We are happy to announce the new release of the SDK for developing Astro websites on the Sitecore platform. This release is focused on the future SitecoreAI support.
Why?
Sitecore “forked” Sitecore JSS to Sitecore Content SDK in December 2024. And they developed it in parallel. The main difference compared to JSS was Next.js App Router support. SitecoreAI continued to support both JSS and Content SDK for a long time. But Sitecore JSS 22 maintenance end of life is scheduled for June 2026. SitecoreAI will not get support for any other JSS version.
Sitecore Astro JSS relies on Sitecore JSS. It uses the JSS core NPM package as a dependency. It makes Astro JSS not reliable to use with SitecoreAI from July 2026 due to the end of support for JSS from the Sitecore side.
That is why we decided to replace the Sitecore JSS NPM package dependency on the Sitecore Content SDK NPM package in Astro SDK for Sitecore.
What was done?
The main part was getting rid of Sitecore JSS and starting to use Sitecore Content SDK. Also, we changed the architecture of the project to follow similar approaches to Sitecore Content SDK for Next.js. It makes Sitecore developers’ experience with Astro Content SDK similar to what you have with Next.js. The transition from Next.js to the Astro project remains as smooth as possible.
Another big update is the support of metadata editing mode. Now, you can run Astro locally and use it as a rendering host for your cloud SitecoreAI Pages editor.
Resources
We follow naming conventions similar to Sitecore to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding. That is why it is not just a version bump. The version that relies on Sitecore Content SDK was renamed to Astro Content SDK. The version that relies on Sitecore JSS remains Astro JSS.
- Astro Content SDK
- @exdst-sitecore-content-sdk/astro - NPM package for using Astro together with SitecoreAI, depends on Sitecore Content SDK packages.
- @exdst-sitecore-content-sdk/create-astro - NPM package for quick scaffolding of a SitecoreAI Astro Content SDK project
- Source code on GitHub
- Astro JSS
- @astro-sitecore-jss/astro-sitecore-jss - the NPM package to use Astro together with Sitecore XM/XP. It can be used with SitecoreAI. But it is no longer recommended to use it with SitecoreAI. It does not support metadata editing mode. It depends on Sitecore JSS packages.
- @astro-sitecore-jss/create-astro-sitecore-jss - NPM package for quick scaffolding of Sitecore Astro JSS project
- Source code on GitHub.
Setup
We prepared a few ways for you to start. If you are experienced with both Astro and Sitecore, then you can use our project initializer. Run npx @exdst-sitecore-content-sdk/create-astro@latest. And follow the instructions.
Also, we prepared a few example websites for you to start:
- Sitecore Verticals demo - the comprehensive Sitecore demo that contains 3 websites and 100+ different pages with content. Please make sure that you use the Content SDK branch as the repository contains samples for Sitecore Astro JSS as well.
- Alaris (kit-astro-location-finder) — Bold, minimalist car-brand template showcasing premium product variants across model pages.
- Solterra & Co. (kit-astro-article-starter) — Polished editorial template for lifestyle brands with home, subpage, nav, and footer.
- SYNC (kit-astro-product-listing) — Clean, product-focused template for an audio gear company (speakers, headphones).
- Skate Park (kit-astro-skate-park) — Minimal sample site demonstrating data-source handling and Content SDK essentials.
Advantages
Astro web framework remains faster than Next.js. And it is no surprise that the Sitecore website running on the Astro Content SDK is faster than the Sitecore Content SDK Next.js. That is why Astro remains the more suitable approach for the content websites!
We made the fork of the official Sitecore Next.js frontend starter kits, reimplemented all examples with Astro. We compared websites using backstop.js to make sure that they are the same(pixel-perfect) to the visitor. We run Lighthouse tests side by side on Next.js and Astro, pointed to the same Sitecore Experience Edge endpoints, running on the same hosting(Netlify). And we got 91(for Astro) vs 68(for Next.js) performance scores on mobile. The source code of everything: Next.js implementation, Astro implementation, backstop.js tests, and Lighthouse tests is available on GitHub. You can run your own comparison for yourself.
Conclusions
At EXDST, we stand behind our open source work for the long haul, which makes Astro a safe framework choice for any Sitecore project. That includes SitecoreAI, with Sitecore JSS support winding down in the near future.
AI makes replatforming between web frameworks far easier when you have a stable foundation like Sitecore. You can spin up your site on Astro within a week, compare the results side by side, and decide for yourself. Contact us to get started.
