---
title: "Collection Sources"
description: "Learn how to import your files in Nuxt Content collections."
canonical_url: "https://content.nuxt.com/docs/collections/sources"
---
# Collection Sources

> Learn how to import your files in Nuxt Content collections.

Nuxt Content provides several ways to import content files into your collection. You can configure the source by using the `source` property within `defineCollection`:

```ts [content.config.ts]
import { defineCollection, defineContentConfig } from '@nuxt/content'

export default defineContentConfig({
  collections: {
    docs: defineCollection({
      source: '**',
      type: 'page'
    })
  }
})
```

## `source`

The `source` property can be defined as either a string (following a glob pattern) or an object, allowing more detailed source configuration for your target directory and files within the content folder.

**Example:**

- `source: '**'` includes all files within the content directory and its subdirectories.
- `source: '**/*.md'`includes all `Markdown` files within the content directory and its subdirectories.
- `source: 'docs/**/*.yml'` includes all `YML` files within the `content/docs` and its subdirectories.
- `source: '**/*.{json,yml}'` includes `JSON` or `YML` file within the content directory and all its subdirectories.
- `source: '*.json'` includes only `JSON` files located directly within the content directory, excluding any subdirectories.

### `include` (required)

Glob pattern of your target repository and files in the content folder.

### `exclude`

Glob patterns to exclude content from the import.

### `prefix`

This configuration only applied for **page** type with 1-to-1 relationship between content files and pages on your site.

It represents the path prefix (base URL) of the corresponding page on the website.

<prose-warning>

The `prefix` must start by a leading `/`.

</prose-warning>

By default, module extracts the static prefix of `source`(or `source.include`) and uses it as a prefix for content paths. For example, if you define `/en/**` source, module will auto-fill the `prefix` with `/en`. You can manually provide a prefix to override this behavior. The prefix can be removed by setting `prefix: '/'` in the collection source.

```ts
defineCollection({
  type: "page",
  source: {
    include: "en/**",
    exclude: ["en/index.md"],
    prefix: '/'
  }
})
```

### `cwd`

Root directory for content matching.

**Example:**

If you want to include files from a folder outside the content directory, set the absolute path of that folder to the `cwd` property.

```ts
source: {
  cwd: path.resolve('packages/my-pkg/docs'),
  include: '**/*.md',
}
```

### `repository`

External source representing a remote git repository URL (e.g., [https://github.com/nuxt/content](https://github.com/nuxt/content)), or an object containing Git branch / tag information, or optionally authentication

When defining an external source you must also define the `include` option.
`include` pattern is essential for the module to know which files to use for the collection.

```js
import { defineCollection, defineContentConfig } from '@nuxt/content'

export default defineContentConfig({
  collections: {
    docs: defineCollection({
      type: 'page',
      source: {
        repository: 'https://github.com/nuxt/content',
        include: 'docs/content/**',
      },
    })
  }
})
```

#### `branch` / `tag`

This option allows for cloning a Git repository by its tag or branch.

**Example:**
If you want to clone by a tag, make the `repository` attribute an object, with the `url` of your repository, and set the `tag` attribute.

```js
import { defineCollection, defineContentConfig } from '@nuxt/content'

export default defineContentConfig({
  collections: {
    docs: defineCollection({
      type: 'page',
      source: {
        repository: {
          url: 'https://github.com/nuxt/content',
          tag: 'v1'
        },
        include: 'docs/content/**',
      },
    })
  }
})
```

**Example:**

If you want to clone by a remote branch, make the `repository` attribute an object, with the `url` of your repository, and set the `branch` attribute.

```js
import { defineCollection, defineContentConfig } from '@nuxt/content'

export default defineContentConfig({
  collections: {
    docs: defineCollection({
      type: 'page',
      source: {
        repository: {
          url: 'https://github.com/nuxt/content',
          branch: 'dev'
        },
        include: 'docs/content/**',
      },
    })
  }
})
```

#### `auth`

This option allows for basic and token-based authentication for Git repositories.

<warning icon="i-lucide-shield-alert">

Never commit authentication tokens or credentials directly in your code. Use environment variables or other secure methods to provide these values at runtime.

</warning>

**Example:**

If you want to use basic authentication (e.g. for BitBucket repositories), you can use:

```ts
defineCollection({
  type: 'page',
  source: {
    repository: {
      url: 'https://bitbucket.org/username/repo',
      auth: {
        username: 'username',
        password: 'password',
      },
    },
  },
})
```

**Example:**

If you need to use authentication tokens (e.g. for Github, Gitlab, some Forgejo providers), you can do the following:

```ts
defineCollection({
  type: 'page',
  source: {
    repository: {
      url: 'https://github.com/username/repo',
      auth: {
        username: 'username',
        token: 'password',
      },
    },
  },
})
```


## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://content.nuxt.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.