---
title: "Reference: Content elements"
manual: "Headless"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:ref-content-elements@main"
source: "Reference/ContentElements.rst"
rendered: "2026-11-10T08:44:58+00:00"
---

# Reference: Content elements {#ref-content-elements}

Every element in `content.colPos<n>` is rendered through `lib.contentElement`;
the shipped `CType` definitions add their fields under `content`. Frontends
can rely on the outer shape and switch on `type`.

## Base shape {#base-shape}

```json
{
  "id": 12,
  "type": "text",
  "colPos": 0,
  "appearance": {
    "layout": "default",
    "frameClass": "default",
    "spaceBefore": "",
    "spaceAfter": ""
  }
}
```

-   `id`, `type`, `colPos` — `uid`, `CType` and `colPos` of the record.
-   `appearance` — `lib.appearance`: `layout` is `default` or `layout-1` to
    `layout-3`; `frameClass`, `spaceBefore` and `spaceAfter` are the raw
    `frame_class`, `space_before_class` and `space_after_class` values.
-   `content` — not part of `lib.contentElement`; added by each CType with
    element-specific fields, see the table. Elements based on
    `lib.contentElementWithHeader` start with the header block:

```json
{
  "header": "Headline",
  "subheader": "",
  "headerLayout": 0,
  "headerPosition": "",
  "headerLink": ""
}
```

`headerLink` is a typolink result: an empty string without a link, otherwise
an object with `href`, `target`, `class`, `title`, `linkText` and
`additionalAttributes`.

## Shipped content elements {#shipped-content-elements}

"Menu items" below means the [MenuProcessor](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:dataprocessors-menuprocessor@main)
item shape. Where `appendData = 1` is set, every item also keeps the page
record under `data`, and file fields (`media`, `images`) hold
[FilesProcessor](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:dataprocessors-filesprocessor@main) output.

| `type` | Keys in `content` |
| --- | --- |
| `text` | header block, `bodytext` (RTE, `lib.parseFunc_RTE`). |
| `textpic` | header block, `bodytext`, `enlargeImageOnClick` (bool), `gallery` from the `image` field. |
| `textmedia` | Like `textpic`, `gallery` from the `assets` field. |
| `image` | header block, `enlargeImageOnClick`, `gallery`. |
| `bullets` | header block, `bulletsType` (int), `bodytext` as array: one entry per line, for `bulletsType = 2` one `[term, description]` row per line. |
| `table` | header block, `bodytext` as array of rows (cells split by `table_delimiter`/`table_enclosure`), `tableCaption`, `cols` (int), `tableHeaderPosition` (int), `tableClass`, `tableTfoot`. |
| `uploads` | header block, `media` (files from the `media` field and the selected file collections, sorted by `filelink_sorting`), `target`, `displayFileSizeInformation`, `displayDescription`, `displayInformation`. |
| `html` | `header`, `bodytext` (raw, unprocessed HTML). |
| `div` | `header`. |
| `header` | header block only. |
| `shortcut` | `shortcut`: array of the referenced content elements, each rendered with its own definition (`lib.renderChildren`). |
| `menu_pages` | header block, `menu`: menu items of the selected pages. |
| `menu_subpages` | header block, `menu`: menu items of the subpages of the selected pages. |
| `menu_abstract` | header block, `menu`: subpages with `abstract` and `media` on every item, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_section` | header block, `menu`: pages with `media` and a `content` array (`uid`, `header`, `media`) of their section-index elements, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_section_pages` | header block, `menu`: subpages with `media` and a `content` array of all their elements, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_categorized_pages` | header block, `menu`: pages of the selected categories with `media`, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_categorized_content` | header block, `menu`: content elements (`uid`, `header`, `media`) of the selected categories. |
| `menu_recently_updated` | header block, `menu`: pages changed in the last seven days with `media`, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_related_pages` | header block, `menu`: pages sharing keywords with `media`, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_sitemap` | header block, `menu`: page tree of the current site, seven levels, `images` per item, `appendData = 1`. |
| `menu_sitemap_pages` | header block, `menu`: page tree below the selected pages, seven levels, `images` per item, `appendData = 1`. |
| `felogin_login` | header block, `data`: the login JSON, see [EXT:felogin](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:integrations-felogin@main). |
| `form_formframework` | `link` (submit URL), `form` (uncached form definition), see [EXT:form](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:integrations-form@main). |
| `list` | header block; `type` carries `list_type`. Kept for 4.x compatibility, `list_type` plugins no longer exist in TYPO3 v14. |

A `CType` without a definition renders through `tt_content.default`:
`content.error` contains
`Content Element with uid "<uid>" and type "<CType>" has no rendering definition!`.
Define `tt_content.<ctype>` as shown in [Custom content & plugin output](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:developer-custom-content@main).

The legacy set adds a `categories` string to every element after
`appearance`; see [Content element categories](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/friendsoftypo3/headless:configuration-categories@main) for re-adding it on the
default set.