Referenced Files

Some webpages only have one content source, but others are more complex. A homepage, for example, might display blog post titles, team member bios, or testimonials that each live in their own collection. When you have a page with lots of content, some bits might appear not to be editable — but with TinaCMS, they are. We call these additional documents your referenced files.

What are referenced files?

When a page pulls in content from multiple documents, each of those documents is a referenced file. For example, a homepage might have:

• A main document (home.json) containing the hero section, feature list, and other page content
• Several blog post documents (.mdx files) whose titles, authors, and dates are displayed in a blog post section

Your page is really a tree of documents, and TinaCMS lets you edit any node in that tree right from the page itself.

Viewing referenced files in the editor

In the visual editor, click the Referenced Files banner to see a tree view of every document that contributes content to the current page.

The tree shows you:

• The file path of each document (e.g. content/main/home.json)
• Which collection it belongs to
• The full hierarchy of references

This is useful for orientation — you can instantly see where each piece of content lives in your project without leaving the page.

Direct references only

The "Direct references only" checkbox filters the tree to show only documents that are directly referenced by the page you're on — that is, documents pulled in via TinaCMS's APIs from your code.

The alternative is documents pulled in via a reference field — a field type you can add in your collections that pulls in an additional document when you fetch your data. Documents accessible via a reference field will appear grey and italicised in the tree.

Editing referenced content inline

Referenced documents are fully editable in the visual editor. You don't need to navigate away or find the original file — just click on the content and edit it in place.

For example, if your homepage displays blog post titles, you can click on a title, make your change, and save. The update is written back to the original blog post document, and the change is reflected everywhere that document is used.

Requirements

Upgrade to TinaCMS v3.6 or later for the best referenced files workflow.