Architecture

This section provides technical documentation about the ContentGrid Runtime platform architecture, designed for architects and technical decision-makers evaluating the platform.

What You’ll Learn

The ContentGrid platform is built on a foundation of well-considered architectural principles that prioritize developer experience, scalability, and extensibility. This section covers:

• System Overview - High-level system architecture and how components work together
• Architecture Principles - Design philosophy and core values driving our technical decisions
• Management Platform - Application model management
• Runtime Platform - Infrastructure components that run and secure ContentGrid applications
• Application Server - Dynamic API generation and query engine architecture
• Access Control - Attribute-based access control (ABAC) and policy enforcement
• Data Storage - Content storage and encryption architecture
• Deployment Pipeline - How applications are deployed and updated

Key Architectural Characteristics

Model-First & API-First: ContentGrid generates complete REST APIs directly from your data model, exposing intuitive URL structures you’d expect from hand-crafted applications.

Small Core, Large Ecosystem: The platform provides essential ECM functionality in its core while enabling extensive customization through external automations that integrate seamlessly via standard protocols.

Standards-Based: Built on established standards (HAL, HAL-FORMS, RFC 9110) to reduce learning curves and leverage existing tooling.

Kubernetes-Native: Designed for cloud-native deployment with dynamic service discovery and modern DevOps practices.

Target Audience

This documentation is written for technical prospects who need to understand:

• How ContentGrid applications are architected and deployed
• The trade-offs and decisions behind the platform design
• How the platform integrates with existing infrastructure
• Security and data protection approaches

If you’re looking for implementation guides or API references, see the Guides and Reference sections.