Astro content collections in external directories with symlinks

EasyABC is a no-code blog template. Asking people to browser the src dir is contrary to this goal.

However, Astro requires content collections to live in the src/content dir.

There is an easy resolution to this using symlinks. If you’re familiar with Microsoft Window’s shortcuts, you’re already familar with the concept of a *nix symlink.

First, add this to your Astro config.

export default defineConfig({
	vite: {
		resolve: {
			preserveSymlinks: true,
		},
	},
});

Then in the terminal:

ln -s path/content-collection src/content

In the case of EasyABC it was:

ln -s public/personal-blog/blog src/content

Thanks to Elio Struyf for his detailed explanation on this topic!