Integrating Strapi with AstroJS for CMS

Building modern websites often calls for a flexible approach that separates content management from frontend presentation. That’s where the powerful combination of AstroJS and Strapi comes into play. In this guide, I’ll walk you through integrating these two fantastic tools to create a robust headless CMS solution.

Why Choose This Stack?

Think of Strapi as your content command center and AstroJS as your high-performance delivery system. Together, they’re like a well-oiled machine where content creators can work independently while developers build lightning-fast websites.

Setting Up Your Development Environment

First things first, let’s get our environment ready. You’ll need to have Node.js installed on your machine. Then, we can create our project structure:

# Create a new Astro project
npm create astro@latest my-astro-site
cd my-astro-site

# Install required dependencies
npm install @astrojs/node

Configuring Strapi as Your Backend

Setting up Strapi is straightforward – it’s like building with LEGO blocks. Each content type you create becomes a building block for your website. The best part? You can start small and scale as needed.

Connecting AstroJS to Strapi

The magic happens when we connect these systems. Here’s how we fetch data from Strapi:

export async function getStaticPaths() {
    const posts = await fetch('http://localhost:1337/api/posts')
        .then(res => res.json());

    return posts.data.map((post) => ({
        params: { slug: post.attributes.slug },
        props: { post },
    }));
}

Deploying Your Solution

When it’s time to go live, you’ll want to consider a few key points:

• Set up environment variables for your Strapi URL
• Configure CORS settings in Strapi
• Choose appropriate hosting solutions for both frontend and backend

The beauty of this setup is its flexibility – you can host Strapi and AstroJS on different platforms, optimizing for cost and performance.

This headless CMS setup with AstroJS and Strapi isn’t just another technical solution – it’s a gateway to creating content-rich websites that are both developer-friendly and content-creator-approved. Give it a try, and you might just find your new favorite tech stack.