Virtual Collections
Organise content-foundry publications into virtual collection folders without changing the filesystem. Collections group related publications for easier navigation while keeping the flat directory structure that Git and tooling expect.
How It Works
Collections are purely virtual. No files are moved, renamed, or restructured. The collection metadata sits alongside your other project configuration in .neoarc-project/ and travels with the repository. When you open the project, NeoArc Studio reads the collection definitions and reshapes the file explorer tree, inserting virtual collection folders above their member publications.
Creating and Managing Collections
Collections are managed entirely through the file explorer context menu and drag-and-drop.
Deleting Collections
When you delete a collection that still contains publications, NeoArc Studio asks what you want to do with the members.
Collection Home
Selecting a collection in the file explorer opens a collection home view in the workspace. This shows an index of all member publications with their icons and proper-cased names. Clicking any publication opens its settings page directly, giving you a quick way to navigate into any publication within the collection.
Tree Navigation
Virtual collections integrate with the full file explorer tree. Expanding a collection reveals its member publications, which behave exactly like top-level publications: you can expand into their content directories, open pages, and edit normally. Navigation from links, tabs, or the command palette automatically expands the correct collection to reveal the target file.
Technical Details
| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| Storage file | .neoarc-project/content-foundry-collections.json |
| Schema version | 1.0.0 |
| Membership model | Single collection per publication |
| Save strategy | 500 ms debounced writes |
| Collection icon | Amber library icon (lucideLibrary) |
| Virtual path format | {cfRoot}/.collection/{uuid} |
| Source control | File is committed; team shares the same structure |
| Publication rename | Collection membership updates automatically when a publication directory is renamed |
Content Foundry provides a wide range of specialised content blocks covering layout, data, decisions, requirements, diagrams and more for architecture documentation, technical specifications, and knowledge bases. Capture decisions, risks, requirements, operations, and planning in structured, searchable formats with page versioning and comprehensive theme colour variables.
Publish your documentation as a static website or professional PDF document. Export locally, generate a hostable site with SSR and SEO, publish directly to Azure, or generate PDF documents with covers, typography, and navigation. Create multiple targets for different audiences from the same source.
Everything in NeoArc Studio is a file. Your diagrams, documents, and schemas live in Git alongside your code, with full version history and standard collaboration workflows.