Gatsby Starter

Prerequisites

• Contentstack account
• Node.js version 20 or above
• React version 18 or above
• Gatsby CLI: npm install -g gatsby-cli
• Contentstack CLI: npm install -g @contentstack/cli
• Enable Live Preview for your organization

Note: For this tutorial, we have assumed that you are familiar with Contentstack and Gatsby. If not, please refer to the Contentstack docs and Gatsby docs for more details.
Make sure to use Gatsby version 5 or above.

Supported Features

• Launch Hosting: Seamlessly deploy your website using our Launch hosting platform. Refer to the Launch documentation to learn more about hosting on Launch.
• Live Preview: Utilize Contentstack's Live Preview feature to see real-time updates of your content changes reflected on your site before publishing.
• Branches: Leverage the Branches feature to manage different versions of your content within Contentstack, allowing for organized development and deployment.

Set Up Your App

Here is an overview of the steps involved in setting up the Gatsby starter app:

1. Set the Region
2. Log in to your Account
3. Import Content
4. Create Delivery Token
5. Build and Configure the Website
6. Deploy the Website

1. Set the Region

   To use the North America, Europe, Azure North America, Azure Europe, or Google North America endpoint, run the following command in your terminal (command prompt):

   csdx config:set:region <<region>>
   

   Note:

   • For North American users, set the region as NA.
   • For European users, set the region as EU.
   • For Azure North American users, set the region as AZURE-NA.
   • For Azure European users, set the region as AZURE-EU.
   • For Google North America users, set the region as GCP-NA.

   Note: For more details on setting the region, refer to Configure Regions in the CLI.

2. Log in to your Account

   To import content to your stack, first, you’ll need to log in to your Contentstack account via CLI by running the following command in your terminal:

   csdx auth:login
   

   This command will ask you to provide your Contentstack’s account credentials (email and password).

   Note: Currently, Contentstack does not support strict SSO for CLI authentication. To access CLI from strict SSO-enabled organizations, go to the Organization Settings and change the SSO strict mode to a user-by-user basis. Once done, you can enable it for certain developers or create a developer account that you can share with developers to access the CLI. For more login details, refer to CLI Authentication and Adding Tokens.

3. Import Content

   The seed command lets you import content to your stack in a few steps. To do so, run the following command in your terminal:

   csdx cm:stacks:seed --repo "contentstack/stack-starter-app"
   

   This command prompts the following options:

   • Organization name: You will get a list of organizations to which you have access. Select the one from the list where your source stack is located or where you want to create a new stack.

     Note: Choose an organization where you are an owner or admin.

   • Stack preference: Next, you will get an option to create a new stack or use an existing stack.
     • If you select New, you must enter the stack name, and the stack creation process will start.
     • If you select Existing, you will get a list of stacks to which you have access in the organization. Choose the destination stack where you want to import the content. If the existing stack has some content, it will ask for a confirmation to continue with the same stack.

       Additional Resource: Refer to the Stack Roles documentation to learn more about permissions.

   Tip: To avoid the chances of any error, we recommend that you select the option of creating a new destination stack. If you import content to an existing stack, ensure that the stack is empty.

   Finally, you will get the content imported to your stack.

4. Create Delivery token

   A delivery token lets you fetch published content of an environment.

   You can create a delivery token for the “development” environment for running the website on localhost. Later, while deploying your site, you can create tokens for other environments.

5. Build and Configure the Website

   Download the website code

   Fire up your terminal, navigate to your project folder, and run the following command to create a configuration file named .env.development.

   cp .env.sample .env.development
   

   Note: If you are a Windows user, replace cp with copy in the command given above.

   The .env.development file contains all the necessary config parameters. Open it in any code editor or IDE of your choice, provide your stack credentials, and save the file.

   Note: The below code is for North America region users only. Refer the configuration code for Europe region, Azure North America region, Azure Europe region, and Google North America region on the regions configuration page.

   CONTENTSTACK_API_KEY = <api_key_of_your_stack>
   CONTENTSTACK_DELIVERY_TOKEN = <delivery_token_of_the_environment>
   CONTENTSTACK_ENVIRONMENT = <environment_name>
   CONTENTSTACK_API_HOST = api.contentstack.io
   # By default branch=main, if a branch is not provided
   CONTENTSTACK_BRANCH = <your_branch_name>
   # By default region=us, if a region is not provided 
   CONTENTSTACK_REGION = <your_region_name>
   

   Mandatory configuration parameters to enable Live Preview

   CONTENTSTACK_PREVIEW_TOKEN=<preview_token_linked_with_delivery_token>
   CONTENTSTACK_PREVIEW_HOST=rest-preview.contentstack.com
   CONTENTSTACK_APP_HOST = app.contentstack.com 
   CONTENTSTACK_LIVE_PREVIEW = true 
   #By default the live preview feature is enabled for this project. To disable it, set "CONTENTSTACK_LIVE_PREVIEW= false".
   CONTENTSTACK_LIVE_EDIT_TAGS = false 
   #By default live editing tags are disabled for this project. To enable it, set “CONTENTSTACK_LIVE_EDIT_TAGS= true”.
   

   Additional Resource: Go to our Live Preview documentation to learn more about the Live Preview feature in Contentstack.

   Run the following commands in your terminal:

   npm install --legacy-peer-deps
   npm run develop
   

   That’s it!

   You can now view the website at http://localhost:3000. And you also have the stack that has all the content and resources for the website. Try experimenting by creating new entries and publishing on the “development” environment. You should be able to see the changes on the website at the localhost.

   Set up Live Preview (Optional)

   Note: In order to use Live Preview, your plan must include this feature. Check our pricing page for more details. 

   The next step is to set up and enable live preview for your website. Follow the steps below to set up live preview feature for your website:

   1. Navigate to the Live Preview section in your stack's “Settings”.
   2. Select the Enable Live Preview checkbox.
   3. Now, select a Default Preview Environment for previewing the live content of your website. Finally, Save your settings.

   This completes your live preview set up. Now, you can deploy the website using Vercel.

6. Deploy the Website

   You can deploy this Gatsby website on production using Vercel platform.

   You need a Vercel account before you start deploying.
   

   Note: While deploying the starter website to Vercel, make sure to enable/ disable the Live Preview environment variable as per your requirement.
   

   Tip: You can also automate the process of setting up the Gatsby starter with the CLI Bootstrap command.