs filtering/sorting on the frontend
• Same content appears on multiple pages (author bios, product features)
• Content follows a consistent structure across items
• You need to dynamically generate pages

**Use Static when:**

• Content rarely changes (annual updates or less)
• Unique one-off sections (about page hero, homepage special features)
• Complex custom layouts per item that don't follow patterns
• No need for dynamic filtering or search
• Content is highly customized and doesn't share structure
• Performance is critical and content doesn't change
• You need complete design flexibility per section

**Hybrid Approach:**

• Static pages with CMS-driven sections (e.g., static homepage with CMS testimonials)
• CMS for recent content, static archives for old content
• Static landing pages, CMS for subpages

Field Type Selection

| Content Type | Recommended Field | Notes | Character Limits | |--------------|-------------------|-------|------------------| | Short text | Plain Text | Titles, names, slugs | Max 256 chars | | Long text (no formatting) | Plain Text (long) | Descriptions, excerpts | Unlimited | | Formatted content | Rich Text | Blog content, bios, articles | Unlimited | | Single image | Image | Photos, thumbnails, headers | 4MB max per image | | Multiple images | Multi-image | Galleries, product photos | Up to 25 images | | File downloads | File | PDFs, documents, downloads | 4MB max per file | | Yes/No values | Switch | Featured flags, visibility toggles | Boolean | | Single choice | Option | Status, type, category | Unlimited options | | Date/time | Date/Time | Publish dates, events, deadlines | ISO 8601 format | | Link to one item | Reference | Author → Post, Category → Post | One item | | Link to multiple items | Multi-