We have introduced several updates to Automate this month, including new actions and enhancements. Highlights include:

New Contentstack Management Content Type Action: Get a Single Content Type

This action lets you fetch details of a specific content type in Contentstack.

For example, localizing entries for a content type like Product Details. You can retrieve the schema to create language-specific workflows, ensuring consistency. Localized data can then be seamlessly added as new entries in the CMS.

Learn more about Contentstack Management Content Types - Get a Single Content Type action.

New Brand Kit Action: Get Data Chunks from Knowledge Vault

Retrieve relevant data chunks from the Knowledge Vault in your Contentstack Brand Kit. You can fetch a maximum of two relevant data chunks at a time.

For example, Efficiently retrieve specific brand assets, like introduction or guidelines, for campaigns using the Get Data Chunks of Knowledge Vault action. This ensures only relevant data is fetched, reducing bandwidth, improving performance, and maintaining brand consistency across marketing channels.

Learn more about the Brand Kit - Get Data Chunks from Knowledge Vault action.

Other Improvements:

• Scheduler by Automate Trigger Connector: We have upgraded the trigger functionality by introducing flexible time intervals, including minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and custom CRON expressions. This enhancement allows you to precisely define trigger intervals, set specific execution times, and leverage optional metadata fields for advanced automation. With detailed examples and versatile customization options, you can seamlessly tailor schedules to fit your unique requirements.
  

  For example, you can schedule recurring emails to remind your team about weekly meetings or set up automated weekly or monthly Slack messages to keep your team on track with specific tasks.

  Learn more about the Scheduler by Automate trigger connector.

• Automate App Enhancements: We have enhanced the capabilities of the Automate App in the Entry Sidebar location. You can now configure Input Options within the On-Demand Automate trigger and view the modal directly in the Entry Sidebar during automation execution. This allows you to input a request in the designated field and receive a response in the Response modal upon execution.
  

  Learn more about the Automate App.

We are thrilled to unveil the Notifications panel, which is gradually rolling out to all users. The bell icon lets you keep track of essential updates like weekly summaries, app requests, and collaboration invites.

Key Features:

• Instant Alerts: A red dot on the bell icon indicates unread notifications.
• Interactive Updates: Respond to updates or requests directly from the panel.
• Streamlined Management: Mark notifications as read or delete them individually or in bulk.
• Organized View: Group notifications by Date, Product, or Type for easy navigation.

This exciting update will be available to your organization soon. Stay tuned! Read more.

The Healthcheck app is a personalized Full Page Location app that provides a clear overview of your stack's performance.

The app provides advanced tracking capabilities, enabling precise examining of key health metrics while providing personalized insights to empower informed decision-making regarding your stack's health.

Install the Healthcheck app now from our Marketplace and unlock a suite of tools designed to keep your stack at its absolute best.

To learn more, refer to the Healthcheck App Installation Guide.

Find what you need faster with greater precision in Advanced Search.

What’s new:

• Text field: Use the new Text field option in the Content Type or Field dropdown to do a full text search using Advanced Search.
• Search by Title or URL: You can now search by Title or URL across all content types.
• ‘Is Empty’ and ‘Is Not Empty’ filters: Use new operators to narrow down search results or identify empty or populated fields.

To learn more about all the ways you can use Advanced Search, check out our documentation.

We’re excited to announce new enhancement to the BigCommerce app:

• Multiple Configuration Support: The BigCommerce app now supports multiple configurations for custom fields, allowing you to connect more than one account.
• Category Structure Support: You can now choose to save the data based on the category id using the Category Structure.
• Custom Field Advanced Configuration: In the Custom Field Advanced Configuration settings, you can configure optional parameters to modify the behavior of the selector page.

To learn more, please refer to the BigCommerce App Installation Guide.

Here’s what’s new with Contentstack Launch:

• Read-Only User Role:

  A new Read-Only role is now available, enabling users to access Launch projects without the ability to make changes.

  Explore the different user roles and their functionalities in Launch.

• Load Testing:

  We’ve introduced a comprehensive checklist to help you conduct effective load testing on Launch.

We’re excited to announce new enhancement to the Bynder app:

• Max Limit: Now you can set the maximum limit to add assets in the custom field to ensure optimal performance.
• Single Select Mode: You can now select only one asset at a time in Single Select mode, simplifying asset management and improving workflow precision.
• Bug Fixes: Resolved bugs to enhance the overall performance and user experience of the Bynder app.

To learn more, please refer to the Bynder App Installation Guide.

We’re introducing Variant support in Webhooks, allowing you to trigger webhooks for actions specific to entry variants across content types, entries, and environments.

Key Highlights

• Track Variant Actions: Get notifications when an entry variant is created, updated, or deleted across different content types or specific entries.
• Environment-Specific Publishing: Get notified on publish or unpublish events for variants in specific environments, including success or failure notifications.
• Workflow Stage Changes: Trigger webhooks when entry variants move through workflow stages.
• Monitor Discussions and Comments: Track activity on discussions or comments within variants, including creation, resolution, or reopening events.

Visit the Webhooks module in your stack to set up variant-enabled webhooks. For more details, see our documentation.

We’re excited to announce new enhancement to the commercetools app:

• Multiple Configuration Support: The commercetools app now supports multiple configurations for custom fields, allowing you to connect more than one account.
• Locale-specific Config Parameter Support: New locale-specific settings for Product and Category custom fields allow more precise control based on language preferences.

To learn more, please refer to the commercetools App Installation Guide.

Enhancements:

• Added support for bulk publishing of variants in the Bulk Publish plugin, allowing users to publish multiple variants simultaneously.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved an issue with null values in the Select field of the Audit plugin to prevent errors during audits.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Bulk Publish and Unpublish Content documentation to reflect support for bulk publishing of variants.

We have introduced several updates to Automate this month, including a new connector and enhancements. Highlights include:

Notion Connector

Easily manage and organize content in Notion with actions for creating, deleting, and retrieving Page and Database details. Use it to integrate Notion with other apps to streamline workflows, manage databases, and organize tasks.

Learn more about Notion Connector.

New Contentstack Management Variant Action: Get All Variants of a Content Type

Retrieve comprehensive details of all variants of a specific content type, making it easier to access and manage variant-specific content across multiple entries.

Learn more about the Contentstack Management Variants action.

Other Improvements:

• Contentstack Management Get All Entries Action: In the Customized Data (query) field, you can now retrieve entries created on a specific date, using date-specific operators like "Less than specified number" or "Greater than specified number" with the Created At and Updated At fields.
• ChatGPT Connector: Added a new option to the Response Type, allowing structured output to be retrieved in JSON format for easier data handling and integration.
• Payload Limit for the Output: In Automate's Design mode, test action output previews are now optimized—when a payload exceeds 1 MB, only the first 10 nodes of arrays are displayed. For payloads under 1 MB, the complete output is shown.

Brand Kit API Key Credentials:

We have introduced the API Key support in Brand Kit! You can now choose between Contentstack-managed Keys and custom credentials. This gives you the flexibility to align AI-powered content seamlessly with your brand's tone, style, and voice.

To learn more, refer to the Brand Kit documentation.

Brand Kit APIs Updates:

• Introducing two new APIs for getting and setting up the API Custom Credentials.
• Adding Postman Collections for Brand Kit Management API, Generative AI API, and Knowledge Vault API! Now, you can quickly access and test these APIs with dedicated Run in Postman buttons, making it easier than ever to integrate and manage your API configurations seamlessly.

To learn more, refer to the Brand Kit Management API, Generative AI API, and Knowledge Vault API documentation.

We’re introducing new updates to the AI Assistant:

• Brainstorm with AI Assistant: Engage in a conversational brainstorming chat with the AI Assistant to generate content easily with your AI-powered assistant.
• Enhanced Security for API Key Management: Improved API key management adds security for stored keys. A red dot next to your stack name in Manage > Installed Apps indicates a manual app update is needed to make changes to API keys.
• App Configuration UI Updates: The AI Assistant user interface has been updated to improve workflow. You can now enable or disable the Brand Kit Configuration before setting up the API Credentials. This prevents the overriding of API keys.

To learn more, refer to the AI Assistant with Brand Kit documentation.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of Contentstack Visual Builder, our new authoring experience that equips marketers and content editors with a visually intuitive canvas that simplifies how you create and manage content on your website.

With Visual Builder, you can:

• Edit in Real-Time: Instantly see changes as you make live in-line edits right on the page.
• Flexible Page Building: Create new pages with on-brand, drag-and-drop components —no coding skills required.
• Collaborate Seamlessly: Streamline your content development process by working seamlessly with your team in a single, intuitive interface.
• Personalize & Power with AI: Use the AI Assistant in the editor to quickly create personalized variations of your content and then preview how everything will appear to different audience segments.

Contentstack’s visual building experience is designed to help bring your content to life faster, reducing dependency on developers and accelerating time-to-market.

Start using Visual Builder today and unlock a new level of creativity and flexibility in content creation!

For more details, visit our documentation or contact our support team.

Enhancements:

• Updated the package type to Module (previously CommonJS) for improved compatibility and modern standards.

Bug Fixes:

• Enhanced the getData method to support both parameters and headers within the data object.

• Upgraded the SDK to support Node.js v20 for better performance and security.

We’re excited to announce new enhancements to the Cloudinary app:

• Multiple Configuration Support: The Cloudinary app now supports multiple configurations for Custom and JSON Rich Text Editor fields, including locale-specific settings for custom fields that provide finer control based on language settings.
• Asset Validations: Use new asset validation checks for Custom and JSON Rich Text Editor fields to ensure that assets meet configuration constraints for size, height, and width.

To learn more, please refer to the Cloudinary App Installation Guide.

Introducing the Coveo Automate Connector. This tool automates the process of managing content by either pushing content to a Coveo source or deleting outdated items.

Key Features:

1. Push Content: Automatically add new content from Contentstack to a designated Coveo source.
2. Delete Content: Remove outdated entries from a Coveo source as part of an automation.

For more information, visit Coveo Automate Connector documentation.

We have introduced exciting updates for content managers, helping them streamline the content creation process and enhance overall efficiency. Here’s a rundown of what’s new:

• Wider view for content editing: Fields on the entry editor now utilize the full-page width, giving you more room to create content and manage complex nested structures. Learn more about the improved editor layout.
• Create new entries from reference fields: Speed up your workflow by creating new entries directly from reference fields without saving the parent entry first. Maintain your workflow without interruptions. Learn how this feature streamlines your workflow.

  Note: The Create new entry button will only be visible if the Save In Progress Entry feature is enabled in your organization's plan. Please contact our support team for more information.

• Breadcrumbs for referenced entries: Easily navigate through nested references with breadcrumbs that keep your path visible, making it effortless to jump between nested reference entries. Learn how to navigate nested references effectively.
• Seamless embeds in JSON RTE: Insert embedded entries directly within the Rich Text Editor (RTE). Now, you can add embedded content immediately when needed, without any delays. Discover how to embed entries in JSON RTE.

Note: This feature will be gradually rolled out to all customers over the coming days.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed the following GitHub issues:
  • Addressed an issue causing unhandled timeout exceptions when making API calls to Contentstack. This fix ensures smoother request handling and better performance during high-latency scenarios.
  • Fixed a JSON parsing exception triggered by malformed API responses. The SDK now gracefully handles such cases, enhancing error resilience and data reliability.
• Corrected inconsistencies in field ordering within SDK responses. This update ensures a more predictable and readable data structure across all operations.

New Features:

• Added a rate limit configuration option in the CLI for setting and removing the rate limits.

Enhancements:

• Added support for rate limits in bulk publishing of assets and entries.
• Replaced Developer Hub URL with getter method in the apps-cli plugin version 1.3.4.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed the issue of missing variant entries when using the branch flag.
• Migrated oclif unit test cases from version 2 to version 4 in apps-cli plugin version 1.3.4.
• Resolved the exit issue that occurred when an organization was not selected in apps-cli plugin version 1.3.4.
• Handled the incomplete initial sync issue caused by entry references in datasync-manager version 2.0.6.
• Fixed the issue of lost references due to incorrect merge during schema list creation in datasync-filesystem-sdk version 1.0.12.
• Updated the getReference path method to remove duplicate values in datasync-mongodb-sdk version 1.0.6.
• Upgraded MongoDB to version 6 in datasync-mongodb-sdk version 1.0.6.
• Resolved a UID clash that caused TypeScript file generation issues in contentstack-cli-tsgen version 3.0.1.

We’re excited to introduce the ability to set custom rate limits for your management tokens!

This new feature allows you to define specific read and write request limits for each management token, giving you greater control over API usage at the token-level rate limits while staying within your organization’s overall limits.

• Default Rate Limit: Use the organization-wide rate limit
• Custom Rate Limit: Set tailored read and write requests per second per token

This update provides more flexibility to optimize API performance based on your stack's needs. Refer to our documentation for more details.

Note: This feature is currently available as part of an Early Access Program and may not be available to all users. For more information, you can reach out to our support team.

Enhancements:

• Added support for Personalize and Variants in the import and export CLI plugins.
• Added OAuth authentication support for Personalize and Variants in CLI.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Import Content using the CLI, Export Content using the CLI, and Configure Regions in the CLI documents to include support for Personalize and Variants.

We’re excited to introduce several new updates designed to improve your content management experience. These enhancements focus on increasing efficiency in the entry editor and providing more intuitive access to your data. Here’s what’s new:

• Copy/Duplicate Modular Block Instances: Content managers can now copy or duplicate modular block instances in the entry editor. This feature helps content managers create copies of modular blocks with content, reducing manual re-entry and speeding up the content creation process.
• Improved Date Column Sorting: When sorting any date columns, the default behavior now displays records in descending order (most recent first) on the first click. This change helps you access the latest entries faster in fewer steps, offering a more streamlined column sorting experience.
• Reference Field Count Display: Reference fields that are marked as multiple now show the total count of referenced items. This update provides better visibility into the content relationships, allowing you to manage and track linked references at a glance.

These updates are designed to make your Contentstack experience even smoother and more efficient. Keep an eye out for more enhancements coming soon!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of Audience Preview in Timeline, now available through our Early Access Program!

This new feature lets content managers preview how content variations will appear to different audience segments, such as geographic regions, customer types, or languages, directly within Timeline.

With Audience Preview, you can:

• Visualize content for specific audience segments in real-time.
• Ensure each user group experiences the most relevant and engaging content

To start using Audience Preview, ensure your Personalize project is linked to your stack. Then, link variant groups to content types and begin creating entry variants.

This feature simplifies content management for personalized experiences, ensuring each audience sees the most relevant version of your content.

For more information refer to our documentation on Audience Preview.

We have several updates to Automate this month, including new connectors, actions, and other enhancements. Highlights include:

Personalize Connector

Contentstack Personalize is our built-in optimization engine designed to deliver personalized content based on target audiences. It offers two types of experiences:

• Segmented Experience: Delivers content tailored to specific demographics and other factors.
• A/B Test Experience: Measures the performance of different content variations.

Within these experiences, you can create content Variants in the CMS, linked to Variant Groups (equivalent to Experiences in Personalize). The Personalize connector allows you to fetch details of all Audiences and Experiences within your Personalize project.

Example: You can automate the creation of new variants in the CMS by fetching experience data using the "Get All Experiences" and "Create a Variant" actions.

Learn more about Personalize Connector.

Contentstack Management: Variants Action

Variants are different content versions displayed to specific audiences, known as Variant Groups in the CMS, created within Experiences in a Personalize project. The Contentstack Management Variant Action allows you to update, publish, and fetch details of all variants in a Variant Group.

Note: You can create entry variants through Automate or the CMS, but Audiences can only be created using the Contentstack Personalize platform.

Learn more about the Contentstack Management Variants action.

Contentstack Management: New Action

Get Asset Reference Action: The new Get Asset Reference Action in the Contentstack Management Connector allows you to retrieve details of all entries where an asset is referenced.

For instance, if you need to update an asset's description and want to identify all entries where the asset is referenced, this action can be used to gather the entry details, enabling you to update the description accordingly.

Learn more about the Get Asset Reference action.

Other Improvements:

• Get User Information Action: This action lets you conveniently select multiple user IDs from the Suggested Data Elements drop-down menu. This automatically retrieves all user IDs generated in the previous steps, streamlining the entire process.

Here’s what’s new with Contentstack Launch:

• Troubleshooting GitHub Connection:

  If you encounter errors while repairing your GitHub connection, refer to the Troubleshooting section in the Repair GitHub Connection for Projects document.

  For GitHub integration issues, follow the steps in the Troubleshooting section in the Create a Project Using GitHub document.

• Supported Node.js Versions and Package Managers:

  Launch now supports Node.js versions 18.x and 20.x, and also provides support for the yarn package manager.

  For more details, refer to the Supported Node.js Versions and Supported Package Managers documents.

We are thrilled to announce a groundbreaking innovation – Contentstack Personalize (Early Access), the first-of-its-kind, edge-optimized personalization engine. Create customized experiences with unmatched speed at any scale. Edge-based APIs enable outstanding speed and a flicker-free experience plus it's all inside our CMS.

Deliver the right story to the right audience every time.

Key Features

• High Scalability: Handle large volumes of personalized content and user data easily, while maintaining peak performance as your audience grows.
• Low Latency: Deliver real-time, data-driven content with minimal delay, creating seamless user experiences.
• Seamless Integration: Integrate seamlessly with Contentstack CMS and third-party tools like Customer Data Platforms and Google Tag Manager. Simplify implementation and deliver cross-channel personalization with full support for Contentstack Variants.
• Comprehensive Analytics: Gain insights into user interactions to inform and optimize your personalization strategies.
• No-Code Personalization: Empower teams to create personalized experiences without writing a single line of code.
• Optimized Performance: Ensure fast load times and flicker-free personalization.

Key Components

• Attributes: Define key-value pairs to segment audiences and deliver tailored content. Learn more.
• Audiences: Create dynamic user segments based on shared behaviors and traits. Learn more.
• Experiences: Serve personalized content using Segmented and A/B Test Experiences. Learn more.
  • Experience Analytics: Analyze user interactions to drive personalization strategies. Learn more.
  • Experience Versioning: Manage multiple versions of personalized content with ease for testing and optimization.
  • Experience Prioritization: Adjust priorities for conflicting experiences to enhance engagement.
• Events: Track user interactions like clicks or conversions to measure performance. Learn more.
• Variants: Leverage Variants within Experiences to create, test, and manage multiple content variants directly in the CMS using Entry Variants, enabling streamlined workflow and dynamic personalization to optimize performance and deliver tailored content at scale. Learn more.

Integrations

• Twilio Segment Destinations: Streamline your content delivery with the Twilio Segment integration to enhance user engagement within Personalize. Sync custom traits, events, and audiences from Segments to Contentstack to deliver dynamic, personalized experiences across all user touchpoints in real-time. Learn more.
• Google Tag Manager (GTM): Simplify personalization management with the Personalize Actions GTM template. Sync user attributes, events, and triggers seamlessly with GTM to deliver dynamic, personalized content across your site without additional code. Leverage built-in tags to streamline tracking and optimize content delivery. Learn more.

APIs and SDK

• Personalize Management API: Perform CRUD operations and retrieve attributes, audiences, events, and experiences. Fetch analytics and geolocation reports to optimize personalization strategies. Manage the priority order of experiences to define their importance. Retrieve and update the experiences priority order using the appropriate API requests. Learn more.
• Personalize Edge API: Enable real-time, edge-based interactions to deliver personalized content quickly, minimizing latency and enhancing user experience. Learn more.
• Personalize Edge SDK: The JavaScript SDK allows you to personalize content for your Contentstack-powered digital properties, including fetching variants for the user, triggering events, setting attributes, etc. Learn more.

Support in CLI:

Import and export data for the Personalize modules (Experiences, Audiences, Attributes, and Events) linked to a stack containing your Variants via the CLI.

Please note that Contentstack Personalize is currently in its Early Access phase. We appreciate your participation as early adopters. If you're interested in joining our Early Access Program, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager. Your feedback is invaluable as we refine and improve this feature. Our goal is to roll out Contentstack Personalize to all users soon, providing a polished and valuable addition to your Contentstack experience. Join the private #personalize-ea channel in Discord to meet and share knowledge with other early access participants.

To learn more about Contentstack Personalize, refer to our documentation or contact our support team.

We are excited to introduce powerful upgrades to the release management process that will significantly streamline your content deployment:

• Bulk Add to Release: You can quickly select and add multiple entries to a release in one go, simplifying content deployment and saving time.
• Stack Bulk Task Queue: The new bulk task queue within a stack gives you a comprehensive view of items added to the release, ensuring better tracking and management.
• Release Locking/Unlocking: You can lock releases to protect them from unintended edits, ensuring your scheduled content remains intact. You can also unlock them anytime to refine your content prior to deployment.

These enhancements are designed to simplify your content management workflow, giving you greater control and flexibility over your publishing process.

To enable this feature for your organization, contact our support team.

We're excited to introduce new ways to extend and enhance your Contentstack experience with Machine to Machine (M2M) applications.

• Machine to Machine (M2M) Applications (Beta): Designed for server-to-server communication, M2M apps automate tasks like data syncing and backend jobs, ensuring smooth data flow between Contentstack and third-party systems.

These new capabilities empower developers and teams to streamline workflows and enhance platform functionality. Explore the possibilities with Standard and M2M apps in Developer Hub today!

To learn more, refer to the Introduction to Contentstack Applications documentation.

Introducing the JSON RTE Configuration in Trados, designed to streamline the translation process by converting complex JSON RTE objects into a single, easy-to-manage HTML code block. This enhancement ensures smoother content handling and improves efficiency for translators.

To learn more, refer to the Trados App Installation Guide.

You can now preview documents before adding them to your Brand Kit’s Knowledge Vault, the repository of contextual brand details used to keep AI responses consistent with your brand. Upload a document and key text details will be displayed instantly, allowing you to confirm its content before saving.

To learn more, refer to the Knowledge Vault documentation.

New Features:

• Compass Starter integration with the Bootstrap command (version 1.11.0).

Enhancements:

• Added support for generating separate interfaces for the modular blocks in the Tsgen Plugin (version 3.0.0).

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Updated the Axios Library to version 1.7.4.
• Fixed an issue in which CSV files were not generated for entries missing a Title field.
• Fixed an issue in which a select field was treated as empty when the data type was numeric and the value was 0.
• Resolved the audit failure issue in organizations with disabled branches.
• Ensured that branches present in custom roles are handled properly before importing to the Audit Plugin.

We’re thrilled to announce three new features designed to enhance your experience with Brand Kit:

• Collaborators: Invite and add people to manage a Brand Kit’s Voice Profiles. They can create, update, and delete Voice Profiles, making it easier for your team to maintain and configure your Brand Kit.
• Playground in Voice Profile: Experiment with AI-powered content generation directly within your Voice Profile using the new Playground feature. Leverage AI to spark creativity, refine brand messaging, and explore new content possibilities by enabling the Knowledge Vault.
• Knowledge Vault: Centralize, organize, and manage your essential brand information effortlessly through the Knowledge Vault user interface. Easily add, update, and delete items to ensure your brand assets are always accessible and up-to-date.

Learn more about these features in our documentation:

• Invite Collaborators
• Playground in Voice Profile
• Knowledge Vault

We’re excited to introduce our enhanced search functionality designed to help you find what you need quicker and easier than ever before.

Here’s what’s new:

• New, User-Friendly Search Bar

  Our updated search bar now offers options to refine your search by title, URL, and more, making it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.

  
• Quick Filtering Options

  Save time by filtering search results with just a click. Whether you're looking for specific types of content or want to narrow down by categories, our quick filtering options have you covered.

  
• Saved Views

  Personalize your search experience! Our latest “Views” feature offers a simple method to save and retrieve your current page view. Save your preferred views for easy access, so you can pick up right where you left off.

  
• Easy Advanced Search

  Experience the simplicity of our new advanced search interface. The new intuitive interface provides visual representations of your set conditions and sub-conditions.

  
• Quick Search in the Header

  Access our new search bar directly from the header on any page. No matter where you are, searching has never been this seamless!

  

Start exploring these new features today and see how they can enhance your daily tasks!

Consider refreshing your browser or clearing the cache for a seamless experience. To learn more, visit our documentation.

Note: The new search experience is being rolled out to all customers in phases. So, if you don’t see the new search today, you will likely receive it in the next couple of weeks.

Enhancements:

• Added support for Launch and Developer Hub URLs in the Config region.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Updated Axios to version 1.7.4 in the apps-cli plugin (version 1.3.3).
• Fixed an issue with Launch URL creation in the Deploy command of the apps-cli plugin (version 1.3.3).

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Config Regions in the CLI document to include the --launch and --developer-hub flags.

We have several updates to Automate this month, including new actions in the Utility and Transform Connector and other enhancements. Highlights include:

Automation Sharing

Automations can now be easily shared between organizations using shareable recipe links. This feature streamlines collaboration and knowledge transfer while offering options to include or exclude Project Variables to protect sensitive information.

Learn more about Automation Sharing.

Transform Connector: New Action

Template Action: The enhanced Transform Action offers expanded capabilities for data transformation. You can now leverage predefined functions, HTML formatting, inline CSS, and custom helper functions to manipulate and structure your data more effectively. This provides greater flexibility and customization compared to the previous Transform action.

With the new Template action, you can send customized email newsletters to enhance your brand reputation.

Learn more about the Transform Connector.

Utility Connector: New Action

Log Action: The new Log Action in the Utility Connector lets you view outputs from previous steps directly in the Execution Log. This feature provides greater visibility into automation processes, aiding in troubleshooting and optimization.

Learn more about the Utility Connector.

We’re excited to introduce new shortcuts designed to make working with entry editors effortless!

Whether you’re navigating between entry sections or managing tables within Rich Text Editors, these shortcuts are here to help you work smarter and faster.

These enhancements will help streamline your editing process and help you work faster and efficiently. Try these shortcuts out and experience the difference!

We’re updating our password policies to enhance security. You can now set a minimum password length of 8 characters for all users.

For users in multiple organizations, the organization with the highest minimum password length will take precedence during password resets. This policy will also apply to existing users when their passwords expire and need to be reset.

For more details on configuring password policies, refer to our documentation.

Enhancements:

• New Script for Environment Mapping: Added a script to map environments from one stack to another, allowing entries to be published in the corresponding environment in the destination stack.
• Marketplace SDK Integration in apps-cli Plugin (version 1.3.2): Updated the apps-cli plugin (version 1.3.2) by replacing all API calls with the new Marketplace SDK for the reinstall and deploy commands.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• SRE Issues: Fixed all SRE issues.
• Breaking Test Cases in apps-cli Plugin (version 1.3.2): Fixed all breaking test cases in the apps-cli plugin (version 1.3.2).
• --org Flag Addition in apps-cli Plugin (version 1.3.2): Added the --org flag to the --help section, now included under FLAGS for all the commands and under EXAMPLES in the deploy command.

Enhancements:

• New flags for environment variables: Introduced new flags to allow adding environment variables in the Launch command.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Localization issue fixed: Resolved the issue where localized entries were being published from the master locale during the import operation.
• Region setting error fixed: Resolved the "cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'replace')" error that occurred when the region was not set while creating an app.

Documentation Updates:

• CLI documentation: Updated the CLI for Launch guide with flag changes for environment variables.

We’re excited to introduce significant updates to Automate this month, including new actions in the Google Vertex Connector and several other enhancements. Highlights include:

Retry Execution Feature in Execution Log

The retry executions feature allows you to configure an automation to retry if it fails due to API errors or missing configurations, up to two times. You can view the retry attempts in the execution log.

Learn more about the View Execution Log of Automations.

Google Vertex Connector: New Actions

Function Calling (Beta): Function Calling (Beta): This action enables specific function calling to allow an automation to interact with external APIs, opening the door to much more powerful automations. This functionality, when incorporated with Sub Automation, mini packaged automation steps available for reuse, can act as semi-autonomous AI agents that carry out time-consuming and other complex tasks.

Function Calling Response (Beta): This Function Calling Response (Beta) lets you format the output from the Function Calling (Beta) action and the Sub Automation.

These Function Calling actions are currently in beta on the Google Gemini side, and their availability is subject to Google’s beta program.

New Field in Send Prompt: We have added a new field in the Send Prompt action: System Instruction Text, to provide specific guidance or directives to the model, helping it understand the context and generate an appropriate response based on the provided prompt text.

Learn more about the Google Vertex connector.

Nested Lookup Feature in Box Connector and Contentstack Management - Assets Actions

The Box Connector and Contentstack Management Connector now support nested lookup for folders and assets.

Contentstack Management - Assets Actions: If you have assets stored in nested folders within your Contentstack CMS, you can select these assets to update, publish or delete them from the CMS.

Box Connector: If you have nested folders created in your Box account, you can select the folders and perform related activities.

Learn more about the Box Trigger, Box Action, and Contentstack Management - Assets Actions.

Enhancements:

• Added installation to handle missing modules while running the Migration command.
• Enhanced the CLI logger.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed the org UID validation issue in CLI Launch.
• Updated UI texts for the Migration plugin.
• Fixed SRE issues in the apps-cli plugin (version 1.3.0).
• Fixed the invalid boilerplate error in the apps-cli plugin (version 1.3.0).

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Apps CLI Plugin document with --boilerplate flag changes.

Here’s what’s new with Contentstack Launch:

• Automatic Deployments with Git Tags or Releases: Now you can configure automatic deployments on the Launch platform whenever you create a new tag or release in your Git repository. Learn how to set it up in our step-by-step guide.
• New Edge Functions Examples: We have added new examples in our Launch Edge Functions documentation, covering scenarios like zero-downtime deployments, optimizing content delivery for different devices, and enhancing security with single sign-on.

We are excited to introduce new authentication methods for Webhooks, which will provide enhanced flexibility and security. You can now choose from multiple authentication options that best suit your needs.

• Basic Auth: Use a username and password for simple integrations.
• OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials: Securely connect using a client ID and secret to obtain an access token for robust security and access control.
• Bearer Token: Use token-based access for secure, stateless communications.
• None: Open access for internal or less secure integrations..

Additionally, the Create a Webhook API request now supports these new authentication methods.

For detailed information on using the new authentication methods, please refer to the Secure Your Webhook documentation.

Reach out to our support team to have this feature enabled for your organization.

Managing future content updates can be challenging, especially in large-scale organizations where changes must be coordinated across multiple teams and regions, often conflicting with other ongoing projects and initiatives. That's why we're introducing Timeline. This new platform experience allows you to navigate through a visual timeline of your content, providing a clear view of future updates.

Timeline highlights:

• Preview future content: Preview the future state of any of your content, including specific entries or an entire interactive version of your website.
• Compare and collaborate: Easily compare versions side by side with highlighted differences to streamline the review and collaboration process.
• Personalized previews: When Personalize becomes available, preview content based on your audience data to see how it will appear to different segments.

Whether you're planning a new campaign, managing localized content, or coordinating updates across teams, Timeline makes it easier to ensure everything is aligned and ready to go live.

For more details, visit our Timeline documentation.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the issue where plugins installed from the Marketplace were removed from entries after cloning.
• Fixed SRE issues for the contentstack-cli (version 3.1.6) plugin.
• Fixed SRE issues and added Utility Deprecation Warning notes for the contentstack-export (version 1.6.4), contentstack-import (version 1.7.8), and bulk-publish-entries-assets (version 1.1.1) plugins.

We are excited to share the latest enhancements to the Brandfolder app:

• New data saving options for Brandfolder Assets
  1. All Fields: Ensure all information is retained by saving the full JSON data associated with an asset.
  2. Custom Fields: Only store what’s relevant by selecting specific keys to save from the JSON asset data.
• New view options for Brandfolder Assets within Custom Fields
  1. Thumbnail View: Easily find what you need fast using a new grid view that displays larger asset previews.
  2. List View: Browse your assets with a table view that provides a more comprehensive or specific look at asset details.

To learn more, refer to the Brandfolder App Installation Guide.

We are excited to share that we have added the following support to the Cloudinary app:

• Private Assets: You can now view private assets. This functionality allows you to access and manage media files that are not publicly accessible, ensuring that sensitive or proprietary content remains secure while still being available for authorized users within the Contentstack environment.
• Transformed Assets: Transformed assets are media files modified using Cloudinary's capabilities. This feature enhances and optimizes the user experience through effective asset management.
• Custom Field Advanced Configuration: In the Custom Field Advanced Configuration settings, you can configure optional parameters to modify the behavior of the selector page.

To learn more, refer to the Cloudinary App Installation Guide.

We are excited to introduce new Job Status API requests designed to help you efficiently monitor the status of publish and unpublish operations within Contentstack.

With these new API requests, you can:

• Retrieve Job Status: Check the current status of your ongoing jobs, ensuring you are always informed about their progress.
• Track Job Items: Access detailed information on each item within a bulk job, including their publish status, environment, and locale.
• Error Handling: Identify and troubleshoot issues more effectively by accessing detailed error messages.

To get started with the Job Status API, refer to our API documentation.

New Features:

• Introduced the app:deploy command in the apps-cli plugin version 1.2.0.

Enhancements:

• Added a flag in the Import plugin to exclude the import of global modules (Webhooks) when importing multiple branches of the same stack.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed the audit failure that occurs when there are no publish_details included in the entry.
• Fixed SRE issues.

Documentation Updates:

• Added the app:deploy command updates in the Apps CLI Plugin document.
• Updated the Import document with a new flag to exclude the import of global modules.

We’re excited to introduce significant updates this month to Automate, including a new trigger in the Contentstack Trigger Connector and several other capabilities. Highlights include:

Contentstack Trigger Connector: New Trigger

• Job Trigger: With this trigger, you can initiate an automation whenever you bulk publish or unpublish entries, assets, and releases. Each job can involve multiple related items that require a specific action. For instance, publishing an entry with all the assets and entries it references is considered a single job.

Learn more about the Contentstack Job Trigger.

AWS S3 Connector: New Action

Get All Files action: This action lets you fetch the details of all the files from your AWS S3 bucket. You can select an optional Folder Name to fetch the files associated with the folder.

Learn more about the AWS S3 connector.

Automate App: New Updates

The Automate App now allows you to view the app within the Asset editor. To view the app within the Asset editor, you can configure the Asset Sidebar action from the On Demand Automation Trigger.

Learn more about the Automate App.

Additional Updates:

1. ChatGPT Connector: The Chat action now has a new field for selecting the response type. After choosing the type as JSON, you can generate a response in a valid JSON format.
2. Code Block Connector: The Code Block connector allows you to debug your code by inserting `console.log` statements at multiple points. This helps identify errors or failures at different stages. After testing the action, you can view the `console.log` outputs in the payload.

We’ve made the following updates to the Audience app:

1. Audience Tag Scopes: We have introduced two Audience Tag Scopes: Block and Inline. These scopes help provide more precise targeting and improved content personalization.

2. Bug Fixes: Resolved bugs to enhance the overall performance and user experience of the Audience app.

For more information, please refer to the Audience Plugin Usage Guide.

We are glad to announce two major updates that will help editors search content faster and get more done in less time. Here’s a quick overview of these updates:

• Partial keyword search: We now support searching by partial terms.
  Prefix matching is supported by default, meaning you can find entries with matching keywords just by entering the initial part of the keyword. For example, you can just enter the term ‘cap’ and hit enter to get entries containing the words cap, captain, capabilities, etc. To perform suffix or infix matching (i.e., search by the middle or end of the term), you can prefix *. For example, use ‘*tain’ to search for entries containing the words captain, curtain, or even entertainment.
  Learn more about partial keyword search.
• Enhanced dialog for entries and assets reference selection: We have enhanced the dialog you see while selecting reference entries or assets. These modals are now much larger, allowing you to add, remove, or resize table columns. You can also use filters or sorting options for the data columns to find what you want quickly.

Enhancements:

• Added pagination support in Entry Migration.
• Added Marketplace SDK support in the Apps CLI Plugin for the Create, Install, Delete, Get, and Update commands.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed the issue causing nested folder creation for assets in the Entry Migration scripts.
• Fixed the issue with entry creation containing RTE fields.
• Removed the deprecation warning message appearing before command execution in Node.js version 21 and above.

We're thrilled to introduce Taxonomy-based Permissions in Contentstack! Empower your team with custom roles tailored to your needs!

With Taxonomy-based Permissions, Stack Owners, Admins, and Developers have more flexible permissions to finely tune access to entries based on specific taxonomies and terms.

Here are the key benefits:

• Granular Access Control: Pinpoint access to specific entries, ensuring users focus on what matters most to their role
• Enhanced Security: Shield sensitive data by restricting access only to authorized personnel, fortifying your organization's defenses
• Operational Efficiency: Streamline workflows for large teams by defining clear roles and permissions, reducing the risk of unauthorized changes, and ensuring smooth operations
• Enhanced Scalability: As your need for diversification grows, add new taxonomies and corresponding roles without disrupting existing workflows

Leverage this new addition to streamline team collaboration and workflows on content projects, safeguard sensitive information, and propel your organization toward success!

Explore Taxonomy-based Permissions in Contentstack today!

We’ve released the all new Digizuite app in our marketplace. This app integrates Digizuite with Contentstack, allowing users to access and manage their Digizuite files directly within Contentstack entries.

With the Digizuite app, you can select multiple files from your Digizuite account and add them to Contentstack's Custom or JSON Rich Text Editor fields. For example, if you have product images in Digizuite, you can easily insert them into your Contentstack entries without needing to download and reupload them.

To learn more, refer to the Digizuite App Installation Guide.

We're excited to announce the general availability of Contentstack Brand Kit – a new platform tool designed to ensure AI-generated content aligns with your brand’s intended voice across all digital touchpoints.

To learn more, explore the Brand Kit documentation.

Brand Kit – Key Features

• Voice Profile: Set up custom profiles that provide instructions that shape AI content’s tone, style and language used.
• Knowledge Vault: A repository to store, manage, and organize all brand-related content that the AI uses to ground responses or supplement its knowledge.

Brand Kit Integrations

• Marketplace AI Assistant: Apply Brand Kit within the AI Assistant to incorporate your Knowledge Vault and Voice Profiles into your AI prompts. Refer to our Get Started with Brand Kit guide for instructions on using this seamless integration. .
• The Brand Kit Connector for Automate: Control the voice of your AI-generated content within Automate workflows. The Brand Kit connector can be used to fetch Voice Profile data, automatically generate on-brand content, and even manage the contents of your Knowledge Vault.

Brand Kit Management APIs

• The Brand Kit Management APIs enable you to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on your Brand Kit and Voice Profile.
• You can use the Generative AI API call to take a prompt, process it based on the respective Brand Kit and Voice Profile, and generate the content.
• The Knowledge Vault API is a repository for storing, managing, and curating brand-related data. It allows you to ingest, update, and delete content and get usage data.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact our Customer Support team.

This month’s update for Automate introduces a new Brand Kit connector and the Marketplace Automate app. Highlights include:

Brand Kit Connector Actions

Brand Kit lets you streamline the management of brand identity and guidelines for your content. It uses brand-specific data stored in the Knowledge Vault and defined Voice Profiles to ensure AI-generated content aligns with your brand's style and messaging.

The Brand Kit connector enables you to perform several specific actions within your automations:

• Generative AI Action: Retrieve responses generated using a Voice Profile and the Knowledge Vault. This action fetches a response based on the provided prompt and can use the Knowledge Vault for improved precision.
  
  

  Learn more about Generative AI Action.

• Knowledge Vault Actions: Manage the contents of a Knowledge Vault with various operations, such as creating, deleting, updating, and fetching item details to leverage the content stored within the Knowledge Vault to enhance your brand voice.
  
  

  Learn more about Knowledge Vault Actions.

• Voice Profile Actions: Retrieve and manage Voice Profile details and Brand Kit components, and apply specific brand voice and style rules to your automations.
  
  

  Learn more about Voice Profile Actions.

Marketplace Automate App

The Marketplace Automate App integrates Automate into the CMS experience, allowing you to access and execute automations from Automate right within the content entry sidebar. This is especially useful for running automations on-demand, giving you flexibility beyond scheduled or automated triggers.

The Automate app brings all of Automate's functionalities into your CMS entry editor where you can view a list of all active automations and execute them with a single click.

Learn more about Automate App.

Here’s what’s new with Contentstack Launch:

• Now, execute your code closer to your users’ locations with Contentstack Launch’s Edge Functions.
• Server Logs are now available for up to 24 hours and show up twice as fast as before, with a maximum of 5000 most recent logs viewable. With this update, you can debug issues more efficiently!
• Locate your project faster with the newly introduced Search bar on the Project Listing page of the Contentstack Launch app!

Enhancements:

• Upgraded oclif/core from version 2.9.3 to 3.26.5.
• Updated the Bulk Publish command logs to remove publish details and display only the asset or entry information.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the display issue within the authentication plugin messages.
• Changed the Tsgen plugin version property as optional in the generated types.

Introducing the Job-based Webhook Events! This webhook event triggers upon the completion of any specified job (Publish, Unpublish, Delete, or Create) for entries and assets across all environments. For bulk actions, it triggers once at the end, regardless of the number of items processed. The webhook provides a concise summary of the job, including the total count and counts of skipped, failed, and successful items.

Learn more about the job-based webhook events and how they differ from our existing entry/asset events.

New Features:

• We've added support in the Audit plugin to validate and fix the Select and Mandatory fields.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where private apps in the Marketplace were not being created when selecting the yes option.
• Fixed an issue that incorrectly displayed a success message when extensions are not actually updated.

We are excited to announce that a new datacenter for Google Cloud Front North America (GCP NA) is now available. The primary region for GCP NA will be Oregon, US (us-west1), with South Carolina, US (us-east1), serving as a backup region.

Contentstack customers can choose from a wider variety of regions by different providers for their Contentstack account data storage.

You can access the app and the API endpoints by adding the prefix “gcp-na” to the default URLs.

• Login URL: https://gcp-na-app.contentstack.com/#!/login
• API Base URL: https://gcp-na-api.contentstack.com/

The data storage for GCP NA is entirely remote and separated from other supported regions in Contentstack. Read more about Contentstack regions.

We’ve made updates to our Audience app:

• Custom Field Support: For added flexibility in content models, users can now add audience data to the Custom Field UI Location.
• Block View: Audience data can now be displayed in a block format, supporting elements like lists, tables, and images.

For more information, please refer to the Audience Plugin Usage Guide.

Introducing the all-new “Webhook Configuration” feature! Now, you can cumulatively manage the maximum connection rate limit per second for your webhook URLs.

Webhooks are custom HTTP callbacks, enabling real-time data transmission to third-party apps or services. With the Connection Rate Limit, you can define the maximum connections allowed to your webhook URLs per second. Once the rate limit is reached, connections are efficiently throttled to maintain stability.

Learn more about Webhook Configuration.

Automate introduces significant updates this month, including new actions in the Contentstack Management Connector and several other capabilities. Highlights include:

Contentstack Management Connector: New Actions

• Taxonomy Actions: Using Taxonomies, you can organize stack content into categories, making it easier to navigate, search, and retrieve information. The new actions let you manage these taxonomies, allowing you to create or delete them, import or export for backup, or update or retrieve details.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Management - Taxonomy Actions.
• Global Fields Actions: Global Fields in Contentstack allow you to define fields or groups of fields once and reuse them across multiple content types,helping maintain content structure consistency and reusability. You can now fetch details of specific or all global fields in a stack.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Management - Global Fields Actions.
• Languages Actions: Contentstack provides an extensive range of advanced multilingual content capabilities with support for over 200 pre-configured locales, enabling users to easily create and publish entries in multiple languages or retrieve the details of all the locales within a stack.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Management - Languages Actions.
• Branches Actions: Branches offer isolated workspaces for safe, independent development of new features or updates. With branches you can create multiple copies of your stack content. The new actions let you manage these branches, allowing you to create or delete them, merge them, or retrieve details.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Management - Branches Actions.
• Delete an Asset Action: Delete any asset in Contentstack.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Management - Assets Actions.
• Remove Localization Action: Restore any entry to its original, non-localized state with this action.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Management - Entries Actions.

Additional Updates:

1. Throttle Frequency: Adjust the execution rate settings in Automate to decrease total execution times. For instance, selecting two executions per second for 1000 requests can cut the total time needed to 500 seconds.
2. Authentication in Code Block and HTTP Connectors: A new field has been introduced for securely fetching sensitive data from connected apps.
3. Project Variables in Connectors with Custom Authentication A feature to access project variables in connectors with custom authentication, such as AWS S3 and AWS SNS, has been added.

Here’s what’s new with Contentstack Launch:

• To see which core features of popular frameworks are supported by Contentstack Launch, refer to the About Launch Framework Support documentation.
• Contentstack Launch now supports hosting for any SSR framework sites, cloud functions, or static sites using the Other framework option. To learn more, visit our Other Frameworks on Launch documentation.
• Advanced routing capabilities allow you to set up custom request and response headers for redirects and rewrites to more effectively manage upstream traffic. For more details, visit the Edge URL Redirects and Edge URL Rewrites documentations.

New Features:

• Added a new migration script in the Migration command examples to update any entry references.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where loggers were not being correctly created when using the configuration settings in the Import and Export.
• Fixed an issue where a missing or empty title field in an entry could cause the audit process to fail.

We're thrilled to announce the general availability of the all-new TypeScript Delivery SDK, specially crafted to enhance your application development experience within Contentstack.

• Explore an array of extraordinary features that come with it:
• Easily create, update, and delete content with unparalleled simplicity
• Seamlessly fetch your content for a smooth and speedy user experience
• Unleash the full potential of TypeScript's advantages for smoother development
• Connect seamlessly with our versatile CMS for streamlined operations

Elevate your development process to new heights for web, mobile, and beyond with the TypeScript Delivery SDK today!

Dive into our comprehensive documentation on the TypeScript Delivery SDK to kickstart your journey.

Enhancements:

• Added an enhancement to the Audit Plugin to check if the title exists for an entry.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the issue with content-type filters in the cm:entries:publish command. This ensures that only entries from the specified content-types are published, rather than all entries across all content-types.

We are excited to announce that Taxonomy is now generally available on Contentstack!

Discover the transformative potential of Taxonomy through enhanced content organization, enabling you to handle vast and complex data structures with control and ease. Our latest feature introduces a seamless and intuitive interface crafted to redefine how you classify, organize, and manage your content.

New Solutions in Content Management

• Simplify content organization with hierarchical, relational, or predefined list classifications based on metadata/attributes.
• Effortlessly create and assign terms to categorize your entries, ensuring easy sorting and identification.
• Streamline your workflow with enhanced content filtering, providing you with precisely what you need, precisely when you need it. Additionally, customize the width of the left-hand side filter section on the entry list page for enhanced usability.
• Enjoy complete visibility into your content types, empowering you and your team to lead content projects efficiently from a single platform.

Seamless Export and Import

• Export your taxonomy to JSON or CSV files for easy storage and access.
• Import your taxonomy back into your stack easily, allowing for immediate utilization.

Restore with Confidence

• Restore deleted taxonomies and terms effortlessly, with the Trash retaining deleted items for up to 14 days. Choose to restore with associated content types or entries for a seamless restoration process.

Harness the Power of APIs

• Leverage our Content Delivery and GraphQL APIs to retrieve and filter content by taxonomy.
• Manage your taxonomies effortlessly with our Content Management API.

Ready to revolutionize your content management? Dive into Taxonomy today!

For more information or any queries, reach out to our dedicated Customer Support team. Start your journey to streamlined content management now!

Enhancements:

• Added a new script in the Migration plugin for changing the master locale for the new file structure of export.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the issue in cross publish command, where all entries were being published in spite of using the content-type flag and specifying the content-type.
• Resolved the issue of recreating Marketplace Apps even after passing NO in the prompt.
• Resolved the issue in Audit when branches were being checked even when they were not passed. Now branches are checked only when a branch is passed through Import or config in Audit.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Change Master Locale document.

New Features:

• Integrated logger support in the Migration plugin.
• Implemented branches support in the Audit plugin's workflow and extensions modules.

Enhancements:

• Added the latest cloud function changes in the CLI for Launch plugin.
• Added support for embedded entries in the Import plugin’s Rich Text Editor (RTE).

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the issue where import was failing due to branches in the workflow module.
• Resolved Snyk security issues.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Audit and Import documents to include branches support.

We are thrilled to announce the availability of the following functionalities in Contentstack Launch:

• Venus 2.0 support on the Deployments Page: Contentstack Launch has extended its Venus 2.0 support on the Deployments page, introducing an enhanced user interface that offers improved usability. The previous deployments are now organized in a drop-down fashion, giving the Deployments page a more compact look.
• Repair GitHub Connection for Projects: With Contentstack Launch, you can repair the GitHub connection on existing projects by replacing the invalid connection with a valid one.
• Deploy any SSR framework on Launch: You can now deploy and host any SSR-based framework on Launch as long as it runs a Node.js server.

Automate introduces significant updates this month, including a new connector and several other capabilities. Highlights include:

New Connector

• Contentstack Delivery Connector: With the Contentstack Delivery Connector, you can fetch entries and assets from another environment. It offers four actions: Get All Assets, Get All Entries, Get a Single Asset, and Get a Single Entry.
  
  Learn more about Contentstack Delivery Connector.

Venus 2.0 Form Enhancements: Multi-Select in Contentstack Management Connector

We have enabled a new feature where you can select multiple values in some specific fields. There are six associated actions:

1. Publish an Entry: You can select multiple Locale(s) and Environments(s) to publish the entry.
2. Unpublish an Entry: You can select multiple Locale(s) and Environments(s) to unpublish the entry.
3. Delete an Entry: You can select multiple Locale(s) to delete the localized entries.
4. Publish an Asset: You can select multiple Locale(s) and Environments(s) to publish the asset.
5. Set Entry Workflow: You can select multiple Assignee Name(s) and Assignee Roles(s) to update different users about the workflow stage change.
6. Deploy a Release: You can select multiple Locale(s) and Environments(s) to deploy the release.
   
   

   Learn more about using Multi-Select in the Contentstack Management Connector.

Additional Updates:

1. Reload icon in Repeat Path: Refresh the Repeat Path output for the latest data without altering the configuration.
2. Contentstack Connector Sub Category: Improved UI navigation for both Contentstack Management and Delivery Connectors under the main Contentstack Connector category.

Our Optimizely app now features Variations. This update simplifies managing and publishing different content variations for your experiments directly within Contentstack, enabling you to more effectively customize content for your target audience.

For more information, please refer to the Optimizely App Installation Guide.

New Features:

• Added Workflow & Extensions support in the Audit plugin.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved an issue that occurs when there are no items to merge in the Branches plugin.
• Resolved an issue where the Config plugin displays a message code instead of a message text.
• Resolved an issue caused by the missing extension folder(s) in the Import plugin.
• Resolved SRE and vulnerabilities issues.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Audit plugin document to include Workflow & Extensions support.

For Organization Owners and Administrators who need to track and monitor platform activity, the new Audit Log allows you to oversee activities across different Contentstack products. With visibility into things like app installation or creation, it provides essential insights that help you maintain control over your organization's usage.

To learn more, visit the related documentation article.

The Egnyte app simplifies file management directly within Contentstack by allowing users to access and manage their Egnyte files without leaving Contentstack's platform.

Additionally, it allows users to choose multiple files from their Egnyte account and add them to Contentstack’s Custom or JSON Rich Text Editor fields.

To learn more about the Egnyte app, refer to the Egnyte App Installation Guide.

Enhancements:

• Included validation for Extension/Marketplace applications within the Audit plugin for content types and entries.
• Substituted taxonomy retrieval and creation API with an export and import API in Import, Export, Export-to-CSV, and Taxonomy Migration utility.
• Added support for Nuxt3 Starter in the Bootstrap plugin.
• Added support for including destination stack name in console upon successful completion of import.
• Implemented automatic generation of the Developer Hub URL instead of relying on manual input prompts in the Apps-CLI & CLI plugins.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved version issues in the Tsgen plugin.
• Resolved incorrect management token alias issue.
• Resolved SRE and vulnerability issues.
• Resolved entry publishing with references (NRP).

Documentation Updates:

• Added Extension/Marketplace updates in the Audit plugin document.

We are excited to announce new updates to Automation Hub, including new actions in ChatGPT Connector, Box Connector, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage Connector, and several other capabilities. Here’s what’s included:

“Automation Hub” will now be called “Automate”

We are simplifying the terminology for our visual workflow builder to align with our action-oriented product names, such as Launch, and to clearly communicate the tool's core purpose.

The update can be viewed in our product and will be reflected in the documentation and other Contentstack products very soon!

New Connectors

• Azure Blob Storage Connector: Upload and create unstructured data (text, binary, images) to your Azure Blob Storage account efficiently. Automate tasks like data backup, transfer, and processing.
  

  Learn more about Azure Blob Storage Connector.

• Box Connector: Simplify retrieving file URLs from your Boxa cloud drive, automating access and management for enhanced efficiency.
  

  Learn more about Box Action Connector.

New Trigger

Box Trigger: Automate file uploads from Box cloud drive to trigger actions in Contentstack. Create a Box trigger to automate file uploads from Box to Contentstack by sending file URLs for asset creation.

Learn more about Box Trigger.

New Action in ChatGPT Connector

DALL-E 3 Image Generator: This action lets you create AI-generated images based on a prompt text and provides an image URL for the image using DALL- E 3. This action can also be used in conjunction with the Chat with Vision action, where the image URL is sent to generate a text response for the prompt.

Learn more about ChatGPT Connector.

New Actions in Contentstack Connector:

We have introduced two new actions in the Contentstack Connector.

1. Create an Asset: This action lets you create a new asset in Contentstack.
2. Update an Asset: This action lets you modify an existing asset in Contentstack.

Learn more about Contentstack Connector.

Other Changes:

RTE Formatter Connector: This Connector now supports adding multiple JSON RTE content and converts them into HTML or Text formats.

Filter by Date in Execution and Audit Log: With the new Filter by Date feature, you can filter and view your execution and audit log for a specific duration.

We are excited to announce that we are extending the Launch functionality with the following releases:

• Contentstack Launch has enhanced its support to include Server-Side Rendering (SSR) for the Angular framework. SSR allows Angular applications to render pages on the server, resulting in enhanced performance.
• Contentstack Launch documentation now includes Quick Start Guides for all Launch-supported frameworks, making it easy for users to understand and try out the supported frameworks on Launch in simple steps.

We're thrilled to unveil a powerful feature designed specifically for Organization Owners and Administrators: Bulk Operations for Users.

With this feature, you can now efficiently perform bulk operations on multiple Organization users, removing users, updating their stack access, or changing their Organization roles in a single step.

Learn more about Bulk Operations for Organization Users in our documentation.

We are pleased to introduce a new set of UI enhancements aimed at improving the overall platform experience. Here are their details:

Modified Language Selection Order in Publish Asset Modal: In the updated “Publish Asset” modal, the master locale is now consistently positioned as the initial choice, mirroring the arrangement in the existing “Publish Entry” modal. The subsequent languages are also listed alphabetically, ensuring a streamlined and organized selection process.

Persistent User Preferences for Entry Editor Right-hand Sidebar: The Entry Editor sidebar now intelligently retains user preferences (whether expanded or closed) for not only “Entry Information” and “Entry Status” but also for “Workflow Details,” “Widgets,” and “Discussions,” ensuring a consistent and personalized experience even across page refreshes.

Enhanced Workflow Icon Visibility for Intuitive User Experience: The visibility of the Workflow icon in the Entry Editor sidebar now utilizes prominent color representation to signify the current stage. This enhancement ensures that users can quickly identify and comprehend the workflow stage, providing more precise and intuitive visual cues.

More Selection Control for the Select Field: We've introduced the ability to select or deselect all options within the “Dropdown” display type of the “Select” field with just a single click. This enhancement offers users the convenience of efficient mass selection or deselection, making interactions more user-friendly than ever before.

This release also includes some bug fixes.

Stay up-to-date with alerts for crucial account events in Contentstack! Click the bell icon in the top-right corner of the Stacks list page to access notifications instantly at your fingertips.

Key Features:

• Dive into detailed insights with analytical notifications such as periodic activity summaries.
• Respond swiftly to app requests and collaboration invites via call-to-action buttons
• Organize group notifications effortlessly by “Date”, “Product”, or “Type” for a clear overview

With Organization Notifications [Early Access Release], you gain a comprehensive overview of the platform, ensuring you stay ahead of all activities.

New Features:

• Added Live Preview support by incorporating a preview token into the Bootstrap plugin.

Enhancements:

• Introduced the config flag in the Clone plugin to support Export and Import external configs.
• Added unit test cases in the Config plugin for the Early Access header.
• Added a Project query and mutation updates in the Launch plugin.
• Updated Starter apps.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the issue with the Audit plugin caused by the absence of a module folder.
• Resolved SRE issues.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated documentation to include Live Preview support in the Bootstrap plugin.

Now, managing your taxonomy is simpler than ever! With Taxonomy, you can effortlessly export your taxonomy to a JSON or CSV file, enabling easy storage and access. Simply choose your preferred format, and voila – your taxonomy is ready for download and safekeeping on your local storage system.

But wait, there's more! Importing a taxonomy is just as seamless. Easily bring your JSON or CSV file into your stack, and watch as your taxonomy comes to life. Once imported, you can swiftly add terms to your taxonomy or associate it with content types, streamlining your content management process like never before.

Experience the power of simplified taxonomy management with Contentstack – your ultimate content creation companion. Try it out today and unlock a whole new level of efficiency!

Learn more about Exporting and Importing a taxonomy.

It’s the January Release so we’re kickstarting the year by introducing some powerful new updates to Automation Hub, including Sub Automations, an Automation Hub Management API, and a number of other new connectors and capabilities. Here’s what’s included:

New Feature Spotlight: Sub Automations

This is a big update to Automation Hub that allows you to create reusable automation components that can be invoked across different projects and workflows.

The Sub Automation action allows you to retrieve the Sub Automation created within a project. This can be especially valuable when employed in conjunction with the ChatGPT-based Function Calling action.

Whether you're updating web content, managing digital assets, or orchestrating complex content delivery processes, Sub Automations offer a modular approach to automate repetitive tasks efficiently.

Learn more about Sub Automation Action and Trigger.

Automation Hub Management API

Next, we introduce the Automation Hub Management API, a powerful tool for managing your projects and automations with ease. This API enables you to perform create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations on projects and project variables directly through API calls. It's perfect for those looking to automate project setup, updates, and management tasks, offering a programmable way to maintain your automation ecosystem efficiently.

Learn more about Automation Hub Management API.

New Connectors:

• Google Vertex Connector: Leverage Google Vertex's AI models, including the Gemini API, to generate dynamic responses within your automations. Ideal for enhancing chatbots, automating content creation, or any task requiring AI-driven insights. Learn more about Google Vertex connector.
• Azure DevOps Connector: Streamline your CI/CD workflows, from code build to deployment, directly within Automation Hub. This connector simplifies the integration of development and operations tasks, improving deployment frequency and reducing lead time for changes. Learn more about Azure DevOps connector.

New Trigger

BigCommerce Trigger: Automate eCommerce workflows with this new trigger that allows you to automate responses to events like new orders, customer creations, or product updates, streamlining operations for your online store and enhancing customer experiences.

Learn more about BigCommerce trigger.

New Actions for ChatGPT Connector

We have introduced two new actions in the ChatGPT connector.

1. Function Calling: Generate responses based on the configured Sub Automation. Within the Function Calling action, you have the flexibility to specify various sub-automations. ChatGPT will then analyze the input and generate a response corresponding to the selected sub-automation.
2. Function Calling Response: Utilize the Function Calling Response action to format the output obtained from both the Function Calling action and the Sub Automation.

Other Changes:

1. Renumbering of Steps: If a user adds a new step in between two actions or any special action, the step numbers will now be renumbered automatically.
2. Nested Reference Publishing: You can now publish the entries along with the referenced entries using the Nested Reference Publishing checkbox in the Contentstack connector.

New Features:

• In this update, we've added support for the Google Cloud Platform North America Region to our CLI, Apps CLI Plugin, and Tsgen Plugin. This advancement offers users the flexibility to choose from different data centers with the inclusion of GCP NA.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the issue when the management token alias used for import is not already added in CLI.

Documentation Updates:

• Added documentation updates for the GCP NA support in CLI.

We are super excited to announce a power-packed release, bringing a plethora of features and enhancements for users of all types.

This release contains some exciting UI enhancements and search capabilities for all platform users, new REST support for Live Preview service with Preview token for developers, and some useful governance options for organization admins. Let’s dive deeper into these updates:

UI Enhancements - Design system update

We are excited to announce the second and final phase of UI enhancements being rolled out as part of our design system update across the platform. This update focuses on enhancing user productivity and accessibility across the platform.

Earlier, in October 2023, we rolled out Venus Design System 2.0 changes for limited screens (for content managers). In this release, we extend these updates to the rest of the screens.

Here's an overview of what's new:

Enhanced Data Tables For List Pages

The list pages of all modules now feature newer, more flexible tables:

• Easy column management: The new updates offer the ability to move, resize, reorder, freeze/ unfreeze, and add/remove columns as needed in the table view.
• Pagination to jump through pages: Pagination at the bottom of the tables now replaces the previous infinite scroll and allows for easier navigation through records.
  

Improved Input Fields and Forms for Better Readability

We have made some key enhancements to the input fields and forms, which significantly improves the readability of text and visibility of text area:

• Borders for better visibility: To enhance the visibility of input fields, we have added distinct borders around them.
  
• Read-only fields with lock sign: The read-only fields within forms have a lock sign, indicating that the fields are not editable.
  
• Background Color for Forms: All forms get a distinct background color, whereas the fields and text area remain white, improving the contrast of pages.
  

Improved “Date” Field and Date Picker

We have made some useful updates to the “Date” field for content managers:

• The time zone picker is no longer within the time picker, but now sits outside within the date field for easier access.
• The date selector gets “Cancel” and “Apply” buttons to avoid accidental updates to the date field.
• The new “Use Current Date” and “Use Current Time” options in the date and time selectors, respectively, help you quickly select the current date and time in a few clicks.
  

Here are some updates to the date picker:

• Redesigned to include a single calendar view, aligning with the new date picker style
• New “Reset” button to quickly clear the selected date ranges

Update to Rich Text Editors (RTEs)

We have changed the look and feel of all the three RTEs (JSON, HTML, and Markdown) to improve their usability and make it consistent with the other fields. The RTEs now feature cleaner icons, prominent links to expand/minimize editors, and better spacing.

Venus Design System 2.0 Update for All UI Components

All the components in the user interface get a refreshing update as per the Venus Design System 2.0.

• Toggle switches for enabling/disabling features: We've incorporated a toggle switch feature for effortless enabling and disabling, making control more intuitive and efficient.
• New information “Pills”: The new color-coded “Pills” feature has been added to a few screens such as the Invite Users module, in headers of Workflows and Publish Rules pages, for the Branches module, and the Webhooks page for better visualization.
• Enhanced accessibility: This update brings a lot of changes for users with varying needs. Some of the prominent accessibility and usability changes include standardized icons, consistent text color and size, improved tooltips visibility, more user-friendly fields, aligning with the Version 2 design upgrades.
  

Powerful Search capabilities

We have introduced some new search capabilities to the platform, helping you easily find that “needle in a haystack” when necessary. Here’s what’s included:

Search Entries by Title

You can now search entries by their titles across all content types. This means quicker access to the content you want without scrolling through pages. To do a title-only search, click on the search bar, and use “Title” from the “Recently Used Fields” section.

Support for JSON RTE and Custom field (JSON data type) in Advanced Search

We've expanded our Advanced Search capabilities to include JSON RTE and Custom fields (JSON data type). With the inclusion of these fields, utilizing the 'contains' operator, our search now fully supports all field types in entries, enhancing your search flexibility.

Live Preview Service with REST support and Preview Tokens

We’re excited to announce the expansion of our Live Preview Service capabilities with the addition of REST support, complementing our existing GraphQL services. This enhancement ensures a more streamlined and intuitive preview experience, providing a comprehensive and versatile support of development needs and preferences. The APIs for this enriched service mirror the familiar structure of our Delivery API, maintaining consistent API contracts.

Alongside this, we will introduce Preview Tokens, a new way to provide improved security and control for Live Previews within Contentstack. Enhance your security measures and mitigate unauthorized data access by upgrading from read-only management tokens to a more robust protection of Preview tokens. Preview Token can be created while creating a Delivery Token, for the same scope.

Read our documentation on Preview Tokens.

More Power to Organization Administrators

If you are an organization administrator, you get a host of new features to manage your teams. Administrators can now enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) and password expiration interval for all users in their organization. Coming soon: Admins can also manage team-level permissions for the “Teams” that are created within Contentstack CMS. This feature is available for early access beginning February 1, and will be rolling out to all users throughout the month.

Read our documentation on Security Configuration and Teams.

We are thrilled to share that Contentstack Launch has expanded its support to include some very popular frameworks.

With this latest update, Contentstack Launch now seamlessly supports Vue, Create React App, Angular, and CSR (Client-Side Rendered) frameworks, providing a one-stop solution for hosting websites built on these frameworks.

This significant enhancement will empower more developers to effortlessly deploy and manage their web projects with unparalleled ease and efficiency!

New Features:

• Added GraphQL type definition and Early Access support in the Tsgen plugin.
• Added Early Access support in the Regex plugin.

Enhancements:

• Updated the Apps CLI plugin to fetch the latest changes via an updated boilerplate GitHub URL.
• Replaced the static manifest files in the Apps CLI plugin with a support for boilerplate manifest.json.
• Added analytics support to the content-type plugin.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved npm publish issues in the Apps CLI plugin.
• Fixed the unit test cases issue in the CLI caused due to package dependencies.
• Fixed SRE issues.

Documentation Updates:

• Added GraphQL content to the Tsgen Plugin documentation.

We are excited to announce that Developer Hub is now generally available on Contentstack! The experience provides a user-friendly interface for teams to easily create and manage custom applications, making it an ideal tool for developers and partners looking to enhance or extend the platform experience with personalized integrations and capabilities, whether for internal or public use.

Key features of Developer Hub include:

• Launch Hosting: Develop, test, and deploy your app within the Contentstack platform via Hosting with Launch.
• App Boilerplates: Create custom apps with preconfigured templates tailored for specific solutions such as E-commerce or Digital Asset Management. Refer to our Getting Started with your First App guide to kickstart your app development journey via Developer Hub.
• App SDK: Use pre-built SDK functions to enhance efficiency in platform interactions.
• Version Logs: Document each update with detailed App Versioning.
• Platform Extensibility: Seamlessly integrate custom apps across numerous UI locations.
• Contentstack OAuth: Implement robust, token-based security with Contentstack OAuth and PKCE-enhanced OAuth.
• Webhooks: Enable real-time interaction and data exchange with Contentstack using granular Webhook control.

Learn more about Developer Hub.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact our Customer Support team.

Introducing the all-new TypeScript Delivery SDK [Beta Release], designed to elevate your application development with Contentstack. Discover unparalleled simplicity and efficiency with these remarkable features:

• Effortlessly manage data: Create, Update, and Delete content with ease
• Lightning-fast data retrieval: Fetch your content seamlessly for a smooth user experience
• TypeScript Compatibility: Unlock the full potential of TypeScript benefits
• Contentstack Integration: Seamlessly connect with our versatile CMS

Get the TypeScript Delivery SDK today and simplify your development process for web, mobile, and more!

Refer to our documentation on TypeScript Delivery SDK to get started.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the generated command issue in Entry Migration for Windows OS.
• Resolved the ignore option issue in Entry Migration.
• Handled the scenario involving the removal of references from RTE during the creation of Global Fields in Import plugin.
• Fixed the Audit plugin malfunction that occurred when a schema contained a taxonomy field.

1. Unique Property Enhancement:

   Non-mandatory fields marked as Unique can now be saved even when empty, providing greater flexibility in data entry.

2. Webhook Payload Update for branch_alias Events:

   The initial response for the webhook payload in branch_alias events included solely the alias UID. With this update, the webhook payload for branch_alias events has been expanded to encompass additional data fields, offering more comprehensive information:

   For Assigned Event:

   {
   "module": "branch_alias",
   "api_key": "blte60c757c14e646be",
   "data": {
   "branch_alias": {
   "uid": "test",
   "target": "main",
   "created_by": "blt221f108f46fb0fbe",
   "created_at": "2023-08-24T10:18:21.048Z",
   "updated_at": "2024-01-03T05:57:40.675Z",
   "updated_by": "blt221f108f46fb0fbe"
   }
   },
   "event": "assigned",
   "triggered_at": "2024-01-03T05:57:40.872Z"
   }
   

   For Unassigned Event:

   {
   "module": "branch_alias",
   "api_key": "blte60c757c14e646be",
   "data": {
   "branch_alias": {
   "uid": "test",
   "target": "main",
   "created_at": "2023-08-24T10:18:21.048Z",
   "created_by": "blt221f108f46fb0fbe",
   "updated_at": "2024-01-03T05:58:16.696Z",
   "updated_by": "blt221f108f46fb0fbe"
   }
   },
   "event": "unassigned",
   "triggered_at": "2024-01-03T05:58:16.840Z"
   }
   

New Features:

• Added Early Access support in CLI.
• Added Audit plugin support in Clone and Import plugins.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved the Entry Migration issue that caused data migration for remaining entries to halt in the event of a failure for an entry of a specific content type.
• Fixed the refresh token issue in the Import plugin.
• Fixed the type generation issue for the reference field in Tsgen Plugin.
• Fixed SRE issues.

Documentation Updates:

• Created a document to configure and use Early Access in the CLI.
• Updated the Import and Clone documents to support the Audit plugin.
• Added a note for the log path in the Entry Migration document.

We are excited to announce the brand-new JW Player app in our Marketplace! With this app, content managers are empowered to fetch, view, and manage videos inside Contentstack entries. Additionally, it allows users to choose multiple videos from their JW Player account and add them to Contentstack’s Custom or JSON Rich Text Editor fields.

Content managers can use the app to display video content on their websites without accessing the JW Player platform independently. You can quickly build and manage playlists, upload videos, and alter player settings using the JW Player app.

To learn more about how to use the JW Player app, refer to the JW Player App Installation Guide.

We are thrilled to announce some updates to Automation Hub as part of our December Release. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s included:

New Feature: Multiple Authentication

Introducing a brand-new feature in the Contentstack and Slack action connectors – Multiple Authentication. With this multi-authentication feature, you can now authenticate your Contentstack or Slack accounts using different methods, including Contentstack OAuth, Management Token, or a Slack Bot Token.

For customers who want to ensure that actions taken by Automation Hub are specifically recorded (in audit logs, for example) as coming from Automation Hub, creating a Management Token for authentication allows this to happen (since the name of the Management Token would be recorded in the audit logs).

Learn more about the Contentstack and Slack connector.

New Action in AWS S3 Connector:

We have introduced a new action in the AWS S3 connector.

• Delete an Object: This action lets you delete an object (asset or files) from your AWS S3 account.

This new action will be helpful for customers who want to ensure that when assets or entries are deleted from Contentstack, that deletion is also reflected in their S3 backups.

Learn more about AWS S3 connector.

New Action in ChatGPT Connector:

We have introduced a new action in the ChatGPT connector.

• Chat with Vision: This action lets you generate text-based responses for visual prompts. You can easily generate detailed description(s) of an image(s) using the Chat with Vision action.

Many exciting use cases can be accomplished with this new AI image capability. Firstly, customers can ask Chat with Vision to analyze and provide relevant keyword tags and descriptions for any asset they upload into the system. This can dramatically help with image SEO, accessibility for certain end users, and streamlining the image upload process.

Additionally, this process allows customers to compare two images and ask Chat with Vision to describe the differences or the similarities. Imagine asking for a comparison of the website before and after a release happens and then sending that description to Slack to keep the whole team in the loop.

Note: The Chat with Vision model is currently in preview. Users are reminded to transition to the production model upon its release for continued, enhanced functionality.

Learn more about ChatGPT connector.

Enhancements:

• Replaced HTTP calls with SDK call in the export-to-csv plugin.
• Replaced Marketplace HTTP calls with SDK in the export and import plugins.
• Added Apps CLI & Audit plugin cases in e2e.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Fixed OAuth failure cases in e2e.
• Resolved Marketplace issue where the import plugin failed for Mantashape.
• Resolved issue in the migration plugin where the Windows OS did not detect absolute CSV file path.
• Fixed type error issues for empty Date and Select Fields in the tsgen plugin.
• Resolved reported SRE issues and vulnerabilities.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the content in the Entry Migration plugin documentation.

We're happy to share a significant update to our Workflow management, especially when using Branches. Let’s take a closer look.

Previously, users were restricted to creating just one workflow per content type, irrespective of the branches the content types were present in. 

Now, our updated system allows the creation of multiple workflows for the same content types across various branches. For instance, you can set up distinct workflows for the same content type under the "Main" and "Dev" branches, enhancing flexibility and efficiency in your workflow management.

This release also includes some minor bug fixes.

We are excited to announce some updates to Automation Hub as part of our November Release. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s included:

New Feature: Project Variables

The Project Variables section in Contentstack lets you easily add and manage key-value pairs for consistent use across various automations and projects. When creating a variable, you can choose to create them as plain text, which is useful to store email addresses, IDs, section names and so forth. Or, you can create obfuscated variables, which can be used for secret values such as client IDs or API keys, etc.

Additionally, when users clone an automation, there is a new interface which asks which variables should be brought over to the new project, or which should be re-established. This allows users to keep specific values secure by controlling access to high value projects.

For example, if you have a developer working on a development-themed project in Automation Hub, he or she would only have access to the Project Variables in that specific project. Later, when the final version of the automation is then cloned to the production project, new variables could be established for those same keys, and thus limiting access to that sensitive data.

In the Automation Hub application, we use advanced obfuscation techniques for storing these potentially sensitive values. This approach is designed to enhance security by decoupling secret information from your automation scripts. However, it is important to note that while these values are obfuscated, they still must be available inside the automations, and super admins or those with specific access to the project may still be able to create a way to retrieve them. We recommend that users exercise caution and regularly review their access controls, ensuring only trusted personnel have such elevated privileges. By following these practices, you can maintain a robust security posture within your automation environment.

Learn more about Project Variables.

New Connector: Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based collaboration platform built for seamless communication and content sharing within and across organizations.

The integration of the Microsoft Teams connector enables users to automate message delivery throughout their organization using Automation Hub.

Learn more about Microsoft Teams connector.

New Connector: Google PubSub

Google PubSub, offered as part of the Google Cloud Platform, serves as a messaging service facilitating communication between standalone applications. The Google PubSub connector allows applications to publish messages to topics, while other applications can subscribe to receive these messages. This approach fosters asynchronous communication, empowering components to function independently.

Learn more about Google PubSub connector.

New Actions in Contentstack Connector:

We have introduced two new actions in the Contentstack connector.

• Get Single Asset: This action lets you fetch details of a single asset.
• Get All Assets: This action fetches details of all the assets present in a stack. Optionally, you can select the folder from which you want to fetch the asset details.

Learn more about Contentstack connector.

New Action in RTE Formatter connector: Format HTML RTE Content to JSON

We have introduced a new action in the RTE Formatter Connector. This action lets you format HTML content into JSON format. You can use the JSON content in your JSON RTE field in your Contentstack entry.

Learn more about RTE Formatter connector.

Other changes:

• AWS S3: With the new update in the AWS S3 connector, you can select two different sources to upload your content, i.e. Content or File URL. This can be used to upload binary files, such as images or PDFs, to S3 as part of a backup process.
• ChatGPT, Azure ChatGPT, and AWS Bedrock: We have introduced a new checkbox to enable text formatting, ensuring the proper escape of special characters from the response. This is enabled by default.
• Revert changes for Triggers: You can revert to the previously configured trigger settings with the Revert Changes feature.

We’re excited to introduce the new Contentstack DAM App Boilerplate, simplifying the development of custom Digital Asset Management (DAM) applications for the Contentstack platform.

Like our other Marketplace app boilerplates, it offers a streamlined start to app development, providing a framework of files, code, and configurations geared towards DAM-specific functionalities.

To get started, check out our Marketplace DAM App Boilerplate guide.

New Features:

• Added overwrite support to the Import plugin for entries.

Bug & Security Fixes:

• Resolved branches plugin issue that generated incorrect file name in the merge scripts.
• Fixed issue related to invalid management token alias.
• Resolved unhandled error issue for invalid stack roles.
• Updated regex plugin readme file and setup steps.
• Resolved vulnerabilities.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Import Overwrite Feature content.

We are delighted to announce the following updates to Contentstack Launch:

CDN Cache Revalidation

• Content Delivery Network (CDN) now actively checks the validity of cached content and updates it from the origin server when changes occur.
• The CDN cache revalidation has been optimized to ensure the most up-to-date content is delivered to users.
• This guarantees that visitors to your website experience the latest content, reflecting any recent updates or modifications.

For more information, refer to the Revalidate CDN Cache documentation.

Next JS On-Demand Revalidation for SSG

• Introducing On-Demand Revalidation for Static Site Generation (SSG) pages with Launch.
• With this feature, static pages are revalidated on demand, ensuring that users receive the latest version of your SSG pages when needed.
• Enhance the user experience by dynamically updating static pages as changes occur in your content or configurations.

For more information, refer to the Next.js On-Demand Revalidation for Static Site Generation (SSG) pages documentation.

Increased server timeouts to 30 seconds across the board

• Server timeouts have been extended across the board from 10 seconds to 30 seconds.
• This extension applies to Cloud Functions and all other server-side requests, allowing for longer execution periods.
• The increased timeout duration accommodates longer-running processes, providing more flexibility for server-side operations.

We’re excited to share the latest updates to our Algolia app, which keeps your Algolia search indices updated when changes are made to entries in Contentstack.

What’s new:

• Support for Branches: Users can now initiate webhook events based on branch-related activities in Contentstack. Webhook settings can be customized for specific or all branches, allowing for more precise control over how content updates in Algolia.
• UI Bug Fixes: Resolved UI-related bugs for a smoother user experience.

For more information, please refer to the Algolia App Installation Guide.

New Features:

• Added taxonomies module support to the export and import plugins.
• Added taxonomies support to the export-to-csv plugin.
• Added taxonomies support in migration plugin.
• Added taxonomy field type support in tsgen plugin.
• Added unit test cases for taxonomies module in export-to-csv plugin.
• Added taxonomy import utility support in migration plugin.

Enhancements:

• Updated unit test cases for entries and user modules in export-to-csv plugin.
• Added delimiter flag support in export-to-csv plugin.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Export Content to .CSV File using the CLI content for taxonomies functionality.
• Updated the Export Content using the CLI content for taxonomies support.
• Updated the Import Content using the CLI content for taxonomies support.
• Updated the tsgen plugin content for taxonomy field support.
• Added a new Taxonomy Migration doc for taxonomy import utility.

We are thrilled to announce a game-changing addition to our platform – Taxonomy [Early Access Release]. Taxonomy enables multiple ways to classify, organize and manage content, tailored to your specific needs. These classification methods can be structured hierarchically, relationally (may or may not be hierarchical), or as predefined lists based on metadata/attributes that can be applied across various use cases. It’s designed to simplify how you categorize and manage your entries, providing you with a seamless and efficient content organization experience.

Key Benefits:

• Effortless categorization: Easily assign categories to your entries, making it a breeze to sort and identify content.
• Streamlined content filtering: Filter your entry view, ensuring that you see exactly what you need at any given time.
• Logical content organization: Group similar content together by creating custom taxonomies. This feature promotes a structured and organized approach to managing your data.
• Direct line of sight: Manage and implement scalable content management processes for large-scale content projects across functions and systems.
• Gain full purview: Navigate to the content types most relevant to you and your team’s priorities. Manage and lead content projects from a single vantage point, giving you the confidence and assurance to execute.

We believe that Taxonomy will revolutionize the way you handle your content and data structures, making your experience smoother and more productive.

Please note that this feature is currently in its Early Access Phase, and we appreciate your participation as early adopters. If you’re interested in joining our Early Access Program, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager. Your feedback will be invaluable as we work to refine and improve Taxonomy. Our goal is to roll out Taxonomy to all users in the near future, delivering a polished and valuable addition to your Contentstack experience.

To learn more about Taxonomy, refer to our documentation.

We've upgraded the process for adding assets to your entries. Now, when you use the 'File' field, you’ll notice the following improvements:

• The pop-up modal retains your 'List' or 'Thumbnail' view preference.
  
  

• Click anywhere on an asset in 'Thumbnail' view to select it.
  
  
• The publish status of assets is now visible in 'List' view.
  
  

This release also includes some bug fixes.

Welcome back to the Fall edition of Contentstack Pulse, your trusted source for the most recent news on platform enhancements, roadmap updates, and comprehensive answers to frequently asked questions. In the season of change, we are excited to share the advancements that have taken place within our platform. Our commitment to innovation remains unwavering, focusing on creating an increasingly efficient and user-friendly environment for marketers and developers. So, let’s dive into the details of our latest updates and provide insights into the future at Contentstack.

We are excited to announce some updates to Automation Hub as part of our October Release. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s included:

Protected Mode for “Live” Automations:

Consider a scenario where you have an active automation for publishing entries to the Algolia dashboard. If another user attempts to modify this automation while it is still operating, it may disrupt an ongoing execution. To address this concern, we will now protect “Live” automations from being changed to ensure stability. We indicate “Live” mode by showing a label at the top of the screen, and lock icons at various places throughout the automation, to indicate that it is protected from changes.

Live mode signifies that the automation is currently active. In Live mode, you can only view the automation's configuration. Adding new steps or deleting automation steps is not permitted.

If you want to make edits, you have two options: disable the automation so that it shows “Draft” mode, and then make your changes, or, you can create a clone of the automation, edit the clone, and then switch it for the previous Live version.

New Direct Queue for Unthrottled Automations:

The API rate limit feature empowers users to control the pace of executions within a designated time, ensuring adherence to their API rate limits. Users can choose to activate throttling for their automation or let them operate at their maximum speed, with the latter remaining the default setting.

Consider a scenario where an organization did not opt to throttle their automation. In that scenario, the executions for all the automations in all the organizations will go in the Direct Queue, where the rate limit has now been increased to 5000 executions per minute per organization.
Note that other rate limits (such as the Contentstack Management API “get” limit) would still apply.

Note: Execution request(s) will be sent to the direct queue only if your automation does not contain the Response connector.

The Response connector works synchronously in the background to fetch the response from any server. If an automation contains the Response connector, it will send the response based on the configuration and if it were allowed to go to the Direct Queue for execution, you might not be able to view the response. For that reason we limit automations that have a Response connector from being sent to the Direct Queue. If they are not throttled, they are effectively in another queue which is still limited to 100/executions per minute.

Clone an Automation to Another Project:

We have updated the functionality to Clone an Automation. You can select a destination project to move the cloned automation.

Other changes:

• Venus Components 2.0 - We have introduced a new Automation Builder page with the latest UI to help you navigate and configure your automations easily.

We’re excited to introduce the Contentstack Python Management SDK—engineered to simplify interactions with the Contentstack Content Management API for Python developers.

Key benefits of the SDK include:

• Streamlined integration: Easily integrate the SDK with various tools, services, and platforms.
• Enhanced performance: Manage your stack data, using our Content Management API to create, update, delete, and retrieve information.
• Robust security: Execute your applications securely using either authtoken or management token for authentication.

To get started, refer to our documentation on the Python Management SDK.

Introducing the new Optimizely app from our Marketplace, enabling things like A/B testing and content personalization, by allowing users to embed audiences (JSON files) into a Custom Field on a Contentstack entry.

To learn more, refer to the Optimizely App Installation Guide.

We are excited to announce some new updates to Developer Hub. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s new:

New Feature: Branch Support in Webhooks

We are thrilled to announce the latest addition to our Developer Hub section - Branch Support for Webhooks. This feature empowers users to initiate webhook events based on Branch-related activities.

Let's delve into the new options available within the Webhooks section:

1. Branch-level Scope: Now, you have the flexibility to trigger webhook events on your chosen branch for Branch-enabled organizations.
2. Branch Event(s): You can set up webhooks for various branch-related events, including Create-Initiated, Create-Completed, Delete-Initiated, and Delete-Completed.
3. Branch Alias(es) Event(s): Webhooks can also be configured to respond to Branch alias events, such as Assigned and Unassigned.

To conveniently access your webhook logs, navigate to the Webhooks tab within the App Configuration screen on the Marketplace dashboard. When you need to update your branch, simply click the Branch dropdown and select the desired branch for your webhook setup.

Now available in our Marketplace, the Marketo Forms app enables users to do things like easily capture lead data through their digital experiences by embedding Marketo forms within the Custom Fields of Contentstack entries.

To learn more, refer to the Marketo Forms App Installation Guide.

We're excited to share the latest enhancements to the Contentstack AI Assistant.

Introducing Sub-action Prompts

It is now possible to group related custom prompts under a unified dropdown using the sub-action prompt feature.

Access this feature in the AI Assistant's Advanced Configuration. Once you set up a sub-action prompt, it's readily available within your content entry fields. Simply select "AI Assistant" from the hovering menu, and your customized sub-action prompt appears for use.

• {{field_data}} - This will insert the text currently in the selected field in the entry editor.
• {{selected_option}} - This will insert the text from the sub-action that is selected by the user.

Here is an example of a set of prompts with instructions to create various descriptions for a hypothetical Contentstack marketing page. Download the file and import it into your AI Assistant Advanced Configuration using the import button.

Remember that if you need icons for your custom prompts, we’ve made several SVGs from our Venus 2.0 design library available for you to use so that your actions match the look and feel of the Contentstack admin.

New “Change tone” options now available

We have also implemented a new default prompt to subtly change the tone of an entry, while keeping the structure, facts and approximate length of the content the same.

Options now include:

• Persuasive: This option asks AI to modify the text to attempt to persuade the reader to the entry’s point of view. This is appropriate for sales-related material or call-to-action text.
• Straightforward: This prompt asks AI to stay neutral, keep to the facts and reduce emotional language. This might be appropriate for documentation or technical instruction text.
• Friendly: This choice asks for friendly and casual language, which would be great for email newsletters or event invitations.
• Professional: This option will create professional business text and reduce casual language. It would be useful for technical blogs or thought leadership pieces.

Additionally, we’ve moved the “Make shorter” action into a new dropdown for “Change length” which includes options for “Longer” (about 25% longer) and “Shorter” (about 25% shorter).

Contentstack’s AI Assistant is now Generally Available! Install it from the Marketplace today.

New Features:

• Added Audit fix command functionality for the global fields, content-type and entry modules.
• Added overwrite support to the import plugin for extensions and global fields.

Enhancements:

• Added support for system fields in the tsgen plugin.

Bug and Security Fixes:

• Resolved an issue where reference fields inside modular blocks were erroneously replaced with dummyTest Single Line Textboxes.
• Resolved the issue where a single reference generated multiple arrays within the tsgen plugin.
• Resolved the issue where installed apps within a specific organization were not displayed correctly for uninstallation.
• Fixed issue related to the export info meta file.
• Resolved issue with bulk publish assets.
• Fixed warning messages that were triggered when using deprecated or old flags.
• Resolved vulnerabilities.

Documentation Updates:

• Updated the Audit Plugin content for fix command functionality
• Updated the Import Content using the CLI content for overwrite support

We’re thrilled to introduce the latest addition to our Marketplace – the all-new Vimeo app! This integration enables content managers to fetch, display, and manage video content directly within Contentstack entries. Additionally, it enables users to select multiple videos from their Vimeo account and add them to Custom field or JSON Rich Text Editor fields in Contentstack.

The app empowers content managers to showcase video content within their website or application without the need to access the Vimeo platform separately. Users can easily create and manage video playlists, upload videos, and customize player settings using the Vimeo integration in Contentstack.

To learn more about how to use the Vimeo app, refer to the Vimeo App Installation Guide.

We're excited to announce the release of our new JavaScript Marketplace SDK, loaded with features to elevate your marketplace integrations and aid in any app development.

Key advantages of our new SDK:

• Seamless Integration: Effortlessly integrate marketplace functionalities into your applications, ensuring a smooth user experience.
• Flexibility and Customization: Tailor the SDK to meet your specific requirements with ease, enabling limitless customization possibilities.
• Comprehensive Tools: Utilize a rich feature set to build secure, efficient, and user-friendly marketplace applications.

To get started, visit our JavaScript Marketplace SDK.

We're pleased to unveil Content Models — a collection of predefined content types and global fields readily available for import into your stack to accelerate the content creation process.

Pre-built Content Models available now:

• About Us Page
• Blog Landing Page
• Blog Listing Page
• Contact Us Page
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Hero Banner
• Product Listing Page
• Website Footer
• Website Header
• Website Homepage

For more information, please refer to How to Import a Content Model documentation.

We're excited to introduce the new contentstack-audit plugin, now available for Contentstack CLI. This plugin enables you to conduct audit tasks directly through the CLI, allowing you to identify missing references within your exported stack data.

Requirements: A Contentstack account and CLI version 1.9.0 or higher, along with locally stored exported data.

For installation and usage instructions, consult our step-by-step guide.

We’re excited to announce the release of the new Wordbee app in our Marketplace. The app allows you to translate your Entries and provide localized versions in multiple languages. It includes:

Full Page Location: Streamline the translation process within the Contentstack platform by enabling users to access the Wordbee App within the Contentstack CMS, where they can select content types for translation, add entries, configure translation settings, and more. See the Full Page Location documentation page.

Sidebar Widget: Provide users with comprehensive localization management for entries, including:

• Language selection: Choose source and target languages or use presets.
• Fields to include: Specify which fields to include or exclude during translation.
• Translation workflows: Initiate and monitor translation status in real-time.

To learn more, visit the Sidebar Widget documentation page.

For more information, refer to the Wordbee App Installation Guide.

We're thrilled to announce our updated design system that focuses on improving productivity and accessibility. As a result, you will see a host of enhancements — including standardization of design components, smoother user navigation, improved spacing, icon enhancements — to the content managers’ screens.

We've given a fresh look to various UI elements, such as input fields, tabs, buttons, dropdowns, tables, tooltips, modals, and icons, updating them to our new design system for a more refined experience. Let's dive into the details of what's new and improved!

Entry Editor Enhancements

• Mandatory field requirements are now indicated with the word “required” instead of the previous “*” symbol
• Refreshed the Left-hand side outline panel to be in line with our new design with a modernized search bar and icons
• Outlined border of text field on hovering over a content block
• Error messages now conveniently appear directly below the relevant field