Netlify Create /Concepts /

How Netlify Create works

Walk through the core concepts of how Netlify Create works by following a developer's typical journey.

Understanding how Netlify Create works is easiest when we follow a developer's typical journey, where each step builds on concepts and practices from those before it.

Try it yourself

You can put many of the concepts in this guide into action by following the getting started tutorial.

# Working modes

There are two working modes in Netlify Create — local development and cloud projects.

# Start with local development

Developers typically start by working locally to build out a visual editing experience to suit their project's needs, while collaborating with content editors occurs in a cloud project, which is covered near the end of this guide.

Learn more about Local Development

# Netlify Create development server

Working locally with Netlify Create is made possible by using the CLI. The stackbit dev command runs in parallel with your site's development server to create a visual editing environment that enables developers to prepare a site before bringing in content editors.

See the CLI reference

# Project requirements

Netlify Create is fully composable, which means that most content sources and site frameworks can be supported (with varying levels of required configuration).

Although Netlify Create services a large variety of sites, the one thing all sites have in common — what we consider to be the sole prerequisite — is that content must be structured and separated from code. We think of this as having a content-driven architecture.

Read more on Content-Driven Development

# Structured content

For Netlify Create to be able to empower editors to change content, that content must be structured, which means it has a predictable shape, as defined by a content schema.

Netlify Create will inherit content schema when it is defined in the source. When Netlify Create can't infer the schema (e.g. file-based content), you must provide a schema definition through the Netlify Create configuration.

Structured content requirements

# Netlify Create configuration

Netlify Create's behavior for any given project is controlled by the configuration file, stackbit.config.js|ts. Configuration is how Netlify Create knows how to retrieve and store content, which content models represent pages, how editing features should work, and so on.

See the config reference

# Content source connections

Perhaps the most critical configuration property is identifying the source(s) of a site's content, which is (usually) done through the contentSources config property.

Each content source implements Netlify Create's Content Source Interface, the mechanism that enables two-way content sync between Netlify and the source.

Learn about Content Source Interface

# Content editing

Once a site is properly configured, its content can be immediately edited through Netlify Create.

# Two-way content sync

One of the most powerful capabilities of Netlify Create is its two-way content synching mechanism, which provides the ability to:

  • Make changes from Netlify Create that get saved back to the content source.
  • Update content in Netlify Create when changes are made directly at the source.
  • Automatically update the site preview when content changes have been made.

Dive deep into Two-Way Content Sync

# Traditional CMS editing

When a content source is properly configured, all the models within the source will be available to edit within Netlify Create's content editor panel.

When working with content from a headless CMS, this requires no additional configuration, as Netlify Create can automatically detect content models and fields from the CMS.

Learn more about the content editor panel

Content Tab

# Basic page editing

To be able to edit with the page editor panel, you must tell Netlify Create which models represent pages. This is handled by content source modules.

See contentSources property reference

Page Editor Panel

# Advanced editing

Editing can then be taken to the next level by enabling editing to click on elements in the preview and make the changes inline. This is made possible by annotating components by adding specific data attributes to inform Netlify Create how the structure of your content maps the elements in the DOM.

More on inline editing

# Reusable content

As powerful as inline editing is, it's made even more powerful when content editors can reuse content. Although there are multiple ways to do this, Netlify Create's content presets feature tends to boost editors' productivity the most.

Learn more about Content Presets

Component Presets View

# Collaboration

When it comes time to bring content editors into your project, you can create a new cloud project and begin inviting others. This is typically done by importing a GitHub repository into Netlify Create, which kicks off a few other processes.

More on creating a project from a GitHub repo

# Service provisioning

When first creating a cloud project, Netlify Create provisions services based on your site and configuration. While many of your services will already be configured, Netlify Create does the following:

  • Production Site: Netlify Create deploys your site to a [site].stackbit.app site on Netlify, unless your organization is configured to skip this step.
  • Container: Netlify Create creates a container that powers the editing experience for your site. This replaces stackbit dev, used when working locally.

Provisioning configuration options

# Content publishing

Once editors have been added to the Netlify Create project, they can begin publishing content to production. This process can also be customized, though it is through the project settings.

More on Publishing and Git Workflows

# Next steps

This concludes the overview on how Netlify Create works. Here are a few suggestions on what to do next.

# Get started tutorial

Follow the get started tutorial if you haven't. This provides a quick way to put some of these concepts into action.

Follow get started tutorial

# Explore documentation

We've covered a lot of the basics, but there are other features and concepts to explore.

Explore feature guides