The architecture of Sitecore Experience Edge for XM

Version: 20.x

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 flow of data 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 have the Experience Edge for XM Connector installed 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:

  • Individual content items and their fields.

  • 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.

  • 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, based on the Sitecore GraphQL API. This enables preview, editing, and local development without publishing to Experience Edge.

Note

Even if you are not currently using Experience Edge, we recommend that you use this GraphQL endpoint in your headless development, to enable future use of Experience Edge.

Possible environments when using Experience Edge for XM

Note

Do not connect more than one Sitecore instance to an Edge instance.

Important

Extending the mirrored schema on your Sitecore CM and CD roles is not supported because this would break compatibility with Experience Edge.

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