Decoupled extensibility for your backend UI

NOTE: The capability described in this article is available in Sitefinity Cloud with version Sitefinity 15.2.8421 and higher.

Sitefinity Cloud offers a decoupled extensibility feature that enables backend UI customizations out of the box. This approach involves developing Admin App extensions using a hosting solution in Sitefinity Cloud, where the extensions are decoupled from the Admin App itself.
The following backend components are customizable:

• Rich text editor
  You can extend the built-in Rich text editor by adding your own custom tools and editing functionality.
  For instance, if a special formatting option or a custom media insertion tool is required, it can be developed and integrated directly into the Rich text editor.
• Custom fields
  Custom fields can be extended by using popular JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, or Vue. These external JavaScript applications will integrate seamlessly with Sitefinity backend interface, allowing your custom fields to function like standard content fields.
  For example, you can extend your custom field by adding functionality to call an external service that returns data based on AI prompts.

The following resources are automatically provisioned for each Sitefinity Cloud customer:

• Dedicated Azure DevOps repository, preconfigured with the source code for decoupled extensions.
  This repository is named <your project name>-extensions and includes samples to help you kick-start backend UI customizations.
  For more helpful information, see the Sitefinity Admin App Decoupled Extensions GitHub repository.
• Preconfigured Extensions.CI.CD pipeline.
  The pipeline builds the extensions deployment package and deploys the backend UI extensions to your Sitefinity Cloud environments.
• The configuration for the feature is accessible under Administration » Settings » Advanced » AdminAppExtensions.
  The decoupled extensibility feature is enabled for all Sitefinity Cloud customers by default.

IMPORTANT: As a prerequisite to start customizing your backend components, you must run the Extensions.CI.CD pipeline at least once.

When you implement a new UI extension, run the Extensions.CI.CD pipeline to deploy the changes to your Sitefinity Cloud environments.
Once the deployment to your environments is completed, your changes go live instantly.

In case you do not intend to use this feature, you have the option to disable it manually.
To do so, perform the following:

1. Login to Sitefinity Cloud Management Portal.
2. Navigate to Pipelines » Library.
3. Open Custom <Environment name> AppSettings variable group.
4. Add the following app setting:
   • Key: sf-env:adminAppExtensionsConfig:featureEnabled
   • Value: False
   This app setting will override the default configuration.

NOTE: If you want this app setting to apply to all environments, perform the steps on the Custom Release AppSettings variable group.

Sitefinity Admin App Decoupled Extensions GitHub repo (including example usage)