Building a NextJS Application with a Decoupled Drupal Backend

How to use Drupal as a decoupled CMS with a NextJS frontend for a powerful web application.

building-a-nextjs-application-with-a-decoupled-drupal-backend

Decoupled Drupal: What and Why?

Before diving into the how, let's first understand why a decoupled Drupal backend can be beneficial for your web application. The traditional module of Drupal CMS involves tightly coupled frontend and backend where Drupal not only manages content but also how it's presented on the website. This approach, while simplifying the process of developing simple websites, can present limitations for complex and advanced applications.


Decoupling the backend from the frontend gives developers the freedom to design the user interface without being constrained by how the data is managed and retrieved. This means that they can select from a wide array of strategies to build and present the frontend while utilizing the robust content management capabilities of Drupal for the backend.


Building the Drupal Backend

Setting up a Drupal backend for your NextJS application involves configuring Drupal to handle requests and responses in JSON format and creating an API endpoint for your NextJS frontend to consume. The following are the steps:


1. Install Drupal : Install the latest version of Drupal on your local or remote server.


2. Set up your content structure: Use Drupal's content types and field API to setup your data structure.


3. JSON API module: Install and enable the JSON API module on your Drupal site. This module allows Drupal to output data in JSON format.


4. Create API endpoint: With the JSON API module enabled, your Drupal site can output any Drupal entity as JSON data at a specific URL. This URL becomes the API endpoint for your NextJS application.


Integrating NextJS Frontend and Drupal Backend

Once the Drupal backend is ready, the next step is to integrate the NextJS frontend with the Drupal backend.


1. Setting up NextJS: Install and setup NextJS on your local development machine.


2. API endpoint configuration: Configure your NextJS application to use the API endpoint you setup in your Drupal site.


3. Data fetching: NextJS provides a couple of built-in functions that allow you to fetch your Drupal data from the server while rendering your pages.


4. App rendering: Use the fetched data to render your NextJS components.


Leveraging decoupled Drupal with NextJS can be a game-changer in terms of app flexibility, performance and scalability. If you want to streamline your development process and launch your application faster, consider using **PullTheCode**, a NextJS boilerplate designed to quickly build and deploy applications including SaaS platforms, AI tools, blogs among other web apps.


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