---
title: "Editor tiers"
description: "The root, region, fragment and slot editors and what each offers."
url: https://docs.systhema.app/next/payload/editor/tiers
version: unreleased (main)
docs_index: https://docs.systhema.app/next/llms.txt
---

Systhema ships four levels of Lexical editors. They differ in which features and blocks are enabled, so you pick the right one for the context.

| Editor     | Use case               | Features                         |
| ---------- | ---------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| `root`     | Page-level content     | All blocks, full formatting      |
| `region`   | Section content        | Most blocks, standard formatting |
| `fragment` | Card / feature content | Limited blocks, basic formatting |
| `slot`     | Single-line content    | Text only, minimal formatting    |

Each tier is a factory exported from `@systhemaui/payload`: `rootLexicalEditor`, `regionLexicalEditor`, `fragmentLexicalEditor` and `slotLexicalEditor`. Built-in blocks pick the tier that fits where they sit, and your own fields can use the same factories.

## Feature and block matrix

| Feature / Block        | ROOT | REGION | FRAGMENT | SLOT |
| :--------------------- | :--: | :----: | :------: | :--: |
| **Toolbar & UI**       |      |        |          |      |
| Inline Toolbar         |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Fixed Toolbar          |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Hide Gutter (Admin)    |  ❌  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| **Rich Text Features** |      |        |          |      |
| Bold                   |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Italic                 |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Underline              |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Strikethrough          |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Paragraph              |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Link                   |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Align                  |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Indent                 |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Unordered List         |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Ordered List           |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Checklist              |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Horizontal Rule        |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| **Typography**         |      |        |          |      |
| Heading (h1)           |  ✅  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Heading (h2-h6)        |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Balance Text           |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Lead Feature           |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Small Feature          |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Label Feature          |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| AI Assistant ¹         |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| **Blocks**             |      |        |          |      |
| Section                |  ✅  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Feature                |  ✅  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Posts †                |  ✅  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Component              |  ✅  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Gallery                |  ✅  |   ⚠️   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Columns                |  ✅  |   ⚠️   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Card                   |  ✅  |   ⚠️   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Carousel               |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Accordion              |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Stack / Nested Stack   |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Video                  |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Image                  |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| YouTube                |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Quote                  |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Google Map             |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Embed                  |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Form ‡                 |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| **Inline Blocks**      |      |        |          |      |
| Button                 |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Chip                   |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Icon                   |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |
| Avatar                 |  ✅  |   ✅   |    ✅    |  ✅  |

⚠️ = Configurable via options (see [Region editor options](#region-editor-options) below)

This table is what each tier ships by default. A project can change a tier's headings, its Label feature, or its whole feature set without forking it: see [Extending a tier](https://docs.systhema.app/next/payload/editor/extending-tiers.md).

**Alignment renders as an inline style, not a class.** `Align` stores its choice on the element node itself, and `@payloadcms/richtext-lexical` applies it one level above the per-node converters — after a converter returns its element, the framework clones it with a `style={{ textAlign: … }}`. Systhema's converters therefore never read `node.format`, and a custom converter of your own does not need to either: it only has to **spread its rest props onto the element it returns**, so the injected `style` reaches the DOM. A converter that swallows `style` silently drops the editor's alignment.

† Posts is a root-only, section-like block offered only when the [Posts module](https://docs.systhema.app/next/payload/posts.md) is enabled. Like Section/Feature it is never offered inside a region/fragment/slot body.

‡ Form is offered only when the Forms module is on — the `forms` plugin option in `withSysthema()` **and** `blocks.form` in `systhema.config.ts`. At fragment tier its **Width alignment** control is hidden and the form always renders at `default` width: a card / accordion / rich-text body already establishes the container, so a breakout there has nothing to break out of.

¹ Registered only when the `ai` plugin option is enabled (see [AI Assistant](https://docs.systhema.app/next/payload/ai.md)). A single trailing toolbar group (always last) on whichever toolbars the tier exposes — the fixed and inline toolbars for root/region/fragment, and the inline toolbar only for the slot tier, which has no fixed toolbar — with selection-based actions (proofread/rephrase/expand/summarize/simplify/translate), compose, and — outside the slot tier — layout generation with native blocks. Where the editor registers the `button` inline block, generation can also emit inline CTA buttons (token-driven variants read from the real `ButtonBlock` definition); the slot tier passes no inline blocks, so it never emits them.

## Blocks using each editor

The rich-text fields inside a block use their own tier:

| Block     | ROOT | REGION | FRAGMENT | SLOT |
| :-------- | :--: | :----: | :------: | :--: |
| Component |  ✅  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Section   |  ❌  |   ✅   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Feature   |  ❌  |   ✅   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Gallery   |  ❌  |   ✅   |    ❌    |  ❌  |
| Accordion |  ❌  |   ❌   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Card      |  ❌  |   ❌   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Columns   |  ❌  |   ❌   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| RichText  |  ❌  |   ❌   |    ✅    |  ❌  |
| Quote     |  ❌  |   ❌   |    ❌    |  ✅  |

Block names become element ids for in-page anchors. The link helper smooth-scrolls a same-page hash to that id, including ids that start with a digit. For nested blocks with their own reveals, see [Suppressing child reveals](https://docs.systhema.app/next/styling/animation.md#child-reveals).

## Region editor options

The region editor accepts three opt-in flags (all default to `false`) that control whether the nestable `columns`, `card` and `gallery` blocks appear in its block menu. They default off to prevent circular block nesting:

- `withColumns?: boolean` — enable the `columns` block.
- `withCard?: boolean` — enable the `card` block.
- `withGallery?: boolean` — enable the `gallery` block.

For example, the Section, Feature, and Gallery blocks build their region editor with columns and card enabled:

```ts
regionLexicalEditor({ withColumns: true, withCard: true })
```

Gallery stays off in the Section, Feature and Gallery editors, so a Gallery never nests inside one of them. The default post body adds `withGallery: true`, so a Gallery can sit in a post but never inside a Section, Feature or another Gallery.