Strapi Project Structure
The most popular open-source headless CMS. Strapi is built on a highly extensible plugin-based architecture using Node.js and React. Its monorepo structure manages the core engine alongside dozens of official plugins and providers.
Updated 2025-12-30
Project Directory
Repository Info
- Repository-strapi/strapi
- Stars-60k+
- License-MIT
- Last Analyzed-December 2025
Tech Stack
- Backend-Node.js (Koa)
- Frontend-React
- Language-TypeScript / JavaScript
- Database-SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB
- Query Layer-Strapi Query Engine
Architecture Notes
Strapi's power lies in its extreme modularity. Everything in Strapi—from the content manager to image uploads—is implemented as a plugin. The core engine (@strapi/strapi) acts as a registry that loads these plugins and stitches together their routes, controllers, and services. This architecture allows developers to replace or extend almost any part of the system without touching the core code. They recently transitioned to a more modern monorepo setup while maintaining a massive ecosystem of internal packages.
Key Directories
- packages/core/strapi/-The heart of the system, responsible for initialization and plugin loading
- packages/plugins/-Contains all essential functionality (Auth, Media, i18n) as decoupled modules
- packages/core/admin/-The React application that provides the visual interface for content creators
- packages/core/database/-The database abstraction layer that supports multiple SQL dialects
Why This Structure?
Strapi is a masterclass in building a large-scale, plugin-oriented ecosystem. It shows how to manage a codebase that must be both incredibly robust for production and incredibly flexible for developers to customize. Studying Strapi is essential for anyone interested in extensible platform architecture.