Client-side Live Preview

While using Live Preview, the Admin Panel emits a new window.postMessage event every time your document has changed. Your front-end application can listen for these events and re-render accordingly.

If your front-end application is built with React or Vue, use the useLivePreview hooks that Payload provides. In the future, all other major frameworks like Svelte will be officially supported. If you are using any of these frameworks today, you can still integrate with Live Preview yourself using the underlying tooling that Payload provides. See building your own hook for more information.

By default, all hooks accept the following args:

Path	Description
`serverURL` *	The URL of your Payload server.
`initialData`	The initial data of the document. The live data will be merged in as changes are made.
`depth`	The depth of the relationships to fetch. Defaults to `0`.
`apiRoute`	The path of your API route as defined in `routes.api`. Defaults to `/api`.

* An asterisk denotes that a property is required.

And return the following values:

Path	Description
`data`	The live data of the document, merged with the initial data.
`isLoading`	A boolean that indicates whether or not the document is loading.

Frameworks

Live Preview will work with any front-end framework that supports the native window.postMessage API. By default, Payload officially supports the most popular frameworks, including:

React
Vue

If your framework is not listed, you can still integrate with Live Preview using the underlying tooling that Payload provides. More details.

React

If your front-end application is built with client-side React like Next.js Pages Router, you can use the useLivePreview hook that Payload provides.

First, install the @payloadcms/live-preview-react package:

1npm install @payloadcms/live-preview-react

Then, use the useLivePreview hook in your React component:

1'use client'
2import { useLivePreview } from '@payloadcms/live-preview-react'
3import { Page as PageType } from '@/payload-types'
4
5// Fetch the page in a server component, pass it to the client component, then thread it through the hook
6// The hook will take over from there and keep the preview in sync with the changes you make
7// The `data` property will contain the live data of the document
8export const PageClient: React.FC<{
9  page: {
10    title: string
11  }
12}> = ({ page: initialPage }) => {
13  const { data } = useLivePreview<PageType>({
14    initialData: initialPage,
15    serverURL: PAYLOAD_SERVER_URL,
16    depth: 2,
17  })
18
19  return <h1>{data.title}</h1>
20}

Vue

If your front-end application is built with Vue 3 or Nuxt 3, you can use the useLivePreview composable that Payload provides.

First, install the @payloadcms/live-preview-vue package:

1npm install @payloadcms/live-preview-vue

Then, use the useLivePreview hook in your Vue component:

1<script setup lang="ts">
2import type { PageData } from '~/types';
3import { defineProps } from 'vue';
4import { useLivePreview } from '@payloadcms/live-preview-vue';
5
6// Fetch the initial data on the parent component or using async state
7const props = defineProps<{ initialData: PageData }>();
8
9// The hook will take over from here and keep the preview in sync with the changes you make.
10// The `data` property will contain the live data of the document only when viewed from the Preview view of the Admin UI.
11const { data } = useLivePreview<PageData>({
12  initialData: props.initialData,
13  serverURL: "<PAYLOAD_SERVER_URL>",
14  depth: 2,
15});
16</script>
17
18<template>
19  <h1>{{ data.title }}</h1>
20</template>

Building your own hook

No matter what front-end framework you are using, you can build your own hook using the same underlying tooling that Payload provides.

First, install the base @payloadcms/live-preview package:

1npm install @payloadcms/live-preview

This package provides the following functions:

Path	Description
`subscribe`	Subscribes to the Admin Panel's `window.postMessage` events and calls the provided callback function.
`unsubscribe`	Unsubscribes from the Admin Panel's `window.postMessage` events.
`ready`	Sends a `window.postMessage` event to the Admin Panel to indicate that the front-end is ready to receive messages.
`isLivePreviewEvent`	Checks if a `MessageEvent` originates from the Admin Panel and is a Live Preview event, i.e. debounced form state.

The subscribe function takes the following args:

Path	Description
`callback` *	A callback function that is called with `data` every time a change is made to the document.
`serverURL` *	The URL of your Payload server.
`initialData`	The initial data of the document. The live data will be merged in as changes are made.
`depth`	The depth of the relationships to fetch. Defaults to `0`.

With these functions, you can build your own hook using your front-end framework of choice:

1import { subscribe, unsubscribe } from '@payloadcms/live-preview'
2
3// To build your own hook, subscribe to Live Preview events using the `subscribe` function
4// It handles everything from:
5// 1. Listening to `window.postMessage` events
6// 2. Merging initial data with active form state
7// 3. Populating relationships and uploads
8// 4. Calling the `onChange` callback with the result
9// Your hook should also:
10// 1. Tell the Admin Panel when it is ready to receive messages
11// 2. Handle the results of the `onChange` callback to update the UI
12// 3. Unsubscribe from the `window.postMessage` events when it unmounts

Here is an example of what the same useLivePreview React hook from above looks like under the hood:

1import { subscribe, unsubscribe, ready } from '@payloadcms/live-preview'
2import { useCallback, useEffect, useState, useRef } from 'react'
3
4export const useLivePreview = <T extends any>(props: {
depth?: number
initialData: T
serverURL: string
8}): {
data: T
isLoading: boolean
11} => {
const { depth = 0, initialData, serverURL } = props
const [data, setData] = useState<T>(initialData)
const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState<boolean>(true)
const hasSentReadyMessage = useRef<boolean>(false)
16
const onChange = useCallback((mergedData) => {
  // When a change is made, the `onChange` callback will be called with the merged data
  // Set this merged data into state so that React will re-render the UI
  setData(mergedData)
  setIsLoading(false)
}, [])
23
useEffect(() => {
  // Listen for `window.postMessage` events from the Admin Panel
  // When a change is made, the `onChange` callback will be called with the merged data
  const subscription = subscribe({
    callback: onChange,
    depth,
    initialData,
    serverURL,
  })
33
  // Once subscribed, send a `ready` message back up to the Admin Panel
  // This will indicate that the front-end is ready to receive messages
  if (!hasSentReadyMessage.current) {
    hasSentReadyMessage.current = true
38
    ready({
      serverURL,
    })
  }
43
  // When the component unmounts, unsubscribe from the `window.postMessage` events
  return () => {
    unsubscribe(subscription)
  }
}, [serverURL, onChange, depth, initialData])
49
return {
  data,
  isLoading,
}
54}

Example

For a working demonstration of this, check out the official Live Preview Example. There you will find examples of various front-end frameworks and how to integrate each one of them, including:

Troubleshooting

Relationships and/or uploads are not populating

If you are using relationships or uploads in your front-end application, and your front-end application runs on a different domain than your Payload server, you may need to configure CORS to allow requests to be made between the two domains. This includes sites that are running on a different port or subdomain. Similarly, if you are protecting resources behind user authentication, you may also need to configure CSRF to allow cookies to be sent between the two domains. For example:

1// payload.config.ts
2{
// ...
// If your site is running on a different domain than your Payload server,
// This will allows requests to be made between the two domains
cors: {
  [
    'http://localhost:3001' // Your front-end application
  ],
},
// If you are protecting resources behind user authentication,
// This will allow cookies to be sent between the two domains
csrf: {
  [
    'http://localhost:3001' // Your front-end application
  ],
},
18}

Relationships and/or uploads disappear after editing a document

It is possible that either you are setting an improper depth in your initial request and/or your useLivePreview hook, or they're mismatched. Ensure that the depth parameter is set to the correct value, and that it matches exactly in both places. For example:

1// Your initial request
2const { docs } = await payload.find({
collection: 'pages',
depth: 1, // Ensure this is set to the proper depth for your application
where: {
  slug: {
    equals: 'home',
  },
},
10})

1// Your hook
2const { data } = useLivePreview<PageType>({
3  initialData: initialPage,
4  serverURL: PAYLOAD_SERVER_URL,
5  depth: 1, // Ensure this matches the depth of your initial request
6})

Iframe refuses to connect

If your front-end application has set a Content Security Policy (CSP) that blocks the Admin Panel from loading your front-end application, the iframe will not be able to load your site. To resolve this, you can whitelist the Admin Panel's domain in your CSP by setting the frame-ancestors directive:

1frame-ancestors: "self" localhost:* https://your-site.com;

See what others are building with Payload.

"Payload has transformed the way our clients manage content. It's an indispensable tool for any modern agency."

Deploy your entire stack in one place with Payload Cloud.

Microsoft chose Payload to tell the world about AI.