| name | payloadcms-blank-3-82-1 |
| description | Minimal Payload CMS 3.82.1 starter template providing a clean foundation for building custom headless CMS applications with Next.js App Router, MongoDB, and Lexical editor. Use when starting new Payload projects from scratch, needing a minimal configuration without pre-built collections or content types, or requiring full control over data modeling and admin panel customization. |
| version | 0.1.0 |
| author | Tangled <noreply@tangledgroup.com> |
| license | MIT |
| tags | ["cms","payload","nextjs","mongodb","headless-cms","react","typescript"] |
| category | development |
| external_references | ["https://payloadcms.com/docs/richtext/lexical/overview","https://payloadcms.com/docs/getting-started/requirements","https://payloadcms.com/docs","https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/tree/v3.82.1/templates/blank","https://discord.com/invite/payload"] |
Payload CMS Blank Template v3.82.1
Overview
The blank template is the minimal starting point for Payload CMS 3.82.1 projects. It provides a clean, opinionated foundation built on Next.js 16 with App Router, MongoDB as the database adapter, Lexical as the rich-text editor, and React 19 for the admin UI. Unlike other Payload templates that include pre-built collections and content types, the blank template ships with only the essential Users and Media collections — giving you full control over data modeling from day one.
The template is designed to be extended. You add collections, fields, access control rules, custom React components, and API routes as your project requires. It supports both local development and Docker-based workflows, with production-ready build and deployment configurations included out of the box.
Key dependencies in the blank template:
payload — core CMS framework@payloadcms/next — Next.js integration with server functions and layouts@payloadcms/db-mongodb — MongoDB database adapter@payloadcms/richtext-lexical — Lexical-based rich-text editor@payloadcms/ui — admin panel UI componentsnext 16.2.2 — React framework with App Routerreact 19.2.4 / react-dom 19.2.4 — frontend librarysharp 0.34.2 — image processing for media uploadsgraphql — built-in GraphQL API support
When to Use
Use this skill when:
- Starting a new Payload CMS project from scratch with no pre-built content
- Needing a minimal configuration that you fully control
- Building a custom headless CMS where data modeling is project-specific
- Setting up a Payload development environment locally or in Docker
- Understanding the blank template file structure and conventions
- Extending the default Users and Media collections
- Configuring the Payload config, Next.js config, or TypeScript paths
- Deploying a Payload app to production with Docker
Core Concepts
Payload CMS is a type-safe, API-first headless CMS and application framework. It generates REST and GraphQL APIs automatically from your TypeScript configuration. The admin panel is a React-based UI that runs inside the same Next.js application.
The blank template philosophy is minimalism. It ships with only what is required for Payload to function — a Users collection for authentication and a Media collection for file uploads. Everything else is added by you. This contrasts with the website or ecommerce templates, which include pre-built pages, posts, products, and carts.
