This walkthrough takes you through the full content modeling process using a bookshop website as an example. Starting with research and stakeholder interviews, you will build a domain model with your team and then translate it into a working Hygraph schema. Following this method produces a schema that is structured, scalable, and straightforward for both editors and developers to work with.

#Prerequisites

• Read Content modeling overview for the conceptual foundation.
• Read Content modeling in Hygraph to understand models, fields, components, and other schema primitives.
• Read Plan your content model for guidance on the research and domain modeling process.
• Have a Hygraph project ready. If you don't have one yet, create a project first.

#Step 1: Research and discovery

Content modeling starts with research, not with the schema editor.

For this example, imagine you have been asked to build a content model for a chain of bookshops. Start with desk research to understand how bookshop websites typically structure their content. This would include book details, genres, authors, reviews, and so on.

Once you have a basic understanding, interview key stakeholders:

• Content creators to understand how they enter book details, manage inventory, and create content day-to-day.
• Sales team to learn what information supports the purchasing decision and how customers interact with the site.
• Developers to understand technical requirements, preferred stack, and how content needs to be structured for performance.
• Marketing team to identify what drives engagement and what promotional content needs to be supported.

After your research and interviews, compile a list of terms that will form the foundation of your content model:

#Map the relationships

With your terms defined, think through how these concepts relate to each other:

• Each Book is written by one or more Authors.
• Each Book belongs to one or more Genres.
• Each Book may have multiple Reviews.
• Each Book has a single ISBN.
• Each Genre may be associated with multiple Books and Authors.
• Each Book has a Price.

Next, separate object domains (things that will become models) from attributes (values that describe an object). Price, ISBN, and Availability are attributes of Book, not models in their own right.

#Step 2: Build the domain model

Bring your cross-functional team together to build a domain model, which is a high-level picture of the entire business, its key objects, and the relationships between them.

The domain model is broader than what you will put into Hygraph. It covers the full scope of the business, including operational areas that are not directly relevant to the website.

Here is a domain model for the bookshop:

Here are the key relationships:

#Step 3: Build the schema

With a domain model in hand, identify which parts belong in Hygraph. In Hygraph, object domains become models and attributes become fields.

Here is the high-level schema:

• Book model: Title, ISBN, Price, Summary, Availability, Book cover, Genres (reference), Author (reference), Promotion (component field)
• Author model: Name, Biography, Photo, Books (reference), Genres (reference)
• Genre model: Name, Description, Books (reverse reference), Authors (reverse reference)

The sections below define each model in detail.

#Book model

The Book model is the primary content type on the bookshop website.

#Promotion component

The promotion component is a reusable group of fields attached to the Book model. Because it is a component, the same definition can be reused on other models without duplicating the field setup.

#Author model

The Author model stores information about book authors.

#Genre model

The Genre model stores genre definitions and connects to both books and authors through reference fields.

#What's next

You now have a schema that reflects a structured, scalable approach to content modeling. Editors can create entries efficiently, and developers can query the Content API with confidence because the relationships are explicit and field types are predictable.