ContentBlocks

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ContentBlocksA page builder that lives inside your Symfony app

Build content areas from sections, columns and blocks — in-context, with live preview. Framework-native, extensible, no CMS lock-in.

Try the live demo
Quick start
Why ContentBlocks?
Browse the block kit
ContentBlocks
🧩

Attach content anywhere

A ContentArea is a generic container of sections you bolt onto any entity — Page, Product, Category. Your model, your routes, your templates. ContentBlocks never owns the URL.

🖼️

In-context live preview

The builder opens your real public page in an iframe and edits it in place. What editors see is what visitors get — no separate "preview" that drifts.

📦

19 ready-made blocks

The optional kit ships title, text, rich text, image, gallery, button, card, list, icon, alert, divider, accordion, table, embed, video, breadcrumb, tabs and a raw-HTML escape hatch — all self-contained, zero CSS-framework dependency.

🔌

Extensible by design

A block is one PHP class with a Symfony form. Tag it with #[AsContentBlock] and it auto-registers. The form IS the data whitelist and validator.

🔒

Secure by default

DenyAll access checker out of the box, CSRF-guarded AJAX, IDOR protection on every mutation, and MIME/size-checked uploads. You wire your auth model; the bundle enforces it.

🎨

Themeable, not opinionated

Neutral cb-kit-* markup styled by a single stylesheet of CSS custom properties. Override the variables — or the whole templates — to match any design system.

By the numbers ​

  • 19ready-made blocks in the kit, one stylesheet, no CSS framework
  • 38public interfaces a host implements or replaces
  • 1,551PHPUnit tests across the three packages
  • 589Vitest tests for the Stimulus controllers
  • 202Playwright tests, on MySQL and PostgreSQL
  • 6.4 → 8Symfony versions in CI, on PHP 8.2 to 8.4

The builder ​

The editor works on your real page. A block's form sits in the sidebar, the page's preview beside it, and nothing reaches visitors before Publish.

The builder: a block's form in the sidebar, the page's real preview beside it
A section's sidebar, its layout panel open
Sections. Layout, widths, display per viewport: grid, slider, tabs or accordion.
The navigator floating over the preview
Navigator. The whole page as a tree: drag, duplicate, delete.
The page previewed at phone width
Every viewport. Preview on tablet and mobile, and reorder blocks there only.
The translation workbench
Translation. One layout, a value per language, previewed as you type.

The block kit ​

Each thumbnail is the block as your visitors get it, styled by the kit's stylesheet alone. Retheme it with seven CSS custom properties.

The title blockTitle titleThe text blockText textThe rich_text blockRich text rich_textThe image blockImage imageThe gallery blockGallery galleryThe button blockButton buttonThe button_group blockButton group button_groupThe card blockCards cardThe list blockList listThe icon blockIcon iconThe alert blockAlert alertThe divider blockDivider dividerThe accordion blockAccordion accordionThe table blockTable tableThe embed blockVideo embed embedThe video blockVideo videoThe breadcrumb blockBreadcrumb breadcrumbThe html_raw blockRaw HTML html_rawThe tabs blockTabs tabs

Install in two commands ​

bash
composer require klehm/content-blocks klehm/content-blocks-kit
php bin/console doctrine:migrations:diff && php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate

Then attach a ContentArea to your entity, add ContentAreaType to a form, and call cb_render_content_area() in your template. The Quick start walks through the whole path in five minutes.

The mental model ​

ContentArea  →  Section  →  Column  →  Block
 (container)    (layout)    (preset)   (type + JSON data)

ContentArea is a titleless, slug-less container. The host app brings its own entity (a Page, a Product…) with a OneToOne to a ContentArea. That single design choice is why ContentBlocks drops into an existing app instead of asking you to migrate into a CMS.

What it does — and what it deliberately doesn't ​

✅ ContentBlocks does❌ ContentBlocks does not
Store structured content (sections / columns / blocks) as your dataOwn your routing, URLs, or SEO
Render an in-context builder with live previewShip a CMS, admin panel, or user management
Provide an extensible block-type systemForce a CSS framework (Tailwind/Bootstrap) on you
Enforce your auth model via a thin interfaceKnow who your users are — you wire that
Draft / publish / discard content statesReplace your templating — you keep full control of markup

Try it live ​

A public demo runs the builder on a real page: blocks.clementmuller.fr. Edit, preview on every viewport, publish — no install needed.

Built for humans and agents ​

Installing is a short, deterministic path — and it's documented for AI coding agents too. See AGENTS.md and the machine-readable llms.txt index.

Made with passion ​

ContentBlocks is built and maintained by Clément Muller, a freelance Symfony developer. I offer installation, integration and customization — custom blocks, theming to your design system, Sylius or legacy-app integration, content migration. Get in touch through clementmuller.fr.

Released under the MIT License.

Built with passion by Clément Muller — installation & customization services available.