Auto-Binding by Drop Location
Studio doesn't just look at the page's top-level fields. It auto-binds against the scope at the drop location. Drop the same section at the root of a page or inside a Repeater, and you'll get different, but correct, binding behavior.
Scope-aware binding matters because it eliminates manual field-wiring in most cases and prevents mismatched bindings, where a section meant to render a card grid accidentally resolves against the page's top-level metadata instead of the list it should iterate.
What "Scope" Means
| Drop location | Where Studio looks for matches |
|---|---|
| Root of a page | The page's top-level fields |
| Inside a Repeater | The schema of the Repeater's iteration item |
| Inside a Modular Block | The fields of that specific block |
| Nested (Repeater inside Repeater, block inside group, …) | The innermost scope; scopes chain |
Three Possible Outcomes
| Result | What happens |
|---|---|
| Exactly one match | Studio binds automatically: no manual step. |
| Multiple matches | Studio binds to one; the section's right-panel settings show a dropdown to switch. |
| Zero matches | Section drops unbound; you can pick a field manually if a compatible one exists, meaning a field with the same data type and matching structure (e.g., a Group field with the same number and types of children, or a Reference field pointing to the same content types). |
When the Iteration Item Matches the Section's Data Shape Exactly
There's a special case worth knowing about: if the surrounding scope itself mirrors the section's shape, for example, when the iteration item matches the section's data shape exactly, as when a Repeater iterates a list of gf_featured_card, the section binds directly to the iteration item with no wrapper field needed.
This is what makes the section-inside-Repeater pattern Just Work: see Recipe: card grid with slots.
Worked Example: Same Section, Three Drop Locations
A Featured Card section anchored on gf_featured_card:
Same section, three drop locations, three different bindings, all picked automatically.
When Auto-binding Doesn't Apply
- Sections without a linked schema skip auto-binding entirely. They have no data to bind. They render the same content wherever you drop them: useful for purely presentational sections like footers and divider strips.
- If a section has multiple linked schemas (different content types), Studio matches against the schema entry that corresponds to the template's connected content type.