Developing JSS applications

The JSS app initializer

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The Sitecore JavaScript Rendering SDK (JSS) provides the create-sitecore-jss package that contains an app initialization script and JSS application templates for popular JavaScript frameworks and application add-ons.

To use the JSS initializer, in a terminal, you can run one of the following commands:

npx create-sitecore-jss

npm init sitecore-jss

yarn create sitecore-jss

Important

To provide any arguments, use the npx command.

When you use the JSS initializer commands, you create a JSS application using the latest JSS version, which might include features and functionality available only for newer versions of the platform.

Therefore, you must identify the JSS version compatible with your Sitecore version and provide the version tag to the JSS initializer. For example: npx create-sitecore-jss@ver20.

Required arguments

When creating a JSS application with the initializer, you can follow the prompts to provide information about the setup you want for your application.

Alternatively, you can override any prompt by passing in that value as a flag using the following arguments:

Argument	Type	Description
`templates`	`string[]`	A comma-separated list of template names to use in scaffolding the JSS application. It can include the name of a base app template, for example, `nextjs`, and any number of add-on templates, such as `nextjs-styleguide`. For example, `npx create-sitecore-jss --templates nextjs,nextjs-styleguide`. You can also supply a list of templates using the positional argument: `npx create-sitecore-jss nextjs,nextjs-styleguide`.
`appName`	`string`	The name of your JSS application. Default: sitecore-jss-app.
`destination`	`string`	Path/directory for the application. If you provide a non-empty directory path, the initializer shows potential changes to existing files. It also provides options for handling the change (approve the changes to the current file, skip the file, approve changes to all files, or abort). Using the initializer in a non-empty destination is useful when you want to apply add-on templates to your existing JSS project. Default: <current-directory-path>/<base-template-name>.
`fetchWith`	`string`	Method for fetching data. Choose `REST` or `GraphQL`. Default: GraphQL.
`prerender`	`string`	Only available if using the `nextjs` template. Prerendering method for the application. Choose between static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR). Default: SSG.
`language`	`string`	Only valid if using the `nextjs-styleguide` add-on. Language and locale code. For example, `es-MX`. Default: da-DK.
`hostName`	`string`	The hostname of your Sitecore instance. Default: <app-name>.dev.local.

For example, if you want to skip the templates, appName, and fetchWith prompts, you can run the following command:

npx create-sitecore-jss --templates nextjs --appName my-nextjs-app --fetchWith GraphQL

You can shorten the command by using the positional argument as follows:

npx create-sitecore-jss nextjs --appName my-nextjs-app --fetchWith GraphQL

Optional arguments

In addition to the required arguments, the JSS initializer accepts the following optional parameters:

Argument	Type	Description
`appPrefix`	`boolean`	If present, the application: Uses the `appName` argument to prefix templates, ensuring each template has a unique name when deployed to Sitecore. Multiple templates with the same name cause errors when using strongly typed GraphQL queries because of naming conflicts. Uses the `appName` argument to prefix placeholders. When using prefixed placeholders, if you have multiple JSS apps deployed to Sitecore, the Sitecore interface for inserting components in a placeholder shows only the components for the current site.
`force`	`boolean`	If provided, suppresses any questions related to file system operations, and the initializer runs default actions.
`silent`	`boolean`	If provided, suppresses log messages. Usage: `npx create-sitecore-jss --silent`
`yes`	`boolean`	If provided, suppresses any questions related to the CLI argument values, and the initializer uses the default values.

Base templates

When creating a project, you can provide one base template name using the positional argument or by using the --templates flag:

npx create-sitecore-jss <base-template-name>

Or:

npx create-sitecore-jss --templates <base-template-name>

The available base template names are:

nextjs.
react.
angular.
vue.
react-native.
node-headless-ssr-experience-edge.
node-headless-ssr-proxy.

Add-on templates

When creating a project, in addition to the base template name, you can also provide multiple add-on template names using the positional argument or the --templates flag:

npx create-sitecore-jss <base-template-name>,<first-add-on-template-name>,<second-add-on-template-name>

Or:

npx create-sitecore-jss --templates <base-template-name>,<first-add-on-template-name>,<second-add-on-template-name>

The available add-on template names are:

nextjs-styleguide - includes example components and the setup for working disconnected.
nextjs-sxa - includes JSS SXA headless components. This add-on template is only compatible with a Sitecore Experience Manager Cloud (XM Cloud) content management instance.

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