Live Configuration and Data Editing

Learn how to enable live configuration and data editing for existing Sites on CloudCannon.

You can enable live configuration and data editing on your existing Sites without completing a full migration to Unified Configuration.

To enable live configuration and data editing:

  1. Navigate to the Flags page under Site Settings.
  2. Check the Step 1: Enable live config and data reloading flag under Upgrade to Unified Configuration.
  3. Click the Update button.

CloudCannon will now load changes to your data and configuration files, including your Inputs, Structures, and Schemas, without the need to save and build your Site.

A screenshot of the Flags page shows a checkbox named Use Unified Configuration under the Unified Configuration heading.

Why is this feature behind a flag?#

CloudCannon resolves live updates to your configuration and data editing on-demand and merges these updates with data from your latest successful build. For example, let's assume you edit a single input in your CloudCannon configuration file. Opening that data file in the Data Editor will show you inputs from various sources: one resolved by CloudCannon in the interface following your update and the rest from your last successful build.

For this reason, you may see issues in CloudCannon if:

  • You modify your CloudCannon configuration file or the front matter of your content files during your build.
  • Your SSG generates or modifies data during your build.

In these cases, applying your configuration and data changes on-demand may override the modified values from your last successful build. This behavior could impact:

  • How CloudCannon displays file cards in your collection browser.
  • How Select and Multiselect inputs connected to a collection or data set display labels and save values.
  • Any configuration modified in a way that CloudCannon could not merge.

Although we do not expect this issue to affect many existing Sites, we have made this feature opt-in out of an abundance of caution.

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