Comparison: Plugin vs Native

Sanity Structure Tool is designed to eliminate the repetitive boilerplate required by the native Sanity Structure Builder. This guide demonstrates the code reduction and clarity gained by switching to a declarative approach.

Standard Desk Hierarchy

In a typical studio, you often need to handle singletons (like "Settings"), dividers, and standard document lists.

JSON

const listItems = defineListItems([
  {
    title: 'Site Settings',
    schemaType: 'settings',
    // Automatically handles id and editor view
    singleton: true,
  },
  {
    isDivider: true,
  },
  {
    // Automatically pluralizes title and adds icon
    schemaType: 'post',
  },
]);

Helpers

const listItems = defineListItems([
  // Automatically handles id and editor view
  helpers.singleton('settings', {
    title: 'Site Settings',
  }),
  helpers.divider(),
  // Automatically pluralizes title and adds icon
  helpers.listing('post'),
]);

Native Structure Builder

export const structure = (S) =>
  S.list()
    .title('Desk')
    .items([
      // 1. Singletons require manual id and child definition
      S.listItem()
        .title('Site Settings')
        .id('settings')
        .child(S.document().schemaType('settings').documentId('settings')),

      S.divider(),

      // 2. Standard items require explicit list item calls
      S.documentTypeListItem('post').title('Posts'),
    ]);

Access Control (Workspaces & Roles)

Managing visibility based on user roles or workspaces is where the native API becomes extremely repetitive.

JSON

// Automatically handles logic for both roles and workspaces
const listItems = defineListItems([
  {
    schemaType: 'revenue',
    workspaces: ['staging'],
    roles: ['administrator'],
  },
]);

Helpers

const listItems = defineListItems([
  helpers.listing('revenue', {
    workspaces: ['staging'],
    roles: ['administrator'],
  }),
]);

Native Structure Builder

export const structure = (S, context) => {
  const { currentUser, dataset } = context;
  const isAdmin = currentUser.roles.some((r) => r.name === 'administrator');
  const items = [];

  // Manual filtering logic for every protected item
  if (isAdmin && dataset === 'staging') {
    items.push(S.documentTypeListItem('revenue'));
  }

  return S.list().title('Desk').items(items);
};

Key Advantages

Feature	Sanity Structure Tool	Native Builder
Syntax	Declarative (JSON like)	Imperative (Method Chaining)
Singletons	One property (singleton: true)	Manual setup (id, view, actions)
Type Safety	Contextual & Typed	Generic
Boilerplate	Minimal	High (repeats for every item)
Roles/Workspaces	Built-in protection	Manual if/else logic

Summary

By using the Sanity Structure Tool, you trade complex method chaining for a clean, typed configuration. This not only reduces the amount of code you write but also makes your structure easier to read, maintain, and protect.