Overview
A backend is JavaScript code that allows Decap CMS to communicate with a service that stores content - typically a Git host like GitHub or GitLab. It provides functions that Decap CMS can use to do things like read and update files using API's provided by the service.
Backend Configuration
Individual backends should provide their own configuration documentation, but there are some configuration options that are common to multiple backends. A full reference is below. Note that these are properties of the backend field, and should be nested under that field.
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
repo |
none | Required for github, gitlab, azure, gitea and bitbucket backends; ignored by git-gateway. Follows the pattern [org-or-username]/[repo-name]. |
branch |
master |
The branch where published content is stored. All CMS commits and PRs are made to this branch. |
api_root |
https://api.github.com (GitHub), https://gitlab.com/api/v4 (GitLab), https://try.gitea.io/api/v1 (Gitea) or https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0 (Bitbucket) |
The API endpoint. Only necessary in certain cases, like with GitHub Enterprise or self-hosted GitLab/Gitea. |
site_domain |
location.hostname (or cms.netlify.com when on localhost) |
Sets the site_id query param sent to the API endpoint. Non-Netlify auth setups will often need to set this for local development to work properly. |
base_url |
https://api.netlify.com (GitHub, Bitbucket), https://gitlab.com (GitLab) or https://try.gitea.io (Gitea) |
OAuth client hostname (just the base domain, no path). Required when using an external OAuth server or self-hosted GitLab/Gitea. |
auth_endpoint |
auth (GitHub, Bitbucket) or oauth/authorize (GitLab) |
Path to append to base_url for authentication requests. Optional. |
cms_label_prefix |
decap-cms/ |
Pull (or Merge) Requests label prefix when using editorial workflow. Optional. |
Creating a New Backend
Anyone can write a backend, but we don't yet have a finalized and documented API. If you would like to write your own backend for a service that does not have one currently, we recommend using the GitHub backend as a reference for API and best practices.