puck

The self-hosted, drag and drop editor for React.

Features

• 🖱️ Drag and drop: Visual editing for your existing React component library
• 🌐 Integrations: Load your content from a 3rd party headless CMS
• ✍️ Inline editing: Author content directly via puck for convenience
• ⭐️ No vendor lock-in: Self-host or integrate with your existing application

See demo

Example

Render the editor:

// Editor.jsx
import { Puck } from "@measured/puck";
import "@measured/puck/dist/index.css";

// Create puck component config
const config = {
  components: {
    HeadingBlock: {
      fields: {
        children: {
          type: "text",
        },
      },
      render: ({ children }) => {
        return <h1>{children}</h1>;
      },
    },
  },
};

// Describe the initial data
const initialData = {
  content: [],
  root: {},
};

// Save the data to your database
const save = (data) => {};

// Render Puck editor
export function Editor() {
  return <Puck config={config} data={initialData} onPublish={save} />;
}

Render the page:

// Page.jsx
import { Render } from "@measured/puck";
import "@measured/puck/dist/index.css";

export function Page() {
  return <Render config={config} data={data} />;
}

Installation

Install the package

npm i @measured/puck --save

Or generate a puck application using a recipe

npx create-puck-app my-app

Recipes

Puck is a React component that can be easily integrated into your existing application. We also provide helpful recipes for common use cases:

• next: Next.js app example

Plugins

Puck can be configured to work with plugins. Plugins can extend the functionality to support novel functionality.

Official plugins

• heading-analyzer: Analyze the heading outline of your page and be warned when you're not respecting WCAG 2 accessibility standards.

Developing a plugin

The plugin API follows a React paradigm. Each plugin passed to the Puck editor can provide three functions:

• renderRoot (Component): Render the root node of the preview content
• renderRootFields (Component): Render the root fields
• renderFields (Component): Render the fields for the currently selected component
• renderComponentList (Component): Render the component list

Each render function receives three props:

• children (ReactNode): The normal contents of the root or field. You must render this if provided.
• state (AppState): The current application state, including data and UI state
• dispatch ((action: PuckAction) => void): The Puck dispatcher, used for making data changes or updating the UI. See the action definitions for a full reference of available mutations.

Example

Here's an example plugin that creates a button to toggle the left side-bar:

const myPlugin = {
  renderRootFields: ({ children, dispatch, state }) => (
    <div>
      {children}

      <button
        onClick={() => {
          dispatch({
            type: "setUi",
            ui: { leftSideBarVisible: !state.ui.leftSideBarVisible },
          });
        }}
      >
        Toggle side-bar
      </button>
    </div>
  ),
};

Custom fields

Puck supports custom fields using the custom field type and render method.

In this example, we optionally add the <FieldLabel> component to add a label:

import { FieldLabel } from "@measured/puck";

export const MyComponent: ComponentConfig = {
  fields: {
    myField: {
      type: "custom",
      render: ({ field, name, onChange, value }) => {
        return (
          <FieldLabel label={field.label || name}>
            <input
              placeholder="Enter text..."
              type="text"
              name={name}
              defaultValue={value}
              onChange={(e) => onChange(e.currentTarget.value)}
            ></input>
          </FieldLabel>
        );
      },
    },
  },
};

DropZones

Puck supports creating complex layouts (like multi-column layouts) using the <DropZone> component.

Example

In this example, we use the <DropZone> component to render two nested DropZones within another component:

import { DropZone } from "@measured/puck";

export const MyComponent: ComponentConfig = {
  render: () => {
    return (
      <div>
        <DropZone zone="first-drop-zone">
        <DropZone zone="second-drop-zone">
      </div>
    )
  }
};

Custom root entry points

You can also do this at the root of your component. This is useful if you have a fixed layout and only want to make certain parts of your page customisable:

import { DropZone, Config } from "@measured/puck";

export const config: Config = {
  root: {
    render: ({ children }) => {
      return (
        <div>
          {/* children renders the default zone. This can be omitted if necessary. */}
          {children}

          <div>
            <DropZone zone="other-drop-zone">
          </div>
        </div>
      )
    }
  }
};

The Rules of DropZones

The current DropZone implementation has certain rules and limitations:

1. You can drag from the component list on the LHS into any DropZone
2. You can drag components between DropZones, so long as those DropZones share a parent (also known as area)
3. You can't drag between DropZones that don't share a parent (or area)
4. Your mouse must be directly over a DropZone for a collision to be detected

Adaptors

Adaptors can be used to import data from a third-party API, such as a headless CMS.

Example

The external field type enables us to use an adaptor to query data from a third party API:

const myAdaptor = {
  name: "My adaptor",
  fetchList: async () => {
    const response = await fetch("https://www.example.com/api");

    return {
      text: response.json().text,
    };
  },
};

const config = {
  components: {
    HeadingBlock: {
      fields: {
        myData: {
          type: "external",
          adaptor: myAdaptor,
        },
      },
      render: ({ myData }) => {
        return <h1>{myData.text}</h1>;
      },
    },
  },
};

When the user interacts with this adaptor, they'll be presented with a list of items to choose from. Once they select an item, the value will be mapped onto the prop. In this case, myData.

Dynamic prop resolution

Dynamic prop resolution allows developers to resolve props for components without saving the data to the Puck data model.

resolveData()

resolveData is defined in the component config, and allows the developer to make asynchronous calls to change the ComponentData after they've been set by Puck. Receives ComponentData and returns ComponentData.

Examples

Basic example

In this example, we remap the text prop to the title prop and mark the title field as read-only.

const config = {
  components: {
    HeadingBlock: {
      fields: {
        text: {
          type: "text",
        },
        title: {
          type: "text",
        },
      },
      resolveData: async (props) => {
        return {
          props: {
            title: props.text,
          },
          readOnly: {
            title: true,
          },
        };
      },
      render: ({ title }) => {
        return <h1>{title}</h1>;
      },
    },
  },
};

Combining with adaptors

A more advanced pattern is to combine the resolveData method with the adaptors to dynamically fetch data when rendering the component.

const myAdaptor = {
  name: "My adaptor",
  fetchList: async () => {
    const response = await fetch("https://www.example.com/api");

    return {
      id: response.json().id,
    };
  },
};

const config = {
  components: {
    HeadingBlock: {
      fields: {
        myData: {
          type: "external",
          adaptor: myAdaptor,
        },
        title: {
          type: "text",
        },
      },
      resolveData: async (props) => {
        if (!myData.id) {
          return { props, readOnly: { title: false } };
        }

        const latestData = await fetch(
          `https://www.example.com/api/${myData.id}`
        );

        return {
          props: {
            title: latestData.json().text,
          },
          readOnly: {
            title: true,
          },
        };
      },
      render: ({ title }) => {
        return <h1>{title}</h1>;
      },
    },
  },
};

resolveAllData()

resolveAllData is a utility function exported by Puck to enable the developer to run all their resolveData methods before rendering the component with <Render>.

If your resolveData methods rely on any external APIs, you should run this before rendering your page.

import { resolveAllData } from "@measured/puck";

const resolvedData = resolveAllData(data, config);

Reference

<Puck>

The <Puck> component renders the Puck editor.

• config (Config): Puck component configuration
• data (Data): Initial data to render
• onChange ((Data) => void [optional]): Callback that triggers when the user makes a change
• onPublish ((Data) => void [optional]): Callback that triggers when the user hits the "Publish" button
• renderComponentList (Component [optional]): Render function for wrapping the component list
• renderHeader (Component [optional]): Render function for overriding the Puck header component
• renderHeaderActions (Component [optional]): Render function for overriding the Puck header actions. Use a fragment.
• headerTitle (string [optional]): Set the title shown in the header title
• headerPath (string [optional]): Set a path to show after the header title
• plugins (Plugin[] [optional]): Array of plugins that can be used to enhance Puck

<Render>

The <Render> component renders user-facing UI using Puck data.

• config (Config): Puck component configuration
• data (Data): Data to render

<DropZone>

The <DropZone> component allows you to create advanced layouts, like multi-columns.

• zone (string): Identifier for the zone of your component, unique to the parent component
• style (CSSProperties): Custom inline styles

Config

The Config object describes which components Puck should render, how they should render and which inputs are available to them.

• root (object)
  • fields (object):
    • title (Field): Title of the content, typically used for the page title.
    • [fieldName] (Field): User defined fields, used to describe the input data stored in the root key.
  • render (Component): Render a React component at the root of your component tree. Useful for defining context providers.
  • resolveData (async (data: ComponentData) => ComponentData [optional]): Function to dynamically change props before rendering the root.
• components (object): Definitions for each of the components you want to show in the visual editor
  • [componentName] (object)
    • fields (Field): The Field objects describing the input data stored against this component.
    • render (Component): Render function for your React component. Receives props as defined in fields.
    • defaultProps (object [optional]): Default props to pass to your component. Will show in fields.
    • resolveData (async (data: ComponentData) => ComponentData [optional]): Function to dynamically change props before rendering the component.
• categories (object): Component categories for rendering in the side bar or restricting in DropZones
  • [categoryName] (object)
    • components (sting[], [optional]): Array containing the names of components in this category
    • title (sting, [optional]): Title of the category
    • visible (boolean, [optional]): Whether or not the category should be visible in the side bar
    • defaultExpanded (boolean, [optional]): Whether or not the category should be expanded in the side bar by default

Field

A Field represents a user input field shown in the Puck interface.

All Fields

• label (text [optional]): A label for the input. Will use the key if not provided.

Text Fields

• type ("text")

Textarea Fields

• type ("textarea")

Number Fields

• type ("number")

Select Fields

• type ("select")
• options (object[]): array of items to render
  • label (string)
  • value (string | number | boolean)

Radio Fields

• type ("radio")
• options (object[]): array of items to render
  • label (string)
  • value (string | number | boolean)

Array Fields

• type ("array")
• arrayFields (object): Object describing sub-fields for each item
  • [fieldName] (Field): The Field objects describing the input data for each item
  • getItemSummary ((object, number) => string [optional]): Function to get the label of each item
• defaultItemProps (object [optional]): Default props to pass to each new item added, when using a array field type

External Fields

External fields can be used to load content from an external content repository, like Strapi.js, using an Adaptor.

• type ("external")
• adaptor (Adaptor): Content adaptor responsible for fetching data to show in the table
  • name (string): The human-readable name of the adaptor
  • fetchList ((adaptorParams: object) => object): Fetch content from a third-party API and return an array
  • mapProp ((selectedItem: object) => object): Map the selected item into another shape
• adaptorParams (object): Paramaters passed to the adaptor

Custom Fields

• type ("custom")
• render (Component): Render a custom field. Receives the props:
  • field (Field): Field configuration
  • name (string): Name of the field
  • value (any): Value for the field
  • onChange ((value: any) => void): Callback to change the value
  • readOnly (boolean | undefined): Whether or not the field should be in readOnly mode

AppState

The AppState object stores the puck application state.

• data (Data): The page data currently being rendered
• ui (object):
  • leftSideBarVisible (boolean): Whether or not the left side bar is visible
  • itemSelector (object): An object describing which item is selected
  • arrayState (object): An object describing the internal state of array items
  • componentList (object): An object describing the component list. Similar shape to Config.categories.
    • components (sting[], [optional]): Array containing the names of components in this category
    • title (sting, [optional]): Title of the category
    • visible (boolean, [optional]): Whether or not the category is visible in the side bar
    • expanded (boolean, [optional]): Whether or not the category is expanded in the side bar

Data

The Data object stores the puck page data.

• root (ComponentData): The component data for the root of your configuration.
  • props (object): Extends ComponentData.props, with some additional props
    • title (string, [optional]): Title of the content, typically used for the page title
• content (ComponentData[]): Component data for the main content
• zones (object, [optional]): Component data for all DropZones [zoneCompound] (ComponentData[]): Component data for a specific DropZone zone within a component instance

ComponentData

• type (string): Component name
• props (object):
  • [prop] (any): User defined data from component fields
• readOnly (object): Object describing which fields on the component are currently read-only. Can use dot-notation for arrays, like array[1].text or array[*].text.
  • [prop] (boolean): boolean describing whether or not the prop field is read-only

Plugin

Plugins that can be used to enhance Puck.

• renderRoot (Component): Render the root node of the preview content
• renderRootFields (Component): Render the root fields
• renderFields (Component): Render the fields for the currently selected component

Hire the Puck team

Puck is developed and maintained by Measured, a small group of industry veterans with decades of experience helping companies solve hard UI problems. We offer consultancy and development services for scale-ups, SMEs and enterprises.

If you need support integrating Puck or creating a beautiful component library, please reach out via our website.

License

MIT © Measured Co.