Getting started with XM Cloud

To get started with XM Cloud development, you can use a starter template or one of your existing solutions.

If using an existing solution, you must ensure your solution is compatible with XM Cloud.

When you start developing, you can deploy your customizations using Git-based source control (if you enabled automatic deployments for your project branch).

Paths for getting started

In the following sections, you can find documentation paths for getting started with XM Cloud based on the following scenarios:

  • You are starting a new project and do not have an XM Cloud-compatible solution yet.

  • You have a solution, and you host the repository on GitHub.

  • You have a solution, and you host it on a version control platform other than GitHub.

You are starting a new project and do not have an XM solution yet

If you do not have an XM Cloud-compatible solution, you must first decide which version control platform you want to use.

If you want to host your solution repository on GitHub, create your XM Cloud project using the starter template provided in XM Cloud Deploy app. The project creation process pushes the code base for your project to a GitHub repository and branch you choose.

Note

The resulting code base is a clone of the XM Cloud SXA-based Starter Template repository, configured for your XM Cloud environment.

If your version control platform of choice is not GitHub, we recommend you follow the walkthrough for creating your XM Cloud project using the Sitecore CLI. The walkthrough includes optional steps for obtaining the initial source code for a full-stack XM Cloud-compatible solution and for generating authentication clients for your CI/CD pipelines.

You have a solution, and you host the repository on GitHub

If you already have a solution compatible with XM Cloud, with the repository hosted on GitHub, create your XM Cloud project using your existing source code in the XM Cloud Deploy app.

You have a solution, and you host it on a version control platform other than GitHub

If you already have a solution compatible with XM Cloud, but you host your repository on a platform other than GitHub, we recommend you follow the walkthrough for creating your XM Cloud project using the Sitecore CLI. Skip the optional step for obtaining the initial source code for a full-stack XM Cloud-compatible solution, but follow the procedure for generating authentication clients for your CI/CD pipelines.

Setting up your local development environment

When you have an XM Cloud project and the source code for the project on your machine, you can perform additional steps based on whether you are a full-stack or a front-end developer.

Full-stack development (requires Windows)

As a full-stack developer, you can use Docker containers for Windows to set up and run the complete XM Cloud solution on your machine.

As you work, you can use the Sitecore CLI to perform common development tasks such as:

Front-end development

If you do not have a Windows machine or you are a front-end developer, you can set up your front-end development environment for the XM Cloud rendering host app.

See also how to deploy the application to Vercel.

Other scenarios/needs

If your solution is not based on a starter template but the result of a conversion from XM/XP to XM Cloud, you can also configure editing hosts for your solution.

A project is a logical grouping of XM Cloud environments. Each project can include several environments, such as a development, testing, and production environment. In XM Cloud, you can create a project using the Deploy app, the CLI, or REST APIs.

When you create a project using the Deploy app, one environment is automatically created, and you can choose whether it’s a production environment (that gets faster support than the non-production environments). The number of projects you can create depends on your subscription.

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