Developer tools for Payload CMS

Developer-tooling plugins for Payload CMS: OpenAPI/Swagger docs, GraphQL helpers, MCP servers, REST utilities, CLI and type codegen.

Developer-tooling plugins make Payload CMS easier to build on and integrate — OpenAPI/Swagger docs, GraphQL helpers, MCP servers, REST utilities and code generation.

What these plugins cover

  • OpenAPI / Swagger documentation
  • GraphQL schema and query tooling
  • MCP servers for AI agents
  • REST helpers and endpoint utilities
  • CLI commands and scaffolding
  • Type generation and codegen

Extending the Payload API

Generate OpenAPI and typed clients from your config, expose an MCP server for agents, and wire external systems through integrations.

See also admin tooling, integrations and migration.

payload-cli

CLI for direct access to PayloadCMS data for AI agents and humans.

agent API guide

Generate a live API reference and query guide for Payload CMS.

Markdown documentation sync

Syncs Markdown documentation with Payload CMS using Git.

OpenAPI

Generates OpenAPI specifications from Payload CMS configurations.

Puck visual page builder

Integrate Puck visual page builder with Payload CMS for drag-and-drop editing.

Dry Run

Test Payload create operations end-to-end without persisting, by rolling back the transaction after hooks and validation run.

Resolve alias webpack helper

Payload plugin that injects webpack resolve aliases to stub out server-only modules in the admin bundle.

GraphQL View

Adds a GraphQL view with IDE support to Payload collections and globals.

Query

Type-safe query filters and field selection for Payload, with a REST select parameter plugin.

create api docs

Generate OpenAPI 3 documentation for Payload CMS.

Swagger

Swagger plugin for Payload CMS that generates OpenAPI documentation.

OpenAPI

Generate OpenAPI 3 documentation for Payload CMS endpoints.

REST Client

A typesafe REST API client for Payload CMS.

Integration Test Utils

Provides integration test helpers for a ready-to-use Payload instance in vitest.

Repository

Wrapper around Payload's Local API providing repository operations.

Utilities

Utility functions for Payload CMS to handle validation, ID extraction, and document resolution.

Assist

Provides utilities for DTO management and validation hooks in Payload CMS.

Frequently asked questions

What developer tooling is available for Payload CMS?

Plugins add OpenAPI/Swagger documentation, GraphQL helpers, MCP servers, REST utilities and CLI or codegen tools that build on your Payload config.

Can I generate OpenAPI docs or an MCP server?

Yes — devtools plugins generate OpenAPI specs (and Swagger UI) from your collections, and some expose an MCP server so AI agents can query Payload.

Are these devtools plugins free?

Yes — every developer-tooling plugin on Payload Market is open-source and free to install.