The architecture of Sitecore Experience Edge for XM
Sitecore Experience Edge for XM is a highly scalable delivery platform that enables you to build Jamstack architectures on the Sitecore platform. The following diagram shows the data flow in a Sitecore XM solution based on Experience Edge.
Overview of the entities operating in Sitecore Experience Edge for XM
The Experience Edge Connector
To work with Experience Edge, you must install the Experience Edge for XM Connector on your Sitecore Content Management (CM) role. The Connector connects a publishing target to the Sitecore-hosted Experience Edge Delivery Platform and publishes data including:
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Individual content items and their fields.
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A snapshot of the Layout Service output for any items with layout. This snapshot reflects any extensions to the Layout Service output, including Rendering Content Resolvers.
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Media library assets.
The Experience Edge Delivery Platform
The Delivery Platform gives you access to the delivery endpoint, where you can use the GraphQl API to pull all the published content. Experience Edge exposes item and layout data through a GraphQL API and media via a CDN, which mimics the parameters available in the Sitecore media handler. You can query item and layout data build-time for static site generation, at runtime for server-side render or incremental static generation, and directly from the browser for client-side rendering.
The Preview GraphQL endpoint
The Sitecore Headless Services module includes a GraphQL endpoint that mirrors the schema and behavior of Experience Edge. This enables preview, editing, and local development without publishing to Experience Edge.
Even if you are not currently using Experience Edge, we recommend using this GraphQL endpoint in your headless development to enable future use of Experience Edge.
Do not connect more than one Sitecore instance to an Edge instance.
Possible environments when using Experience Edge for XM
Extending the mirrored schema is not supported because this would break compatibility with Experience Edge.
The Sitecore CLI Experience Edge plugin
The Sitecore CLI Experience Edge plugin provides commands for logging in, listing and choosing a tenant, and managing API keys for accessing the GraphQL endpoint from your preferred command line interface.
The plugin is available for Sitecore CLI version 5.1.25 and later.