diff --git a/packages/astro/content-reference/content.d.ts b/packages/astro/content-reference/content.d.ts
index ef4734d5d..a43e69eaf 100644
--- a/packages/astro/content-reference/content.d.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/content-reference/content.d.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,24 @@
 import { z } from 'zod';
 
 declare const defaultSchemaFileResolved: {
-  schema: {
-    parse: (mod) => any;
-  };
+	schema: {
+		parse: (mod) => any;
+	};
 };
 export declare const contentMap: {
-  // GENERATED_CONTENT_MAP_ENTRIES
+	// GENERATED_CONTENT_MAP_ENTRIES
 };
 export declare const schemaMap: {
-  // GENERATED_SCHEMA_MAP_ENTRIES
+	// GENERATED_SCHEMA_MAP_ENTRIES
 };
+export declare function fetchContentByEntry<
+	C extends keyof typeof contentMap,
+	E extends keyof typeof contentMap[C]
+>(collection: C, entryKey: E): Promise<typeof contentMap[C][E]>;
+export declare function fetchContent<
+	C extends keyof typeof contentMap,
+	E extends keyof typeof contentMap[C]
+>(
+	collection: C,
+	filter?: (data: typeof contentMap[C][E]['data']) => boolean
+): Promise<typeof contentMap[C][keyof typeof contentMap[C]][]>;
diff --git a/packages/astro/content-reference/content.mjs b/packages/astro/content-reference/content.mjs
index 4598a5681..8d912f559 100644
--- a/packages/astro/content-reference/content.mjs
+++ b/packages/astro/content-reference/content.mjs
@@ -1,18 +1,89 @@
+import { z } from 'zod';
+import { getFrontmatterErrorLine, errorMap } from 'astro/content-internals';
+
 const NO_SCHEMA_MSG = (/** @type {string} */ collection) =>
-  `${collection} does not have a ~schema file. We suggest adding one for type safety!`;
+	`${collection} does not have a ~schema file. We suggest adding one for type safety!`;
 
 const defaultSchemaFileResolved = { schema: { parse: (mod) => mod } };
 /** Used to stub out `schemaMap` entries that don't have a `~schema.ts` file */
 const defaultSchemaFile = (/** @type {string} */ collection) =>
-  new Promise((/** @type {(value: typeof defaultSchemaFileResolved) => void} */ resolve) => {
-    console.warn(NO_SCHEMA_MSG(collection));
-    resolve(defaultSchemaFileResolved);
-  });
+	new Promise((/** @type {(value: typeof defaultSchemaFileResolved) => void} */ resolve) => {
+		console.warn(NO_SCHEMA_MSG(collection));
+		resolve(defaultSchemaFileResolved);
+	});
+
+const getSchemaError = (collection) =>
+	new Error(`${collection}/~schema needs a named \`schema\` export.`);
+
+async function parseEntryData(
+	/** @type {string} */ collection,
+	/** @type {string} */ entryKey,
+	/** @type {{ data: any; rawData: string; }} */ unparsedEntry,
+	/** @type {{ schemaMap: any }} */ { schemaMap }
+) {
+	const defineSchemaResult = await schemaMap[collection];
+	if (!defineSchemaResult) throw getSchemaError(collection);
+	const { schema } = defineSchemaResult;
+
+	try {
+		return schema.parse(unparsedEntry.data, { errorMap });
+	} catch (e) {
+		if (e instanceof z.ZodError) {
+			const formattedError = new Error(
+				[
+					`Could not parse frontmatter in ${String(collection)} → ${String(entryKey)}`,
+					...e.errors.map((e) => e.message),
+				].join('\n')
+			);
+			formattedError.loc = {
+				file: 'TODO',
+				line: getFrontmatterErrorLine(unparsedEntry.rawData, String(e.errors[0].path[0])),
+				column: 1,
+			};
+			throw formattedError;
+		}
+	}
+}
 
 export const contentMap = {
-  // GENERATED_CONTENT_MAP_ENTRIES
+	// GENERATED_CONTENT_MAP_ENTRIES
 };
 
 export const schemaMap = {
-  // GENERATED_SCHEMA_MAP_ENTRIES
+	// GENERATED_SCHEMA_MAP_ENTRIES
 };
+
+export async function fetchContentByEntry(
+	/** @type {string} */ collection,
+	/** @type {string} */ entryKey
+) {
+	const entry = contentMap[collection][entryKey];
+
+	return {
+		id: entry.id,
+		slug: entry.slug,
+		body: entry.body,
+		data: await parseEntryData(collection, entryKey, entry, { schemaMap }),
+	};
+}
+
+export async function fetchContent(
+	/** @type {string} */ collection,
+	/** @type {undefined | (() => boolean)} */ filter
+) {
+	const entries = Promise.all(
+		Object.entries(contentMap[collection]).map(async ([key, entry]) => {
+			return {
+				id: entry.id,
+				slug: entry.slug,
+				body: entry.body,
+				data: await parseEntryData(collection, key, entry, { schemaMap }),
+			};
+		})
+	);
+	if (typeof filter === 'function') {
+		return (await entries).filter(filter);
+	} else {
+		return entries;
+	}
+}
diff --git a/packages/astro/package.json b/packages/astro/package.json
index e42d13db4..2b7f9b1cb 100644
--- a/packages/astro/package.json
+++ b/packages/astro/package.json
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
       "types": "./config.d.ts",
       "default": "./config.mjs"
     },
+    "./content-internals": "./dist/content-internals/index.js",
     "./app": "./dist/core/app/index.js",
     "./app/node": "./dist/core/app/node.js",
     "./client/*": "./dist/runtime/client/*",
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/content-internals/index.ts b/packages/astro/src/content-internals/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2c4a2b726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/astro/src/content-internals/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { z } from 'zod';
+
+const flattenPath = (path: (string | number)[]) => path.join('.');
+
+export const errorMap: z.ZodErrorMap = (error, ctx) => {
+	if (error.code === 'invalid_type') {
+		const badKeyPath = JSON.stringify(flattenPath(error.path));
+		if (error.received === 'undefined') {
+			return { message: `${badKeyPath} is required.` };
+		} else {
+			return { message: `${badKeyPath} should be ${error.expected}, not ${error.received}.` };
+		}
+	}
+	return { message: ctx.defaultError };
+};
+
+// WARNING: MAXIMUM JANK AHEAD
+export function getFrontmatterErrorLine(rawFrontmatter: string, frontmatterKey: string) {
+	console.log({ rawFrontmatter, frontmatterKey });
+	const indexOfFrontmatterKey = rawFrontmatter.indexOf(`\n${frontmatterKey}`);
+	if (indexOfFrontmatterKey === -1) return 0;
+
+	const frontmatterBeforeKey = rawFrontmatter.substring(0, indexOfFrontmatterKey + 1);
+	const numNewlinesBeforeKey = frontmatterBeforeKey.split('\n').length;
+	return numNewlinesBeforeKey;
+}
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-content/index.ts b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-content/index.ts
index fc86f83c6..8475cb04f 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-content/index.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-content/index.ts
@@ -190,8 +190,8 @@ async function getEntriesByCollection(
 			const id = path.relative(contentDir.pathname, filePath);
 			const slug = entryKey.replace(/\.mdx?$/, '');
 			const body = await fs.readFile(filePath, 'utf-8');
-			const { data, matter: rawData } = parseFrontmatter(body, filePath);
-			return [entryKey, { id, slug, body, data, rawData }];
+			const { data, matter } = parseFrontmatter(body, filePath);
+			return [entryKey, { id, slug, body, data, rawData: matter ?? '' }];
 		})
 	);
 }