Development Guide
Extend and customize SveltyCMS — widget development, plugin architecture, automation, AI integration, and SDK references.
On this page
Build on SveltyCMS: widgets, plugins, dashboard widgets, and the way server code calls the core. Operating the admin is Guides. The product model is Concepts. Lookup pages are the Reference.
🧩 Widget System
Build custom field types using the 3-pillar architecture (Definition, Input, Display) with full Valibot validation and Tailwind v4 theming.
- 📖 Widget System Overview — Architecture, lifecycle, and registration
- 🛠️ Widget Development Guide — Step-by-step tutorial for creating widgets
- 🏗️ Widget Architecture — The 3-pillar strategy in depth
- 🔧 Widget Development — API reference and best practices
- 🏪 Widget Marketplace — Publishing and discovering community widgets
- 📋 Widget Index — Complete widget catalog
🔌 Plugin System
Extend SveltyCMS with server-side logic via the hook-based plugin architecture.
- 🏗️ Plugin Architecture — Hook system, lifecycle, and registration
- 🔧 Plugin Development — Building and testing plugins
- 🛒 E-Commerce Overview — Four surfaces only: plugins, field widgets, dashboard widgets, gated API handlers (core stays a CMS)
📊 Dashboard Widgets
Build self-contained, marketplace-portable widgets for the admin dashboard grid.
- 🏠 Dashboard Widget Overview — Package layout and discovery
- 🏗️ Dashboard Widget Architecture — Folder structure,
widget.json, registry, licensing - 🛠️ Dashboard Widget Development — Step-by-step guide to building a dashboard widget
- 🏪 Dashboard Widget Marketplace — Publishing and installing dashboard widgets
Automation and workflows
Editors run these in the admin. The guides are the task. This section keeps the developer pages around them.
- ⚡ Automation System — Event-driven triggers for webhooks, emails, and field updates
- 📋 Workflow Engine — Draft, review, and publishing state management
- 🛠️ Error Handling — Unified error handling patterns for development
- 🔧 Autonomous Maintenance — System watchdog and self-healing
🧠 AI Integration
Leverage AI capabilities within SveltyCMS.
- 🤖 AI Integration — Local Ollama, hosted MCP knowledge core, AI translation
- 🧠 AI-Assisted Builder Design — Roadmap: design collections, widgets, pages, and automations with AI (Phase 0 gateway shipped)
- 🧠 Smart CMS Importer — AI-powered migration from legacy platforms (marketplace plugin)
🌐 Frontend & Live Preview
Build public sites on SveltyCMS — headless or with the optional in-repo starter.
- 🌐 SvelteKit Site Starter — Optional
routes/(site)public frontend (free) - 👁️ Live Preview Architecture — Preview tokens and postMessage protocol
- 🔌 Editable Website Plugin — Premium live preview (€14.99)
📡 SDK & API Patterns
Developer tools for building on top of SveltyCMS.
- 📦 Hybrid Package Model —
@sveltycms/coreand@sveltycms/widgetsnpm packages - ⚡ Edge SDK — Edge-optimized data fetching and multi-region support
- 🔗 Local vs HTTP API — When to use the Local SDK vs REST/GraphQL
- 📖 OpenAPI Specification — Dynamic OpenAPI 3.1.0 spec for automated SDK generation
Next Steps
- New to widget development? Start with the Widget System Overview
- Building a plugin? See the Plugin Architecture
- Using the SDK? Read the Hybrid Package Model
- Automating workflows? Check the Automation System
- Using AI? Read the AI Integration Guide
- Need the API? Visit the API Reference