General purpose utils for live content and visual editing
npm install @sanity/preview-kit> [!IMPORTANT]
> This toolkit is no longer actively developed. For Next.js users on React Server Components we recommend next-sanity's defineLive API. Next.js pages router, Remix, React Router, TanStack Start, should use our React Loader.
> [!NOTE]
> You're looking at the README for v6, the README for v5 is available here.
- Installation
- @sanity/preview-kit
- Live real-time preview for React
- 1. Create a client instance
- 2. Define a
- 3. Making a Remix route conditionally preview drafts
- 4. Adding the useLiveQuery hook to components that need to re-render in real-time
- Implementing a Loading UI with useLiveQuery
- Optimizing performance
- Advanced usage
- Using the LiveQuery wrapper component instead of the useLiveQuery hook
- Trouble-shooting and debugging
- Release new version
- License
``bash`
npm i @sanity/preview-kit
`bash`
pnpm i @sanity/preview-kit
`bash`
yarn add @sanity/preview-kit
> Note
>
> This is the new docs for @sanity/preview-kit v6. If you're looking for docs for v1 APIs, like definePreview and usePreview, they're available on the v1 branch..next-sanity
>
> There's a full migration guide available [here.][migration]
>
> If you're looking for React Server Component and Next.js docs, they're in the readme.
> Note
>
> The examples in this README use Remix, you can find Next.js specific examples in the [next-sanity README][next-sanity-readme]. Including information on how to build live previews in React Server Components with the new app-router.
Write GROQ queries like @sanity/client and have them automatically refetch when content changes. The Live Content API is used to notify on changes.
Get started in 3 steps:
1. Create a client instance of @sanity/client that can be shared on the server and browser.
2. Define a configuration.
3. Refactor the root layout of your app to conditionally wrap it in when it's asked to preview drafts.useLiveQuery
4. Use the hook in components that you want to re-render in real-time as your documents are edited.
As is configured with a @sanity/client instance it makes sense to create a utility for it. Doing so makes it easy to ensure the server-side and client-side client are configured the same way.
app/lib/sanity.ts
`ts
import {createClient, type QueryParams} from '@sanity/preview-kit/client'
// Shared on the server and the browser
export const client = createClient({
projectId: 'your-project-id',
dataset: 'production',
apiVersion: '2025-03-04',
useCdn: true,
})
// Only defined on the server, passed to the browser via a loader
export const token = typeof process === 'undefined' ? '' : process.env.SANITY_API_READ_TOKEN!
const DEFAULT_PARAMS = {} as QueryParams
// Utility for fetching data on the server, that can toggle between published and preview drafts
export async function sanityFetch
previewDrafts,
query,
params = DEFAULT_PARAMS,
}: {
previewDrafts?: boolean
query: string
params?: QueryParams
}): Promise
if (previewDrafts && !token) {
throw new Error('The SANITY_API_READ_TOKEN environment variable is required.')`
}
return client.fetch
query,
params,
previewDrafts
? {
token,
perspective: 'drafts',
}
: {},
)
}
Create a new file for the provider, so it can be loaded with React.lazy and avoid increasing the bundle size in production. Ensuring code needed for live previewing drafts are only loaded when needed.
app/PreviewProvider.tsx
`tsx
import {LiveQueryProvider} from '@sanity/preview-kit'
import {client} from '~/lib/sanity'
export default function PreviewProvider({
children,
token,
}: {
children: React.ReactNode
token: string
}) {
if (!token) throw new TypeError('Missing token')
return (
{children}
)
}
`
Only the client and token props are required. For debugging you can pass a logger={console} prop.
You can also use the useIsEnabled hook to debug wether you have a parent in your React tree or not.
Here's the Remix route we'll be adding live preview of drafts, it's pretty basic:
`tsx
// app/routes/index.tsx
import type {LoaderArgs} from '@vercel/remix'
import {useLoaderData} from '@remix-run/react'
import {client} from '~/lib/sanity'
import type {UsersResponse} from '~/UsersList'
import {UsersList, usersQuery} from '~/UsersList'
import {Layout} from '~/ui'
export async function loader({request}: LoaderArgs) {
const url = new URL(request.url)
const lastId = url.searchParams.get('lastId') || ''
const users = await client.fetch
return {users, lastId}
}
export default function Index() {
const {users, lastId} = useLoaderData
return (
)
}
`
Now let's import the PreviewProvider component we created in the previous step. To ensure we don't increase the production bundle size, we'll use React.lazy to code-split the component. The React.lazy API requires a React.Suspense boundary, so we'll add that too.
`tsx
import {lazy, Suspense} from 'react'
const PreviewProvider = lazy(() => import('~/PreviewProvider'))
`
Before we can add to the layout we need to update the loader to include the props it needs. We'll use an environment variable called SANITY_API_PREVIEW_DRAFTS to control when to live preview drafts, and store a viewer API token in SANITY_API_READ_TOKEN.
Update the client.fetch call to use the new sanityFetch utility we created earlier, as well as the token:
`tsx
import {token, sanityFetch} from '~/lib/sanity'
const previewDrafts = process.env.SANITY_API_PREVIEW_DRAFTS === 'true'
const users = await sanityFetch
previewDrafts,
query: usersQuery,
params: {lastId},
})
`
Update the loader return statement from return {users, lastId} to:
`tsx`
return {previewDrafts, token, users, lastId}
And add previewDrafts, and token, to useLoaderData:
`tsx`
const {previewDrafts, token, users, lastId} = useLoaderData
Then make the render conditional based on wether previewDrafts is set:
`tsx
const children =
return (
{previewDrafts ? (
) : (
children
)}
)
`
After putting everything together the route should now look like this:
`tsx
// app/routes/index.tsx
import type {LoaderArgs} from '@vercel/remix'
import {useLoaderData} from '@remix-run/react'
import {lazy, Suspense} from 'react'
import {token, sanityFetch} from '~/lib/sanity'
import type {UsersResponse} from '~/UsersList'
import {UsersList, usersQuery} from '~/UsersList'
import {Layout} from '~/ui'
const PreviewProvider = lazy(() => import('~/PreviewProvider'))
export async function loader({request}: LoaderArgs) {
const previewDrafts = process.env.SANITY_API_PREVIEW_DRAFTS === 'true' ? {token} : undefined
const url = new URL(request.url)
const lastId = url.searchParams.get('lastId') || ''
const users = await sanityFetch
previewDrafts,
query: usersQuery,
params: {lastId},
})
return {previewDrafts, token, users, lastId}
}
export default function Index() {
const {previewDrafts, token, users, lastId} = useLoaderData
const children =
return (
{previewDrafts ? (
) : (
children
)}
)
}
`
Let's look at what the component looks like, before we add the hook:
`tsx
// app/UsersList.tsx
import groq from 'groq'
import {ListView, ListPagination} from '~/ui'
export const usersQuery = groq{
"list": *[_type == "user" && _id > $lastId] | order(_id) [0...20],
"total": count(*[_type == "user"]),
}
export interface UsersResponse {
list: User[]
total: number
}
export interface UsersListProps {
data: UsersResponse
lastId: string
}
export function UsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data, lastId} = props
return (
<>
)
}
`
To make this component connect to your preview provider you need to add the useLiveQuery. You don't have to refactor your components so that the hook is only called when there's a parent , it's safe to call it unconditionally.
If there's no it behaves as if the hook had this implementation:
`tsx`
export function useLiveQuery(initialData) {
return [initialData, false]
}
Thus it's fairly easy to add conditional live preview capabilities to UsersList, simply add hook to your imports:
`tsx`
import {useLiveQuery} from '@sanity/preview-kit'
And replace this:
`tsx`
const {data, lastId} = props
With this:
`tsx`
const {data: initialData, lastId} = props
const [data] = useLiveQuery(initialData, usersQuery, {lastId})
All together now:
`tsx
// app/UsersList.tsx
import {useLiveQuery} from '@sanity/preview-kit'
import groq from 'groq'
import {ListView, ListPagination} from '~/ui'
export const usersQuery = groq{
"list": *[_type == "user" && _id > $lastId] | order(_id) [0...20],
"total": count(*[_type == "user"]),
}
export interface UsersResponse {
list: User[]
total: number
}
export interface UsersListProps {
data: UsersResponse
lastId: string
}
export function UsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data: initialData, lastId} = props
const [data] = useLiveQuery(initialData, usersQuery, {lastId})
return (
<>
)
}
`
And done! You can optionally optimize it further by adding a loading UI while it loads, or improve performance by adding a custom isEqual function to reduce React re-renders if there's a lot of data that changes but isn't user visible (SEO metadata and such).
#### Implementing a Loading UI with useLiveQuery
The best way to do this is to add a wrapper component that is only used in preview mode that calls the useLiveQuery hook.
`tsx
export function UsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data, lastId} = props
return (
<>
)
}
export function PreviewUsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data: initialData, lastId} = props
const [data, loading] = useLiveQuery(initialData, usersQuery, {lastId})
return (
<>
)
}
`
Change the layout from:
`tsx
const children =
return (
{preview ? (
) : (
children
)}
)
`
To this:
`tsx`
return (
{preview ? (
) : (
)}
)
#### Optimizing performance
Out of the box it'll only trigger a re-render of UsersList if the query response changed, using react-fast-compare under the hood. You can tweak this behavior by passing a custom isEqual function as the third argument to useLiveQuery if there's only some changes you want to trigger a re-render.
`tsx`
const [data] = useLiveQuery(
initialData,
usersQuery,
{lastId},
{
// Only re-render in real-time if user ids and names changed, ignore all other differences
isEqual: (a, b) =>
a.list.every((aItem, index) => {
const bItem = b.list[index]
return aItem._id === bItem._id && aItem.name === bItem.name
}),
},
)
You can also use the React.useDeferredValue hook and a React.memo wrapper to further optimize performance by letting React give other state updates higher priority than the preview updates. It prevents the rest of your app from slowing down should there be too much Studio activity for the previews to keep up with:
`tsx
import {memo, useDeferredValue} from 'react'
export function PreviewUsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data: initialData, lastId} = props
const [snapshot] = useLiveQuery(initialData, usersQuery, {lastId})
const data = useDeferredValue(snapshot)
return
}
export const UsersList = memo(function UsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data, lastId} = props
return (
<>
)
})
`
#### Using the LiveQuery wrapper component instead of the useLiveQuery hook
The main benefit of the LiveQuery wrapper, over the useLiveQuery hook, is that it implements lazy loading. Unless enabled the code for useLiveQuery isn't loaded and your application's bundlesize isn't increased in production.
`tsx
import {LiveQuery} from '@sanity/preview-kit/live-query'
const UsersList = memo(function UsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data, lastId} = props
return (
<>
)
})
export default function Layout(props: LayoutProps) {
return (
query={usersQuery}
params={{lastId: props.lastId}}
initialData={props.data}
>
prop with the real-time data when live previews are enabled`
data={props.data}
// But other props will be passed through
lastId={props.lastId}
/>
)
}
For React Server Components it's important to note that the children of LiveQuery must be a use client component. Otherwise it won't be able to re-render as the data prop changes. The as prop can be used to make sure the component is only used as a client component when live previews are enabled, below is an example of how this is done in the Next.js App Router, using 3 separate files:
app/users/[lastId]/UsersList.tsx:
`tsx
// This component in itself doesn't have any interactivity and can be rendered on the server, and avoid adding to the browser bundle.
export default function UsersList(props: UsersListProps) {
const {data, lastId} = props
return (
<>
)
}
`
app/users/[lastId]/UsersListPreview.tsx:
`tsx
'use client'
import dynamic from 'next/dynamic'
// Re-exported components using next/dynamic ensures they're not bundled
// and sent to the browser unless actually used, with draftMode().enabled.
export default dynamic(() => import('./UsersList'))
`
app/users/[lastId]/page.tsx
`tsx
import {createClient} from '@sanity/preview-kit/client'
import {LiveQuery} from '@sanity/preview-kit/live-query'
import {draftMode} from 'next/headers'
import UsersList from './UsersList'
import UsersListPreview from './UsersListPreview'
const client = createClient({
// standard client config
})
export default async function UsersPage(params) {
const {lastId} = params
const data = await client.fetch(
usersQuery,
{lastId},
{perspective: draftMode().isEnabled ? 'drafts' : 'published'},
)
return (
query={usersQuery}
params={{lastId}}
initialData={data}
as={UsersListPreview}
>
// LiveQuery ensures that the lastId prop used here is applied to UsersListPreview as well`
lastId={lastId}
/>
)
}
What's great about this setup is that UsersList is rendering only on the server by default, but when live previews are enabled the UsersListPreview repackages it to a client component so it's able to re-render in the browser in real-time as the data changes. It's the closest thing to having your cake and eating it too.
#### Trouble-shooting and debugging
As the nature of live queries is that they're real-time, it can be hard to debug issues. Is nothing happening because no edits happened? Or because something isn't setup correctly?
To aid in understanding what's going on, you can pass a logger prop to LiveQueryProvider:
`tsx`
{children}
You'll now get detailed reports on how it's setup and what to expect in terms of how it responds to updates. For example in large datasets it may use a polling interval instead of running GROQ queries on a complete local cache of your dataset.
You can also use the useIsEnabled hook to determine of a live component (something that uses useLiveQuery) has a LiveQueryProvider in the parent tree or not:
`tsx
import {useLiveQuery, useIsEnabled} from '@sanity/preview-kit'
export function PreviewUsersList(props) {
const [data] = useLiveQuery(props.data, query, params)
const isLive = useIsEnabled()
if (!isLive) {
throw new TypeError('UsersList is not wrapped in a LiveQueryProvider')
}
return
}
`
If it's always false it's an indicator that you may need to lift your LiveQueryProvider higher up in the tree. Depending on the framework it's recommended that you put it in:
- Remix: src/app/routes/index.tsx
- Next App Router:
- Next Pages Router:
Run "CI & Release" workflow.
Make sure to select the main branch and check "Release new version".
Semantic release will only release on configured branches, so it is safe to run release on any branch.
MIT-licensed. See LICENSE.
[next-sanity-readme]: https://github.com/sanity-io/next-sanity#readme
[migration]: https://github.com/sanity-io/preview-kit/blob/main/MIGRATION.md