Add a headless CMS to Next.js in 5 minutes

Contents

Storyblok is the first headless CMS that works for developers & marketers alike.

Home
Developer Guides
Add a headless CMS to Next.js in 5 minutes

In this short tutorial, we will explore how to integrate Storyblok into a Next.js application, and enable the live-preview in the Visual Editor. We will use Storyblok's React SDK to load our data using the Storyblok API and enable the live editing experience. We will also see how to enable Next.js preview mode to preview our changes when working with static site generation.

You can find all the code for this tutorial in our react-next-boilerplate repo.

Environment Setup

Requirements

To follow this tutorial there are the following requirements:

Basic understanding of JavaScript, React and Next.js
Node.js LTS version
An account in the Storyblok App

Setup the project

Let's start by creating a new Next.js application.

npx create-next-app basic-nextjs
# or
yarn create next-app basic-nextjs

Let's also install Storyblok's React SDK. This package allows us to interact with the Storyblok API and will help us to enable the real-time editing experience inside the Visual Editor.

cd basic-nextjs

npm install @storyblok/react
# or
yarn add @storyblok/react

Then, let's start the development server

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev

Open your browser in http://localhost:3000. You should see the following screen.

Connecting to Storyblok

Now that we kickstarted our project, we need to create a connection to Storyblok and enable the Visual Editor.

To initialize the connection, go to pages/_app.js and add the following code.

pages/_app.js

...

import { storyblokInit, apiPlugin } from "@storyblok/react";

storyblokInit({
  accessToken: "your-preview-token",
  use: [apiPlugin]
});

...

This function will do mainly two things: Initialize the connection with Storyblok (enabling the Visual Editor) and provide an API client that we can use to retrieve content from the platform, to be used in our application.

In the Storyblok app, Create a new space and retrieve your Preview token {3} from your Space Settings {1} under Access Tokens {2}. Add the token as the accessToken directly, or from an .env file.

Fetching Data

To fetch data, we will make use of Next.js getStaticProps function. Add the following code to the pages/index.js file. This will load our home story using the client we just initialized (getStoryblokApi) and display the name of the story.

pages/index.js

import Head from "next/head"
import styles from "../styles/Home.module.css"

import { getStoryblokApi } from "@storyblok/react"

export default function Home(props) {
  return (
    <div className={styles.container}>
      <Head>
        <title>Create Next App</title>
        <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
      </Head>

      <header>
        <h1>
          { props.story ? props.story.name : 'My Site' }
        </h1>
      </header>

      <main>
        
      </main>
    </div>
  )
}

export async function getStaticProps() {
  // home is the default slug for the homepage in Storyblok
  let slug = "home";

  // load the draft version
  let sbParams = {
    version: "draft", // or 'published'
  };

  const storyblokApi = getStoryblokApi();
  let { data } = await storyblokApi.get(`cdn/stories/${slug}`, sbParams);

  return {
    props: {
      story: data ? data.story : false,
      key: data ? data.story.id : false,
    },
    revalidate: 3600, // revalidate every hour
  };
}

Setting the Preview Url

In the Storyblok app, go to Settings {1} > Visual Editor {2}, and set the Location (default environment) {3} to https://localhost:3010/.

For this tutorial, we will set up our dev server with an HTTPS proxy, to use a secure connection with the application. We'll use port 3010, so the URL to access our website will end up being https://localhost:3010/.

HINT:

If you don’t know how to setup an HTTPS proxy on macOS, you can read this guide.

Let's open our Home Story now by clicking on Content {1} and then the Home Story {2}.

Setting the Real Path

We need to set the Real Path to / {1} because we want to display the story with the slug home under our base path / and not /home. Once you set the preview URL and the real path, you should be able to see your development server inside Storyblok showing the name of the story Home.

Creating and loading the components

In the next step, we have to create the components that already exist in the Home story: Page, Teaser, Grid and Feature. Create a new folder components with the following files:

components/Page.js

import { storyblokEditable, StoryblokComponent } from "@storyblok/react";

const Page = ({ blok }) => (
  <main {...storyblokEditable(blok)}>
    {blok.body.map((nestedBlok) => (
      <StoryblokComponent blok={nestedBlok} key={nestedBlok._uid} />
    ))}
  </main>
);

export default Page;

components/Teaser.js

import { storyblokEditable } from "@storyblok/react";

const Teaser = ({ blok }) => {
  return <h2 {...storyblokEditable(blok)}>{blok.headline}</h2>;
};

export default Teaser;

components/Grid.js

import { storyblokEditable, StoryblokComponent } from "@storyblok/react";

const Grid = ({ blok }) => {
  return (
    <div className="grid" {...storyblokEditable(blok)}>
      {blok.columns.map((nestedBlok) => (
        <StoryblokComponent blok={nestedBlok} key={nestedBlok._uid} />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
};

export default Grid;

components/Feature.js

import { storyblokEditable } from "@storyblok/react";

const Feature = ({ blok }) => (
  <div className="column feature" {...storyblokEditable(blok)}>
    {blok.name}
  </div>
);

export default Feature;

By using storyblokEditable with any component, we can make them loaded and clickable in the Storyblok Visual Editor, and we can edit its properties in real-time.

To load the right content in Next.js, we will need a dynamic element that can resolve the component names we get from Storyblok API to the actual components in our Next.js application. For this purpose, we use the StoryblokComponent feature included in @storyblok/react. You can see how it works in the Page and Grid components, where we have the body and columns properties that can load any type of component.

Finally, we need to configure the components identified by StoryblokComponent, and link them to their representation in the Storyblok space. To do that, let's go back to pages/_app.js and add a new parameter to storyblokInit call.

pages/_app.js

...

import { storyblokInit, apiPlugin } from "@storyblok/react";
import Feature from "../components/Feature";
import Grid from "../components/Grid";
import Page from "../components/Page";
import Teaser from "../components/Teaser";

const components = {
  feature: Feature,
  grid: Grid,
  teaser: Teaser,
  page: Page,
};

storyblokInit({
  accessToken: "your-preview-token",
  use: [apiPlugin],
  components,
});

...

In order to display the components, let's include StoryblokComponent in our return function in the pages/index.js file:

pages/index.js

...

import { getStoryblokApi, StoryblokComponent } from "@storyblok/react"

export default function Home(props) {
    const story = props.story
   
    return (
      <div className={styles.container}>
        <Head>
          <title>Create Next App</title>
          <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
        </Head>
   
        <header>
          <h1>
            { story ? story.name : 'My Site' }
          </h1>
        </header>
   
         <StoryblokComponent blok={story.content} />
      </div>
    )
  }

...

Once you loaded the components you should be able to see the available components in your Storyblok Live Preview. It should show the Grid component {1} and the Teaser component {2}. If you change their order in Storyblok and click Save, they should dynamically switch their order on the page.

Enabling the Visual Editor & Live Preview

So far we loaded our content from Storyblok, but we aren't able to directly select and edit the different components. To enable Storyblok's Visual Editor, we need to connect the Storyblok Bridge. In order to do that, we will use the useStoryblokState React hook provided by @storyblok/react, so we enable live updating for the story content.

Let's load this hook in our pages/index.js file.

pages/index.js

...

import {
  useStoryblokState,
  getStoryblokApi,
  StoryblokComponent,
} from "@storyblok/react";

export default function Home({ story }) {
  story = useStoryblokState(story);

  return (
    <div className={styles.container}>
      <Head>
        <title>Create Next App</title>
        <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
      </Head>

      <header>
        <h1>{story ? story.name : "My Site"}</h1>
      </header>

      <StoryblokComponent blok={story.content} />
    </div>
  );
}

...

By returning the revalidate value in the getStaticProps function, we enable our static content to be updated dynamically every 3600 seconds (1 hour) with Next.js Incremental Static Regeneration feature.

Once we added the Storyblok Bridge and the Storyblok hook, you should be able to click the Teaser and Feature components and see the live editing updates {1}.

Dynamic route generation with getStaticPaths

Next.js offers the getStaticPaths functionality to pre-render dynamic routes. If you export an async function called getStaticPaths from a page that uses dynamic routes, Next.js will statically pre-render all the paths specified by getStaticPaths. Let's create a few different pages, by creating a folder pages {1} with two stories about {2} and contact similar to the home story.

Catch all routes in Next.js: [...slug].js

To create all routes programmatically, we need to create a file pages/[...slug].js to dynamically generate routes for all stories inside Storyblok. Add the following code to the file.

pages/[...slug].js

import Head from "next/head";
import styles from "../styles/Home.module.css";

import {
  useStoryblokState,
  getStoryblokApi,
  StoryblokComponent,
} from "@storyblok/react";

export default function Page({ story }) {
  story = useStoryblokState(story);

  return (
    <div className={styles.container}>
      <Head>
        <title>{story ? story.name : "My Site"}</title>
        <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
      </Head>

      <header>
        <h1>{story ? story.name : "My Site"}</h1>
      </header>

      <StoryblokComponent blok={story.content} />
    </div>
  );
}

export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  let slug = params.slug ? params.slug.join("/") : "home";

  let sbParams = {
    version: "draft", // or 'published'
  };

  const storyblokApi = getStoryblokApi();
  let { data } = await storyblokApi.get(`cdn/stories/${slug}`, sbParams);

  return {
    props: {
      story: data ? data.story : false,
      key: data ? data.story.id : false,
    },
    revalidate: 3600,
  };
}

export async function getStaticPaths() {
  const storyblokApi = getStoryblokApi();
  let { data } = await storyblokApi.get("cdn/links/");

  let paths = [];
  Object.keys(data.links).forEach((linkKey) => {
    if (data.links[linkKey].is_folder || data.links[linkKey].slug === "home") {
      return;
    }

    const slug = data.links[linkKey].slug;
    let splittedSlug = slug.split("/");

    paths.push({ params: { slug: splittedSlug } });
  });

  return {
    paths: paths,
    fallback: false,
  };
}

On this dynamic page generation file, we have a function getStaticPaths that reads all links from Storyblok. You can check what is returned from the links endpoint by appending your preview token to the following link: https://api.storyblok.com/v1/cdn/links?&starts_with=pages&version=draft&token=preview-token

Then, we check each link that is returned from Storyblok, and it creates a page for every link except for any folder or the home story itself, since that is already created in our index.js file.

Finally, we can read the slug of each page in getStaticProps with params.slug.join('/) (Line 31). Here the slug is an array because of the catch all rule in Next.js. Using that slug, we're requesting the correct entry from Storyblok.

Learn:

It’s also possible to make the catch-all routes optional by putting the ...slug in double brackets: [[...slug]].js. The main difference between catch-all and optional catch-all routes is that with optional, the route without the parameter is also matched.

Hint:

In order not to have to change the real path & slugs constantly, it makes sense to already create the correct folder structure in Storyblok and use the catch all routes.

Adding Preview Mode

Next.js offers a preview mode feature, to allow you to load either a draft version or the published version, depending on what you need.

To add Next.js preview mode we will need to create two files pages/api/preview.js and pages/api/exit-preview.js.

pages/api/preview.js

export default async function preview(req, res) {
  const { slug = "" } = req.query;
  // get the storyblok params for the bridge to work
  const params = req.url.split("?");

  // Check the secret and next parameters
  // This secret should only be known to this API route and the CMS
  if (req.query.secret !== "MY_SECRET_TOKEN") {
    return res.status(401).json({ message: "Invalid token" });
  }

  // Enable Preview Mode by setting the cookies
  res.setPreviewData({});

  // Set cookie to None, so it can be read in the Storyblok iframe
  const cookies = res.getHeader("Set-Cookie");
  res.setHeader(
    "Set-Cookie",
    cookies.map((cookie) =>
      cookie.replace("SameSite=Lax", "SameSite=None;Secure")
    )
  );

  // Redirect to the path from entry
  res.redirect(`/${slug}?${params[1]}`);
}

The preview.js file will check for a secret token, that needs to be set on the server-side, and if the token matches, it will set the Next.js preview cookie. Since Storyblok loads your site inside an iframe, we need to change the SameSite policy of this cookie to None, so the preview cookie can also be read inside the iframe.

To exit the preview mode, we will need a api/exit-preview.js file with the following code:

pages/api/exit-preview.js

export default async function exit(req, res) {
  const { slug = "" } = req.query;
  // Exit the current user from "Preview Mode". This function accepts no args.
  res.clearPreviewData();

  // set the cookies to None
  const cookies = res.getHeader("Set-Cookie");
  res.setHeader(
    "Set-Cookie",
    cookies.map((cookie) =>
      cookie.replace("SameSite=Lax", "SameSite=None;Secure")
    )
  );

  // Redirect the user back to the index page.
  res.redirect(`/${slug}`);
}

Adding a preview URL

Once we created these files, we need to add a new preview URL for the https://localhost:3010/api/preview path. We can do it through the Settings menu, as we did before, or inside the Visual Editor, we can click on Change URL {1} and on Add or change preview URLs {2}.

Inside the settings we will add two new preview URLs: Preview and Exit Preview. The first preview URL will be
https://localhost:3010/api/preview?secret=MY_SECRET_TOKEN&slug=
The secret token needs to be the same as the token you set in your preview function in Next.js.

Once you open this route with the correct secret token, you should be redirected to the current draft version of the story and the Next.js preview cookie will be set. Storyblok will automatically append the slug for the current story for you. To exit preview mode just add another preview URL for https://localhost:3010/api/exit-preview?slug=. Once you open this exit preview path, the cookie for the preview will be reset and you should see the published version if you're loading the published version outside of the preview mode or if you're using the public token.

Loading the Draft Version only in Preview Mode

If we want to see the published version and then only see the editable draft version once we're inside this preview mode, we need to adapt our pages/index.js file at the point where we're loading the bridge. We will only initialize the bridge if we're in preview mode.

pages/index.js

import Head from "next/head";
import styles from "../styles/Home.module.css";

import {
  useStoryblokState,
  getStoryblokApi,
  StoryblokComponent,
} from "@storyblok/react";

export default function Home({ story, preview }) {
  if (preview) {
    story = useStoryblokState(story);
  }

  return (
    <div className={styles.container}>
      <Head>
        <title>Create Next App</title>
        <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
      </Head>

      <header>
        <h1>{story ? story.name : "My Site"}</h1>
      </header>

      <StoryblokComponent blok={story.content} />
    </div>
  );
}

export async function getStaticProps(context) {
  let slug = "home";

  let sbParams = {
    version: "published",
  };

  if (context.preview) {
    sbParams.version = "draft";
  }

  const storyblokApi = getStoryblokApi();
  let { data } = await storyblokApi.get(`cdn/stories/${slug}`, sbParams);

  return {
    props: {
      story: data ? data.story : false,
      key: data ? data.story.id : false,
      preview: context.preview || false,
    },
    revalidate: 3600,
  };
}

We need to evaluate the preview context to use (or not) the useStoryblokState hook only if we're inside the preview mode.

Make sure you publish your stories once to make them available in the published versions of the Storyblok client. Now if you enter the preview mode {1} and change some content, you should see the live updates {2}.

Save, but don't publish the changes. Then enter the Exit Preview Url {1}. Now you should see the published content {2} instead of the draft version.

Using Server Side Rendering

If you don't want to use static rendering and the Preview Mode, you can also use Next.js server-side rendering. This allows you to check for the _storyblok parameter that is passed to the visual editor iframe and the preview in a new window. Checking for this parameter, allows you to load your draft content only if you're inside Storyblok without the preview mode.

pages/index.js

...

export async function getServerSideProps(context) {
  // get the query object
  const insideStoryblok = context.query._storyblok;
  const shouldLoadDraft = context.preview || insideStoryblok;

  let slug = "home";

  let sbParams = {
    version: "published", // or 'draft'
  };

  if (shouldLoadDraft) {
    sbParams.version = "draft";
  }

  const storyblokApi = getStoryblokApi();
  let { data } = await storyblokApi.get(`cdn/stories/${slug}`, sbParams);

  return {
    props: {
      story: data ? data.story : false,
      key: data ? data.story.id : false,
      preview: shouldLoadDraft || false,
    },
  };
}

...

Since getStaticProps doesn't have access to the request parameters, because it's building the site statically, we have to change to getServerSideProps in our index.js file. This means that instead of having pre-built pages, the pages are generated on the server on every request.

Inside the context object of getServerSideProps we have access to the query and we can check if the _storyblok parameter is present. Then, we do the same as we would do with the preview mode and load the draft version only if the parameter is present.

Conclusion

And that's it! We learned how to integrate Storyblok into a Next.js project. We saw how to manage and consume content using the Storyblok API, and how to enable a real-time visual experience using the Visual Editor. We went through different features that Next.js offers to create great user experiences: Static site generation, server-side rendering, preview mode, etc.

Here you have a list of interesting links in case you want to learn more. And, of course, any feedback you want to share with us is welcome!


Resource	Link
Github Example Repo	storyblok/react-next-boilerplate
Storyblok React SDK	storyblok/storyblok-react
Next.js Documentation	Next.js Docs
Next.js Technology Hub	Storyblok Next.js Technology Hub
Preview Mode Documentation	Preview Mode

Question or Feedback?

Authors

Facundo Giuliani

Facundo is a Developer Relations Engineer at Storyblok. From Buenos Aires, Argentina, he has more than 15 years of experience in software development. Full Stack Developer. Auth0 Ambassador. Prisma Ambassador. Cloudinary Media Developer Expert. He is also an open-source contributor.

Lisi Linhart

Lisi is a front-end engineer with a passion for web animation and UX. She is working for Storyblok as a Developer Experience Engineer from Salzburg, Austria.

Add a headless CMS to Next.js in 5 minutes

Environment Setup

Requirements

Setup the project

Connecting to Storyblok

Fetching Data

Setting the Preview Url

Setting the Real Path

Creating and loading the components

Enabling the Visual Editor & Live Preview

Dynamic route generation with getStaticPaths

Catch all routes in Next.js: [...slug].js

Adding Preview Mode

Adding a preview URL

Loading the Draft Version only in Preview Mode

Using Server Side Rendering

Conclusion

Developer Newsletter

Question or Feedback?

Authors

Facundo Giuliani

Lisi Linhart

More to read