> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://buttercms.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom blog (Page Types)

> Learn how to build a custom blog for your app, powered by ButterCMS Page Types

<Tip>
  If you don't need the ability to fully customize your blog, you can [try out one of our tutorials](./building-a-blog-blog-engine) that leverages the ButterCMS blog engine, instead!
</Tip>

ButterCMS Page Types give you a dynamic, flexible, fully customizable schema for building a blog that matches your exact requirements. Follow the steps below to set one up.

<Card title="Pages core concepts" icon="lightbulb" href="../../../core-concepts/content-types/pages">
  For a deeper look at ButterCMS Pages, check out our core concepts article. Learn about creating Pages, choosing between the blog engine and a custom Page Type, the API, and more.
</Card>

## Step 1: Create a new Page Type

In your ButterCMS dashboard, click on "Content Types", then click "New Content Type" and select "Page Type".

## Step 2: Add custom fields

Add the fields that you want to include on the schema for your Blog Page Type. Common combinations include:

* **Short Text**: use this for the post **Title**
* **WYSIWYG**: use this for the post **Body**, giving editors a rich text editing experience
* **Date field**: although the ButterCMS automatically returns `created` and `updated` dates for Pages, you may want the ability to manually set custom dates and times.
* **Reference**: link to related content, such as a Collection of **Authors**, **Categories**, or **Tags**.
* **Components**: great to set up blocks for CTAs, hero banners, SEO, and more
* **Component Picker**: use this field type to create an allowlist of selectable components for dynamic layouts

<Tip>
  You can't set up a Reference to a Collection that doesn't exist, yet! You can either go back and edit the Page Type schema once your Collections are set up, or you can set up your Collections first.
</Tip>

The combinations are endless — design the schema that fits your content model.

## Step 3: Configure and save your Page Type

Name your Page Type (e.g., `Blog Post`), review your fields, and save. This schema can now be reused for every post you create under that type.

## Step 4: Link authors to Blog Posts

To associate authors with posts:

1. Create a **Collections** entry called `Authors` with fields such as **Name**, **Slug**, and **Image**.
2. On your Blog Post Page Type, add a **Reference** field pointing to the `Authors` collection.
3. When querying the API, you can use dot notation to filter on the various Page fields, allowing you to fetch posts by Author or Tag, for example.

```text theme={null}
?fields.author.slug=your-author-slug
```

## Implementation examples

<CardGroup cols={1}>
  <Card title="Swift" icon="swift" href="https://buttercms.com/blog/swift-app-tutorial-build-a-custom-blog">
    Build a custom blog with Swift and ButterCMS Page Types
  </Card>
</CardGroup>