Collections must have a loader defined — Astro 6 removed type: 'content' / type: 'data' collections
Collections must have a loader defined. Check your collection definitions in your content config file.
// before (Astro <= 5 legacy)
import { defineCollection, z } from 'astro:content'
const blog = defineCollection({ type: 'content', schema: z.object({ title: z.string() }) })
const authors = defineCollection({ type: 'data', schema: z.object({ name: z.string() }) })
// after (Astro 6, src/content.config.ts)
import { defineCollection } from 'astro:content'
import { glob, file } from 'astro/loaders'
import { z } from 'astro/zod'
const blog = defineCollection({
loader: glob({ pattern: '**/[^_]*.{md,mdx}', base: './src/content/blog' }),
schema: z.object({ title: z.string() }),
})
const authors = defineCollection({
loader: glob({ pattern: '**/*.json', base: './src/content/authors' }),
schema: z.object({ name: z.string() }),
})
export const collections = { blog, authors }
Astro 6 also uses Zod 4. Use z.email() instead of z.string().email(), and { error: '...' } instead of { message: '...' }. Importing z from astro:content is deprecated; use astro/zod.
Symptom
Astro 6 fails with ContentCollectionMissingLoader:
Collections must have a loader defined. Check your collection definitions in your content config file.
or with ContentCollectionInvalidType:
Invalid collection type “data”. Remove the type from your collection definition in your content config file.
The collection is written in the Astro 2-4 style: defineCollection({ type: 'content', schema }).
Cause
Astro 6.0 (2026-03-10) removed legacy content collections. There are no collection types any more. Every collection gets its entries from a loader (built-in glob() / file() from astro/loaders, or a custom loader). Astro 5 auto-converted loader-less collections, so v5 projects without errors can still break on v6.
Verify
npx astro sync generates types without errors, and npx astro build succeeds.
Sources
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Related
- Found legacy content config file in "src/content/config.ts" — Astro 6 requires src/content.config.ts with loadersAfter upgrading to Astro 6, astro dev / astro build fails with LegacyContentConfigError: The same project built without errors or warnings on Astro 5. Fix: Then give each collection a loader, remove type: and import z…
- Astro 6 removed Astro.glob() — use import.meta.glob(..., { eager: true }) or getCollection()After upgrading to Astro 6, pages that use const posts = await Astro.glob('./posts/.md') fail to build. Fix: For real content, prefer a content collection with getCollection().