Upgrading our build flow for Jamstack

Our journey towards becoming a more powerful Jamstack platform takes a huge step forward with the upgrade to our new, flexible build automation flow.

The update covers interface improvements to the way you select your Git and build options. We’ve developed the progress bar and added a terminal window to reveal exactly what’s happening at every step.

Most excitingly, these updates will make it a lot easier to add more Static Site Generators (SSG) to CloudCannon. We recently added support for Hugo and currently have Eleventy in private beta. If you’re interested in participating in our private beta for Eleventy, please email us.

A flexible interface for syncing and building

The site build flow in CloudCannon has always been a simple step-by-step process for configuring how your site will automatically build and deploy.

You start by naming your site and syncing your files. We recommend setting up two-way syncing with files in your repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket). You can also upload files from your desktop or start your build with one of our templates.

Once your files are ready, the final step is to configure the build options your site will build with. CloudCannon will auto-detect which SSG your site uses, but you can also select the SSG yourself. Once selected, you can view and edit the build options for that SSG.

Don’t worry, you can change these later in your settings. Check out our documentation to better understand your options.

Once your first build is processed, CloudCannon serves your site on a free testing domain. You can also see all your files in CloudCannon, open the editor to make changes, and view those changes on a 'live’ version of your site.

Improved orientation

Earlier this year we introduced a simple five pill progress bar to the site build setup process. With this update, we wanted to make it clear where you are every step of the way. Each step is numbered and has a name, and the updated icons show you where you are and what you’ve completed.

Along with the progress bar we really wanted to give developers a clear understanding of what the platform is doing. Nothing could be simpler than showing what code is running in a terminal - so we’ve done just that. You can now view what’s going on through a terminal window into CloudCannon.

A little bit of mobile support

Another major project for 2021 is improving the responsiveness of CloudCannon. By the end of this year, you will be able to access and use your CloudCannon account on any screen size.

As part of the gradual rollout of our mobile support, this new build flow is responsive to mobile devices. However, not all of CloudCannon will scale to your mobile device.

What’s up next?

We’re turning our attention to adding more SSGs to CloudCannon. If you’re interested in participating in our private beta for Eleventy, please email us.