Customize Content Space

Overview

Monospace auto-generates content pages for every collection — a listing page, a create form, and an edit form. You can customize these at two levels:

1. Data Model appearance — reorder fields, set display templates, and configure collection metadata.
2. Create and edit pages — take full control of the form layout by ejecting the auto-generated form.

Reorder Fields

Open Data Model, select a collection, and drag fields to reorder them. The new order applies everywhere the collection's fields are listed — including auto-generated create and edit forms.

Fields with a custom sort order appear first. Fields without one appear after, sorted alphabetically.

Changes save automatically.

Display Templates

A display template controls how items from a collection are represented throughout the UI — in relation fields, breadcrumbs, and list views.

Configure it in Data Model > Collection > Appearance > Display Template.

The template editor accepts a mix of plain text and field references. Type / or click the + button to insert a field reference. Field references render as inline badges that resolve to the item's actual values at runtime.

When no display template is set, Monospace defaults to the first string-type field in the collection, or the primary key if no string field exists.

Collection Appearance

The Appearance section in the Data Model also allows you to:

Customize Create or Edit Pages

For more control over form layout, you can customize the create or edit page for any collection.

Open the Page Editor

1. Navigate to the Content space.
2. In the sidebar, find the collection you want to customize.
3. Right-click (or open the menu on) the create or edit detail page.
4. Select Customize Create Page or Customize Edit Page.

This opens the block editor with a Form block bound to the collection.

Eject the Form

By default, the Form block auto-generates fields from the collection schema. To take manual control, click Eject in the block editor sidebar.

Ejecting does the following:

• Inserts a FormField block for every visible field in the collection.
• Stops the form from auto-updating when the data model changes.
• Gives you full control to add, remove, and reorder FormField blocks.

Customize the Layout

Once ejected, you can:

• Reorder fields — drag FormField blocks to change their position.
• Remove fields — delete FormField blocks you don't need on the form.
• Add fields back — click Refresh Fields to insert any fields not already present.
• Override field labels — set a custom label or description on individual FormField blocks.
• Mark fields as required or disabled — configure per-field behavior.

Arrange Fields in a Grid

An ejected Form block can place its fields on a grid. Select the Form block and set Content Layout to Grid Layout. Forms without a collection on a page have the same setting.

Each row of the grid has 12 columns:

• Place fields side by side — drag a field next to another one, or into another row.
• Resize a field — drag its left or right edge. The width snaps to the columns.
• Cancel a drag or resize — press Esc.
• Align fields in a row — set Grid Alignment to Top, Center, or Bottom.

The grid follows the width the form has, not the screen width:

The block editor always shows the layout you set. Monospace stores the layout with the page, so it stays in place when you switch the grid off and on.

Eject Individual Fields

Each FormField block auto-renders the appropriate input control for its field type. To replace the default input with a custom one, eject the individual FormField.

An ejected FormField accepts custom child blocks — any block tagged as a form control (text inputs, select dropdowns, date pickers, relation selectors, etc.).

Reset to Auto-Generated

Click Reset to discard all customizations and return the form to its auto-generated state. This removes all custom field ordering and layout changes.

See Also

• Data Model — collections, fields, and relations
• Introspection — how Monospace discovers your database schema