obsidian/wiki/payloadcms/fields-rich-text.md

title	aliases	tags	sources	created	updated
Rich Text Field	rich-text-field payload-rich-text-field	payloadcms fields rich-text lexical content	raw/fields__rich-text.md	2026-05-15	2026-05-15

Overview

The Rich Text field gives editors a WYSIWYG interface inside the Admin Panel. Content is stored as JSON in the database and converted to HTML (or any format) at render time.

Payload's philosophy: learn the underlying open-source editor (Lexical), not Payload-specific APIs — knowledge transfers elsewhere.

Config Options

Option	Required	Description
name	✅	DB property name
label		Admin Panel label (string or i18n object)
validate		Custom validation — runs on client and server
saveToJWT		Include value in user JWT (auth collections only)
hooks		Field-level hooks
access		Field-level access control
hidden		Hide from APIs and Admin Panel (still saved to DB)
defaultValue		Default JSON content
localized		Enable per-locale content
required		Field must have a value
admin		Admin Panel config (see below)
editor		Override or customize the rich text editor
custom		Extension point for plugin data
typescriptSchema		Override generated TS type with JSON schema
virtual		true = no DB column; or path string for virtual relationship

Admin Options

Inherits all base wiki/payloadcms/fields-overview options (condition, disabled, components, etc.).

import type { Field } from 'payload'

export const MyRichTextField: Field = {
  name: 'content',
  type: 'richText',
  admin: {
    // standard admin options here
  },
}

Further customization (custom toolbar elements, nodes, features) is done via editor-specific options — see wiki/payloadcms/rich-text.

Storage Format

• Stored as JSON (not HTML string) — renderer-agnostic
• Serialise to HTML on the frontend with @payloadcms/richtext-lexical/react or custom serializers
• JSON structure follows Lexical's EditorState format

Editor Customization

The editor option accepts a configured Lexical editor instance:

import { lexicalEditor } from '@payloadcms/richtext-lexical'

{
  name: 'content',
  type: 'richText',
  editor: lexicalEditor({
    features: ({ defaultFeatures }) => [...defaultFeatures],
  }),
}

Full feature list (headings, links, lists, blocks, inline code, etc.) documented in wiki/payloadcms/rich-text.

Key Takeaways

• JSON storage — not HTML; serialization happens at render time
• editor option unlocks full Lexical customization (features, nodes, toolbar)
• hidden: true still persists to DB, just invisible from APIs and Admin
• virtual: true skips DB column entirely — useful for computed/derived content
• saveToJWT embeds the field value in the user JWT — typically avoid for large rich text values
• Localized works at field level — one locale per richText field instance
• Underlying engine is Lexical (by Meta) — invest learning there, not Payload wrappers

Sources

• raw/fields__rich-text.md (compiled 2026-05-15)
• https://payloadcms.com/docs/fields/rich-text