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Integrate Sanity, Contentful, or Markdown (MDX) with Next.js App Router

Modern web apps often need dynamic, editable content that’s not hardcoded. In this module, you’ll learn how to:

• Connect a Headless CMS (e.g., Sanity, Contentful, Strapi)
• Fetch content using REST or GraphQL APIs
• Render blog-style posts using MDX (Markdown + JSX)
• Compare CMS vs MDX and when to use each

🧱 Common Use Cases for CMS in Next.js

• Marketing sites – update landing page content without code
• Blogs – easily manage posts, authors, tags
• Portfolios – update projects dynamically
• Docs – power help sections with markdown or rich text

✅ Option 1: Integrate Sanity.io (or Contentful)

Step 1: Create a Free CMS Project

Visit:

• https://www.sanity.io/
• https://www.contentful.com/

Set up a new project with a “Blog” schema or use a starter template.

Step 2: Install Client SDK

Sanity:

npm install @sanity/client

Step 3: Set Up Sanity Client

// src/lib/sanity.ts
import { createClient } from '@sanity/client';

export const sanity = createClient({
  projectId: 'your_project_id',
  dataset: 'production',
  apiVersion: '2023-01-01',
  useCdn: true,
});

Step 4: Fetch CMS Data in Server Component

// src/app/blog/page.tsx
import { sanity } from '@/lib/sanity';

type Post = {
  _id: string;
  title: string;
  slug: { current: string };
};

export default async function BlogPage() {
  const posts: Post[] = await sanity.fetch(`*[_type == "post"]`);

  return (
    <ul className="space-y-4 p-4">
      {posts.map((post) => (
        <li key={post._id}>
          <a href={`/blog/${post.slug.current}`} className="text-blue-600 underline">
            {post.title}
          </a>
        </li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

✅ Contentful or Strapi would work similarly using GraphQL/REST.

✅ Option 2: Use MDX (Markdown + JSX)

Great for developers and static content blogs.

Step 1: Install MDX Support

npm install next-mdx-remote gray-matter remark remark-html

Step 2: Create Blog Posts in Markdown

/content/posts/first-post.mdx

---
title: "First Post"
date: "2025-05-01"
---

# Hello World

This is a **Markdown + JSX** post.

<MyCustomComponent />

Step 3: Parse and Render in Server Component

// src/app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
import fs from 'fs';
import path from 'path';
import matter from 'gray-matter';
import { MDXRemote } from 'next-mdx-remote/rsc';

const POSTS_DIR = path.join(process.cwd(), 'content/posts');

export default async function BlogPost({ params }: { params: { slug: string } }) {
  const filePath = path.join(POSTS_DIR, `${params.slug}.mdx`);
  const raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8');
  const { content, data } = matter(raw);

  return (
    <article className="p-8 max-w-2xl mx-auto prose">
      <h1>{data.title}</h1>
      <MDXRemote source={content} />
    </article>
  );
}

✅ CMS vs MDX – Which Should You Use?

Use Case	Choose This
Marketing site / editors	Headless CMS
Dev blog / docs	MDX
Dynamic user-generated	CMS + DB
Custom interactivity	MDX with components

✅ Summary

Feature	Tool / Example
CMS Integration	Sanity, Contentful, Strapi
Markdown Content	next-mdx-remote + gray-matter
Render MDX with JSX	<MDXRemote source={content} />
Best for blogs/docs	MDX with static generation
Best for live editors	Sanity/Contentful (REST or GraphQL)

🔜 Coming Up Next:

In Module 12, you’ll build a complete real-world project — an E-Commerce app or Developer Portfolio — using everything learned so far, including auth, CRUD, global state, and deployment.

Would you like this module also converted into Markdown blog format?