Introduction to Built.js

Built.is is a platform for creating and managing reusable website themes and plugins for quick and easy creation of CMS-backed Next.JS websites.

The Problem

1. Complexity with Modern Tools:

• Frameworks like Next.js and headless CMS platforms like Sanity offer powerful tools for creating web applications. However, combining these tools often requires advanced skills, significant effort, and custom code to integrate the CMS seamlessly into a project.
• Developers face challenges in setting up tailored CMS solutions that match the exact needs of a website, often resorting to building or heavily customizing CMS functionality from scratch.

2. Lack of Modular Extensibility:

• While monolithic platforms like WordPress excel in extensibility through themes and plugins, this level of flexibility and modularity is typically absent in modern, decoupled ecosystems.
• Developers working with modern stacks often have no standardized way to build, share, or apply themes and plugins across projects.

How Built.js Solves It

• Simplifies Tailored CMS Creation: Built.js integrates the best of a modern web framework like Next.js with a simplified process for setting up a custom CMS. Developers can focus on creating content and functionality without worrying about the complex integration overhead.
• Enables Theme and Plugin Ecosystems: Like WordPress, Built.js empowers developers to build and distribute themes and plugins, but in a modern, decoupled architecture. This opens the door to sharing, reusing, and customizing website components with ease, bringing the extensibility of monolithic platforms to headless setups.
• Developer-Focused Approach: Built.js offers tools like create-built-app for rapid project setup and maintenance, reducing the friction of repetitive tasks.

How it works:

Built.js uses configuration files and JSON schemas to set up themes and plugins. These configurations are central to defining the behavior, structure and content management system of a theme or plugin.

CLI Tool (create-built-app):

Built.js provides a command-line tool, create-built-app, to automate the configuration and setup process. For example:

• The init command in dynamically loads a theme or plugin into a Next.js project.
• The publish command in create-built-app allows you to publish themes or plugins to Built.js Studio.
• The update command updates the theme when plugins are added or removed from theme.json​