Structure of an Entity annotation
Last updated on
29 August 2025
This documentation needs review. See "Help improve this page" in the sidebar.
Entity types, both configuration and content entity are defined using annotation.
An example, from core/modules/user/src/Entity/User.php:
...
/**
* Defines the user entity class.
*
* The base table name here is plural, despite Drupal table naming standards,
* because "user" is a reserved word in many databases.
*
* @ContentEntityType(
* id = "user",
* label = @Translation("User"),
* label_collection = @Translation("Users"),
* label_singular = @Translation("user"),
* label_plural = @Translation("users"),
* label_count = @PluralTranslation(
* singular = "@count user",
* plural = "@count users",
* ),
* handlers = {
* "storage" = "Drupal\user\UserStorage",
* "storage_schema" = "Drupal\user\UserStorageSchema",
* "access" = "Drupal\user\UserAccessControlHandler",
* "list_builder" = "Drupal\user\UserListBuilder",
* "views_data" = "Drupal\user\UserViewsData",
* "route_provider" = {
* "html" = "Drupal\user\Entity\UserRouteProvider",
* },
* "form" = {
* "default" = "Drupal\user\ProfileForm",
* "cancel" = "Drupal\user\Form\UserCancelForm",
* "register" = "Drupal\user\RegisterForm"
* },
* "translation" = "Drupal\user\ProfileTranslationHandler"
* },
* admin_permission = "administer users",
* base_table = "users",
* data_table = "users_field_data",
* translatable = TRUE,
* entity_keys = {
* "id" = "uid",
* "langcode" = "langcode",
* "uuid" = "uuid"
* },
* links = {
* "canonical" = "/user/{user}",
* "edit-form" = "/user/{user}/edit",
* "cancel-form" = "/user/{user}/cancel",
* "collection" = "/admin/people",
* },
* field_ui_base_route = "entity.user.admin_form",
* common_reference_target = TRUE
* )
*/
class User extends ContentEntityBase implements UserInterface {
...
Configuration entities use "@ConfigEntityType" and extend the Drupal\Core\Config\Entity\ConfigEntityBase class. Content entities use "@ContentEntityType" and extend the Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityBase class.
Available to be used in entity type annotations are all values of type "property" as listed in the EntityType API documentation.
Help improve this page
Page status: Needs review
You can:
You can:
- Log in, click Edit, and edit this page
- Log in, click Discuss, update the Page status value, and suggest an improvement
- Log in and create a Documentation issue with your suggestion
Still on Drupal 7? Security support for Drupal 7 ended on 5 January 2025. Please visit our Drupal 7 End of Life resources page to review all of your options.