UMB.FYI Firehose - News

uProfile November 2026 - Mitchell Nortje

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 Z

Meet Mitchell: Speaker, package author and champion for mental health

DBestChatBot.Umbraco

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 Z

Add the DBestChatBot AI assistant to your Umbraco site in minutes. It answers visitors 24/7 from your own pages and data, captures leads in the conversation, books appointments, hands chats over to your team in a live inbox (web, Android and iOS apps) and speaks 20 languages. Install the package, add your site token to appsettings.json and deploy. Everything else (which chatbot appears on which pages, and what it learns from your site) is managed from the DBestChatBot dashboard, so your developer only touches the site once. Built to be safe on production sites: it never writes to your database, all network work runs in the background so a page never waits on us, columns such as email, phone and password are never sent, and if our service is unreachable your site simply carries on without the widget. The package is free. The DBestChatBot service has a free trial and paid plans.

Q&A Session with Emmanuel Tissera and Tony Meyn | Umbraco India Festival 2026

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 13:30:16 Z

A special Q&A session at Umbraco India Festival 2026 featuring Emmanuel Tissera and Tony Meyn. Hear their thoughts, insights, and experiences as they answer questions from the Umbraco community and share their perspectives on Umbraco, development, and the ecosystem. Website: https://www.umbracofestival.in Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/ #Umbraco #UIF26 #H5YR #UIUG

uSkinned Visual Editor, reimagined in Site Builder 7.3

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 12:00:00 Z

uSkinned Visual Editor, reimagined in Site Builder 7.3 for Umbraco: click any block to edit it, add blocks on the page, undo and redo, plus SEO share previews. Continue reading

Umbraco Kent Meetup - Online - Monday 16th November 2026 @ 7pm

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 09:38:55 Z

Please join us online for an evening of all things Umbraco - the latest news, community chat, and a talk or two!

For 2026, we will be running both in-person and virtual meetups, alternating every month. For those who can’t join in person, virtual attendance is available too, so you can join us no matter where you are!

This month, we have Justin Neville talking about Umbraco Search and how to migrate your code from Examine to Umbraco Search.

Justin Neville - From Examine to Umbraco Search

Umbraco 19 replaces classic Examine with built-in Umbraco Search, so most custom search will need work. The add-on runs on 17 and 18, letting you migrate early. This talk covers installing and querying it, porting typical Examine code, and a live demo of a faceted multi-site search built four ways.

Whether you are an Umbraco novice or a seasoned developer, this is your chance to meet like-minded people to talk about our favourite friendly CMS! No matter what your role is there will be something to learn and your chance to meet other members of the Umbraco community from Kent and the surrounding areas.

Sign-up here:

Hope to see you there!

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 02:22:29 Z

Ever wished you could edit content with all the visual fidelity of the front end without flipping back and forth with preview? I know I have… Having tried a few things over the years it was time to go back to the drawing board and re-invent what I was working on for the new back office.

Introducing… the Umbraco Visual Editor!

It installs straight on top of any Umbraco installation, creates a new Workspace view and lets your editors update their content in realtime. Some sites require a small using wrapper, but if you’re using the standard Umbraco Block List / Block Grid layouts there’s no markup changes required.

Here’s what you can expect to see in the back office:

See it in action in a short YouTube video:

Edit Umbraco content directly on the page - meet the Umbraco Visual Editor.

And go check it out on the marketplace!

New Package - Crumpled.AgentSpecs

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 17:54:41 Z

Agent Specs!

I don’t know if you have ever enabled Cloudflare’s ‘Markdown For Agents’ and waved your hands around a bit and said, “Look, now I’ve pressed that the site is serving markdown for agents”, and people have all looked a bit bemused?

Or your client has said,

“Don’t enable it yet; we want to check with our SEO people”

and

“Well, they are saying it’s probably ok, but we need an llms.txt file…”

Or once it’s been enabled, they’ve asked,

“Is it working? How can we test it?”

and you are just in the middle of explaining the difference between Windows PowerShell and PowerShell 7, and yes, they do have it installed, and ok, maybe let’s install Postman; it’ll be easier… no not Pokémon, it’s a tool to make requests, and just trust us it’s working, well it’s just such a leap of faith…

So we’ve built Agent Specs; it’s a workspace view that sits in the context of the page in the Umbraco Backoffice, and allows the editor to ‘fetch’ the published page and ‘view it through the eyes of an AI Gent’ - Agent Specs… get it?

Agent Specs will then show the result of the fetch:

Along with a preview of what the Agent actually sees:

and an option to see the raw markdown when it has been converted,

highlighting any rich schema on the page (with a handy link to go off and validate it on schema.org)

The aim is to be editor-friendly, and so the package has a toggleable guide explaining Markdown for agents, content signals and rich schema, with handy links to the outside world to learn more.

If it’s installed on a site that doesn’t have Cloudflare’s Markdown for Agents enabled, then it will suggest the possible actions to take to improve AI visibility, along with a handy link to copy the advice to send to someone else, if that’s someone elses job!

Eg install Adam’s AI Visibility for Umbraco, which works well on Umbraco Cloud (and elsewhere) if procuring a Cloudflare paid plan isn’t an option.

Similarly, you don’t need Markdown for Agents to get on with designing great schemas for your website pages!

We’ve found that installing the package and demo’ing this in context of an editor’s particular site has been a bit of an ice breaker, and really helped people understand what all this shift to making a site visible to AI is all about…

Anyway, available at the Umbraco Marketplace, and other reputable package outlets.

Logo, fairly route one… pair of glasses, when you look at a website through em, you see markdown…

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Crumpled.AgentSpecs

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 00:00:00 Z

See what AI agents see for every Umbraco page: an Agent Specs view on each content item that requests the front-end URL with Accept: text/markdown (Cloudflare Markdown for Agents) and shows the markdown preview, source and JSON-LD.

AltTextGeneratorAI.Umbraco

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 Z

Write SEO-friendly alt text for the images in your Umbraco media library with AI. Generate it for one image, a selection or every image that is missing it, in 131 languages, review it, and save.

BaryoDev.Umbraco.AiAssistant

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 Z

Claude writing help in the Umbraco backoffice. Polish text, translate pages, write SEO titles and descriptions, and add alt text to images, one item at a time or as a bulk job with a cost estimate. Brand voice rules keep the tone yours. You bring your own Anthropic API key and pay Anthropic directly. Every result is a suggestion: the editor accepts, edits or discards it, and a facts check flags changed numbers and names. A monthly spend cap is available. Free and MIT licensed.

Built to Scale: The Evolution of Load Balancing in Umbraco | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:32 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Tony Meyn. Explore the evolution of load balancing in Umbraco, how it works, and the approaches to building scalable and reliable Umbraco applications. Website: https://www.umbracofestival.in Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/ #Umbraco #UIF26 #H5YR #UIUG

Agentic Umbraco: When Automate Meets MCP | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:27 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Nikhil Prajapati. Explore how Agentic AI and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can work with Umbraco to automate tasks and create new possibilities for developers. Website: https://www.umbracofestival.in Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/

The Future of Search: SEO, AEO & GEO in Umbraco | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:23 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Mateen Shaikh. Explore how search is evolving beyond traditional SEO with Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), and understand what these changes mean for Umbraco websites. Website: https://www.umbracofestival.in Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/

I, AI, and Umbraco: A Developer Perspective | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:23 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Emmanuel Tissera. Explore the role of AI in Umbraco development from a developer's perspective. Discover how AI tools and capabilities can support development workflows and open up new possibilities within the Umbraco ecosystem. Website: https://www.umbracofestival.in Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/ #Umbraco #UIF26 #H5YR #UIUG

Enterprise Replatforming: Consolidating Three CMSs into a Unified Umbraco Cloud Platform | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:17 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Farshadudheen K & Ansar M. Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group

Umbraco India Fest 2026

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:11 Z

A festival full of learning, connections, laughter, and unforgettable memories. 💙 Relive the moments and hear from the speakers, sponsors, and Umbraco team who made Umbraco India Festival 2026 truly special. Phases | Techxot | GIRIRAJ DIGITAL | WESURE INSURTECH SERVICES (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED https://www.umbracofestival.in https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/ #UIF26 #Umbraco #H5YR #UIUG #UmbracoIndiaFestival

From Audience to MVP: An Umbraco Story from Nepal | Bishal Tim | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:09 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Bishal Tim. From attending a small Umbraco meetup in Kathmandu to becoming Umbraco's first MVP from Nepal, Bishal shares his journey and the growth of the Umbraco community in Nepal. https://www.umbracofestival.in Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/

Mindfulness: The Present is Perfect | UIF26

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:01 Z

A session presented at Umbraco India Festival 2026 by Seema Sunil. Explore the importance of mindfulness, staying present, and finding balance in our busy lives. A session that reminds us to pause, be aware, and appreciate the present moment. Website: https://www.umbracofestival.in Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group/ #Umbraco #UIF26 #H5YR #UIUG

Transfr: content export package

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 09:28:56 Z

Wow!
Is this the best new package this year?
For me, I think so. Great work from the package developer Preben Neirijnck!
This is something that really should be build in on a professional level CMS i think. But great that it now is available as a package.

I had plans on building something similar. Coming from building a lot of stuff with Episerver/Optimizely, I have been used to being able to export content from one instance to another.
Then just yesterday I stumbled upon this fantastic package. Something I think have been missing in the Umbraco world for a long time. I have seen some other content exporters earlier, but none of them was something I liked or worked for me.

Thare are many occasions that you want to do this. Either from prodserver to stage or even the other way around.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Lait.Monitor.UmbracoClient

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Sends an Umbraco site's logs and request data (per-minute aggregates and selected requests) to Monitor. Install the package and set Monitor:Endpoint and Monitor:ApiKey.

umbraCoffee - Elephant In The Room

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:53:16 Z

Welcome to your monthly dose of #umbraCoffee! Your hosts - Marcin and Callum - together with their guest(s) will drive through all of the community news and happenings in the Umbraco world. So... grab a cuppa, join us LIVE and enjoy! See ya?! --- ☕ Wanna buy us a coffee/pizza/donuts? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/umbracoffee --- Notes: // TODO

New package: Aivie Content

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 06:55:44 Z

After months of hard work, we’re excited to announce that Aivie Content is now available on the Umbraco Marketplace!

What started as an idea within ipsis has grown into a fully-fledged product that brings AI-powered content creation and optimisation directly into the Umbraco back office.

What is Aivie Content?

Aivie Content helps you create new content and improve existing pages without leaving Umbraco. It takes your website’s tone of voice into account and supports you with SEO, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), keyword strategy, content planning and publishing.

The goal is not just to generate more content, but to create better content that helps your website become more visible in traditional search engines like Google and in AI-generated answers.

We’re already using Aivie Content for our own clients, and we’ve seen some encouraging results in just a few weeks. For one client, we measured a 340% increase in clicks from Google and a 520% increase in impressions over an eight-week period.

For us, this demonstrates the potential of integrating AI directly into the content workflow instead of treating it as yet another standalone tool. By bringing AI into the CMS, content teams can work more efficiently while keeping their own website, content strategy and tone of voice at the centre.

A huge thank you to Niels Laan, Aida de Haan and Puck Holshuijsen, who invested an incredible amount of time and energy into this project. From the initial idea and development to testing, refining and bringing the product to market, their work has made this launch possible.

Give it a try

Umbraco compatibility: Umbraco 17 and higher
Free trial: 14 days
Website: https://aivie.nl
Marketplace: Search for Aivie Content in the Umbraco Marketplace.

We’re excited to bring Aivie Content to the Umbraco community and would love to hear what you think!

If you give it a try, let us know how you use it and what you’d like to see next.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Content Isn’t Context Why Your AI Needs a Brief

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 06:05:31 Z

Creating and updating your website should be the least of your worries. With Umbraco, you get a content management system known and loved for its flexibility and great editing experience. Umbraco is easy to get started with install, set up, and host it yourself or let us take care of it all for you on Umbraco Cloud. https://try.umbraco.com Learn more about Umbraco on our website https://umbraco.com Discover our Umbraco Community: https://community.umbraco.com/ Find the Umbraco source code on Github: https://github.com/umbraco/Umbraco-CMS Visit the Umbraco Documentation: https://docs.umbraco.com

Umbricians.LiveView

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

A real-time Live View dashboard for the Umbraco Settings section, charting active web, MCP and API sessions plus any custom metric you plug in.

Limbo.Umbraco.Migrations 13.0.1

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:39:20 Z

Umbraco package for handling migrations.

Limbo.Umbraco.Migrations 13.0.0

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:24:02 Z

Umbraco package for handling migrations.

Limbo.Umbraco.MediaPicker 13.0.2

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 20:58:36 Z

Umbraco package that extends the functionality of Umbraco's build-in media picker property editor.

Limbo.Umbraco.Fetch 17.0.0

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 20:31:45 Z

Umbraco package for periodically downloading files to disk.

Limbo.Umbraco.Fetch 13.0.1

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 20:15:57 Z

Umbraco package for periodically downloading files to disk.

Umbraco Features with Claude Worktrees

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:26:42 Z

One database per git worktree: building Umbraco features in parallel with Claude Code

TL;DR. I run several Claude Code sessions against the same Umbraco 17 site at once, one feature per session. Claude Code gives each session its own git worktree, so the code is isolated. The database isn't, and uSync happily imports whichever branch started last. So I wrote a PowerShell hook that copies the dev database for every new worktree, points the worktree at that copy, keeps media working, picks ports that don't clash, and drops the lot when the worktree goes. It's about twenty seconds of SQL Server work on session start and then you never think about it again. Install steps are at the bottom.

The problem
Why not just spin up a fresh database?
Hooking into Claude Code
What happens on SessionStart
What happens on WorktreeRemove
Things that bit me
What it doesn't do
Would it work on your project?
How to install it

The problem

I've got into the habit of running a few Claude Code sessions at the same time, each one working on a different feature of the same Umbraco site. It's brilliant. One session is building a new block, another is fixing a bug in a controller, and I'm sat in the middle reviewing diffs with a coffee.

Claude Code makes this possible with git worktrees. A worktree is a second checkout of the same repo in a different folder, on its own branch. Two sessions can edit, build and commit without ever touching each other's files. Perfect.

Except an Umbraco site isn't just files.

Our appsettings.Local.json points at one SQL Server database, and the project has uSync set up like this:

"uSync": {
  "Settings": {
    "ImportAtStartup": "All"
  }
}

That means every time you start the site from a worktree, uSync imports that branch's document types, data types and compositions into the shared database. Start the site from worktree A, then from worktree B, and B's schema stomps all over A's. Start A again and it stomps right back. The backoffice flips between two versions of the content model and neither session can trust what it's looking at.

Ports are a second, smaller headache. launchSettings.json pins the site to https://localhost:44373, so two worktrees can't even run at the same time. Not ideal when the whole point is running things in parallel.

Why not just spin up a fresh database?

My first thought was an empty database per worktree and let Umbraco's unattended install do the rest. That falls over almost immediately on this site. uSync here only exports schema (content types, data types, languages, media types), not content, and wwwroot/media is gitignored. So a fresh install gives you a beautifully empty site with nothing to click on. Not much use for testing a feature.

What you actually want is a copy of the main dev database with the branch's schema applied on top. uSync does the second half for free at startup. The first half is a BACKUP ... WITH COPY_ONLY followed by a RESTORE ... WITH MOVE, which on a dev sized database takes about twenty seconds. I can live with twenty seconds.

Hooking into Claude Code

Claude Code has lifecycle hooks, configured in .claude/settings.json. That file is committed, so once it's in the repo the whole team gets the hooks for free. Two events do everything I need:

SessionStart fires when a session starts, resumes or compacts. Its cwd is the worktree root. This is where the database gets provisioned.
WorktreeRemove fires when Claude removes a worktree. This is where the database gets dropped.

There's no hook for "pull request created", and honestly I didn't want one. After the PR goes up you still need the site running to deal with review comments. The lifetime of the worktree is the right lifetime for the database.

Both events run the same PowerShell script. It reads the event JSON from stdin and branches on hook_event_name:

{
  "hooks": {
    "SessionStart": [
      {
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "shell": "powershell",
            "command": "powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File \"$env:CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\\.claude\\hooks\\worktree-db.ps1\"",
            "timeout": 300
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "WorktreeRemove": [
      {
        "hooks": [
          {
            "type": "command",
            "shell": "powershell",
            "command": "powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File \"$env:CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\\.claude\\hooks\\worktree-db.ps1\"",
            "timeout": 120
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

What happens on SessionStart

1. Work out if this is a worktree, and where the main checkout lives. Git will tell you both. In a worktree, --git-dir is <main>/.git/worktrees/<name> while --git-common-dir is <main>/.git. If they're the same, we're in the main checkout and there's nothing to do.

$gitDir = git -C $Path rev-parse --path-format=absolute --git-dir
$common = git -C $Path rev-parse --path-format=absolute --git-common-dir
$isWorktree = ($gitDir -ne $common)
$mainRoot = Split-Path -Parent $common

2. Read the connection string from the main checkout's appsettings.Local.json. That file is gitignored and specific to each machine, which is exactly why the script reads it rather than hardcoding a server name. Server, database and credentials all come from there, so nothing in the committed script is tied to my laptop.

3. Sweep. Before provisioning anything, list every database named <db>_wt_* and compare it against git worktree list. Anything without a matching worktree gets dropped. This runs on every session, including ones in the main checkout, so worktrees that were removed by hand or by the desktop app still get tidied up eventually.

4. Copy the database. The target name comes from the worktree folder, so a worktree at .claude/worktrees/multi-feature-workflow-c09980 gets a database called tgp_wt_multi_feature_workflow_c09980. The copy uses SQL Server's own default paths, which the server reports through SERVERPROPERTY, so it works against a remote instance just as well as a local one:

BACKUP DATABASE [tgp] TO DISK = N'<InstanceDefaultBackupPath>\tgp_worktree_seed.bak'
  WITH COPY_ONLY, INIT, FORMAT;

RESTORE FILELISTONLY FROM DISK = N'...';  -- to get the logical file names

RESTORE DATABASE [tgp_wt_...] FROM DISK = N'...'
  WITH MOVE N'tgp' TO N'<InstanceDefaultDataPath>\tgp_wt_....mdf',
       MOVE N'tgp_log' TO N'<InstanceDefaultLogPath>\tgp_wt_..._log.ldf',
       REPLACE, RECOVERY;

COPY_ONLY matters here. It doesn't disturb the backup chain if your dev database happens to be in full recovery mode.

5. Write the worktree's own appsettings.Local.json. It's a copy of the main one with the database name swapped out, plus one extra Umbraco setting:

"Umbraco": {
  "CMS": {
    "Global": {
      "UmbracoMediaPhysicalRootPath": "C:\\...\\TGP\\TGP\\wwwroot\\media"
    }
  }
}

Media files aren't in git, so without this the worktree would show broken images everywhere. UmbracoMediaPhysicalRootPath points Umbraco at the main checkout's media folder instead. I'd originally planned a directory junction for this and bottled it. git worktree remove --force deletes the worktree directory, and I really didn't fancy finding out whether it follows junctions into the real media folder. A config setting can't delete anything. Much safer.

6. Pick some ports and tell Claude. A hash of the worktree name gives a stable pair of ports in the 45000 range. The script checks they're free and saves them into the generated config, so later sessions print the same pair even while the site is running. Then it writes one line to stdout:

Worktree database 'tgp_wt_multi_feature_workflow_c09980' on INI-WIN-066 is ready
(copy of 'tgp'; media served from the main checkout). Run the site from TGP with:
dotnet run --urls "https://localhost:45980;http://localhost:45981"

Whatever a SessionStart hook prints to stdout gets added to Claude's context. So every session starts already knowing which database it owns and how to run the site. Nobody has to type anything.

What happens on WorktreeRemove

Drop the database, then remove the worktree:

ALTER DATABASE [tgp_wt_...] SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
DROP DATABASE [tgp_wt_...];

git -C $mainRoot worktree remove --force $worktreePath

That second step caught me out. Registering a WorktreeRemove hook replaces Claude Code's default removal. So if your script only drops the database, the worktree folder just sits there. The hook has to do the git worktree remove itself, and exit with an error code if the folder is still around afterwards.

Things that bit me

I'd love to say this all worked first time. It did not.

$result[0] on a single row from sqlcmd. PowerShell unrolls an array with one element into a plain string, and [0] on a string gives you its first character. My backup path became C, which SQL Server helpfully resolved relative to its default backup folder as ...\Backup\C\tgp_worktree_seed.bak. Wrap it in @(...)[0] and move on with your life.
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' and native commands. In Windows PowerShell 5.1, a native exe writing anything to stderr under Stop becomes a terminating error. The script runs with Continue and checks $LASTEXITCODE explicitly instead.
$env:CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR is the main checkout, not the worktree. Use it to find the script. Use the event's cwd for the worktree.
The port probe sees your own site. On a resumed session the hook ran while the worktree's site was already up, saw its own ports as busy, and cheerfully printed a different pair. Hence persisting the ports in the generated config.
Builds touch tracked files. Umbraco regenerates umbraco-package-schema.json on every build. Not a hook problem, but it shows up in git status after you've tested, so keep an eye out.

What it doesn't do

It's Windows PowerShell plus sqlcmd. No bash version yet. Sorry Mac folks.
It needs a SQL Server you can BACKUP and RESTORE against: a local instance, Express, LocalDB or a dev server. Azure SQL has no BACKUP DATABASE, so that's out.
It assumes one worktree runs one site. Two sites in the same worktree would still collide.
The desktop app's own worktree cleanup may not fire WorktreeRemove. The sweep on the next session start covers it, so the worst case is a stale database hanging around for a few hours.

Would it work on your project?

Yes, if you're on Windows with a SQL Server you can back up. All the bits that are specific to my project are parameters with sensible defaults. Another Umbraco site needs at most the web project folder name. A .NET site that isn't Umbraco adds the connection string name and switches the media setting off:

"command": "powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File \"$env:CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\\.claude\\hooks\\worktree-db.ps1\" -WebProject MySite -ConnectionStringName DefaultConnection -NoMediaSetting"

Everything else (server, credentials, source database) is read from your own local config at runtime. You can also run the script by hand with -Cwd <worktree> or -Remove <worktree> to try it outside Claude Code.

It took about an hour to build, and the combination is what makes it worth it. A copy of the real database. The branch's schema applied by uSync on first run. Media still visible. Ports that don't clash. The whole thing torn down when the worktree goes. Parallel sessions stop being something you manage and become something that just happens.

How to install it

Here's the step by step. This assumes Windows, Windows PowerShell 5.1, and Claude Code with worktrees turned on.

1. Check the prerequisites.

A SQL Server you can BACKUP and RESTORE against (local instance, Express, LocalDB or a dev server).
sqlcmd on your PATH. Open a terminal and run sqlcmd -? to make sure it's there.
An appsettings.Local.json in your main checkout with a working connection string. The script reads this, so if the site already runs from your main checkout you're good.
If it's an Umbraco site, uSync with ImportAtStartup turned on, otherwise the branch's schema won't land in the copied database.

2. Grab the script.

TODO: link to the script (gist or repo).

Drop it into your repo at .claude/hooks/worktree-db.ps1.

3. Register the hooks.

Open .claude/settings.json (create it if it doesn't exist) and add the SessionStart and WorktreeRemove entries from the hooks section above. Both point at the same script.

4. Adjust the parameters if you need to.

The defaults assume an Umbraco site with the standard Umbraco connection string name. If your web project folder has a different name, add -WebProject YourFolder to the command. If it's not an Umbraco site, add -ConnectionStringName YourConnectionString -NoMediaSetting as well.

5. Test it by hand first.

Create a worktree and run the script against it directly, so you're not debugging through Claude:

git worktree add .claude/worktrees/test-db -b test-db

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .claude\hooks\worktree-db.ps1 -Cwd .claude\worktrees\test-db

You should see the "Worktree database ... is ready" line and a new <db>_wt_test_db database on your server. Then tear it down:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .claude\hooks\worktree-db.ps1 -Remove .claude\worktrees\test-db

The database and the worktree folder should both be gone.

6. Start a Claude Code session in a worktree.

Open the project in Claude Code with worktrees enabled and start a new session. The first thing in Claude's context should be the "Worktree database ... is ready" line with your dotnet run command. Run the site on the ports it gives you and check the backoffice loads with your content and media intact.

7. Commit it.

Commit .claude/settings.json and .claude/hooks/worktree-db.ps1 so the rest of the team gets the same setup. Leave appsettings.Local.json gitignored as it always was.

That's it. From now on every worktree gets its own database on the way in and loses it on the way out, and you can get back to running three features at once with a coffee in hand.

Limbo.Umbraco.Spa 17.0.0-alpha002

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 11:48:45 Z

SPA (single page application) package for Umbraco.

Umbraco CMS 18.3.0

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 08:02:20 Z

Umbraco CMS 17.8.0

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 07:56:28 Z

Chudders22.Umbraco.SiteBuilder

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Applies Site Builder schema files, tracks blocks installed from the Site Builder library, keeps a schema snapshot for frontend codegen, and pushes content changes to the frontend.

SA.Umbraco.MediaPreview

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Adds a one-click Preview button to media cards in the Umbraco media library. It opens the media item's standard editor as a fly-out, so editors can view images and play video or audio without leaving the media section.

Umbraco Features with Claude Worktrees

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Running several Claude Code sessions on one Umbraco site? Here’s the PowerShell hook that gives every git worktree its own database, media and ports.

Umbraco.Community.SchemeWeaver.Seo

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

SchemeWeaver SEO: a Yoast-style structured data section for the Umbraco backoffice. SEOs and editors choose from a curated set of Google-recognised content kinds, set the site identity and fix individual pages, without touching document types or code. Requires Umbraco.Community.SchemeWeaver.

🚀 Umbraco 19 beta is out today!

Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:41:03 Z

And we’d love as many of you as possible to take it for a spin (on a local/test site please!).

A few highlights:

.NET 11: Umbraco now runs on Microsoft’s newest .NET and opts in to the new runtime async
Reusable content in every block editor: use Library content in Block List, Block Grid, Single Block and the Rich Text Editor. Change it once, and every page using it updates
Search in core: one search layer for the backoffice, Delivery API and templates (Examine by default, swappable)
Document Blueprints move to the Library, with folders, permissions and rules for which document types can use them

It’s a major, so there are breaking changes. Have a read of those here before you start:

Never installed a pre-release before? This guide walks you through it:

And the full release notes are here:

The RC is planned for Thursday 12th November, so the next couple of weeks are the sweet spot for feedback. If something breaks, surprises you or just feels a bit odd, a GitHub issue would be wonderful. H5YR to everyone who gives it a go! ::

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:44:02 Z

When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI answers which supplier, agency or product to pick, the answer quotes a handful of sites. Part of whether yours is one of them is out of a developer’s hands. But part of it is plain site hygiene: does the page have a passage an assistant can lift as an answer, does it carry schema.org markup, and is there a clean map of the site for assistants to read? On most sites that’s template work, and it’s easy to never get round to.

I built FoundWell.Umbraco to handle that part from the backoffice. It’s free, MIT licensed and needs no account.

What it does:

AEO audit of every page. A GEO view on each document gives a score for how likely an AI engine is to quote the page, what holds it back and how to fix it. The score history is kept per page.
Quotable passages. Shows which passages an assistant can lift as a citation, and what weakens the others.
Bulk audit. Scores all published pages at once, lowest first, so you know where to start.
Automatic schema. JSON-LD in every page’s <head> without touching a template. You pick the schema.org type per document type and which properties fill it, then override it or switch it off per page. It’s off by default, and a page that already renders its own application/ld+json is left alone.
Schema suggestions. Markup suggested from a page’s content, ready to apply.
/llms.txt and /llms-full.txt. Generated from published content and grouped by top-level section. You can exclude pages or list only certain document types.
One llms.txt per site. On a multi-site install, each domain gets the llms.txt of its own root, with its own title, summary and excluded pages.

It has no database tables of its own. Settings live in JSON files under umbraco/Data/FoundWell.Umbraco/, so it works on SQLite and SQL Server alike. On a load-balanced site, put that folder on shared storage.

To be clear about two things:

Nothing leaves your server. The audit only requests your own pages, to see them as visitors do.
Markup alone won’t get a site quoted. In Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands, mentions of a brand elsewhere on the web tracked AI visibility far more closely than anything on the site itself. The package handles the technical part so it isn’t what holds a good page back.

Disclosure: FoundWell is also a paid service I run, which writes content and handles SEO and AEO for a site on autopilot. The package has an optional connection that lets FoundWell set redirects, schema and llms.txt through it. That connection stays off until an administrator turns on Allow FoundWell, and FoundWell can’t turn it on itself. Without a subscription the package never contacts FoundWell, and everything above works with no time limit.

2 posts - 2 participants

Read full topic

Headless Umbraco Multi-Site: Pros and Cons of Running Multiple Websites in a Single Instance

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:56:04 Z

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Drag the Umbraco backoffice sections and each section's tabs into the order you want. Admins drag them right in the top bar and tab bars; the order is saved on drop and applies to every user.

Umbraco testiesimerkit nyt Umbraco 18:lle

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:27:33 Z

ℹ️ Opin suomea
Tämä on mulle harjoitus oppimaan suomea. Voit myös lukea englanniksi.

Olen päivittänyt testiesimerkkirepositorion Umbraco 18:ksi. Tässä on muutokset:

Tärkeämmin muutos: end-to-end testiesimerkit ovat muuttuneet typescriptiin

Ensin, testit olivat dotnetiksi, mutta olen muutanut niiden typscriptiin. Olen päätänyt sitä koska C#:n generated clientin päivittämisen Umbraco 18:lle oli tosi vaikea. Mun piti käyttää ruma work-aroundia tai muuttaa sen manuaaliseen toteutukseen. Molemmat tuntuivat pahalta. Lisäksi, dotnetissa Playwrightilla on kovat haitat, jotka Node:ssa Playwrightilla ei ole. Kerron lisää uudesta end-to-end testista typescriptissa toisessa blogissa.

Published content on muuttunut

Umbraco on siirtänyt muutamaa ominaisuusta IPublishedContent:sta IPublishedElement:iin. Olen päivittänyt unit-testing esimerkien niin että ne toimivat Umbraco 18:ssa. Nämä muutoksilla ei ole vaikutusta unit-testiin.

Lisähuomautus

Umbraco oli muutanut Umbraco 17:ssa miten indexit ovat alustaneet. Muutokset yksinkertaistavat in-memory sovelluksen ja se tulee helpompi tarkistaa onko sovellus käynistänyt integration testissä. Repositorio ei ole vielä ajan tasalla noiden muutoksien suhteen. Kohta päivitän integration testiä.

Siinä on kaikki

päivitys oli lyhyt. Vain end-to-end testit ovat paljon muutuneet. Jos et ole vielä katsonut, menee repositorioon nyt. Se on oppiopas aloittamaan testata Umbracossa.

Umbraco testing examples now also for Umbraco 18

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:27:15 Z

I updated the testing reference repository to support Umbraco 18! Here are the changes:

Most important: End-to-end testing examples have been migrated to typescript.

It used to be in dotnet, but I changed it into typescript. I made this decision because updating the generated C# client for the Management API to Umbraco 18 was very difficult. I would have had to either use ugly work-arounds or replace the generated client with a manual client. Neither option seemed right to me. In addition to that, I had already noticed that Playwright in dotnet had significant downsides compared to Playwright in node. I will share more about how the new tests work in a separate blog.

Published Content has changed

Umbraco has moved several properties from IPublishedContent down to IPublishedElement. Those changes have been mirrored in the unit testing examples in the FakePublishedElement and FakePublishedContent types. These changes have no effect on existing unit tests.

Additional note

Umbraco has already made changes in Umbraco 17 to how indexes are initialized on boot. The changes reduce the complexity of the in-memory website and make it easier to detect when Umbraco has fully started in integration tests. The repository does not reflect those changes accurately quite yet. I have the code ready for it and I will update the examples soon.

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:14:11 Z

Umbraco UK Conference

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 13:18:02 Z

Umbraco UK Conference: A Few Days in London

Coffee. Code. Repeat. And this week, a fair bit of whisky and doughnuts too.

I've just got back from London after the Umbraco UK Partner Summit and the Umbraco UK Conference. It was a packed few days, and I learnt a lot, so let's get into it. Fair warning, the journey home was a bit of an adventure.

Wednesday: Trains and Whisky

I jumped on the train from Edinburgh down to London on Wednesday. I arrived in time for lunch and then met up with a couple of friends, Matt Wise and Ollie Picton. We headed to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society on Greville Street in Hatton Garden.

Very enjoyable afternoon. Great company, a good catch up and a chance to try the latest offerings from the SMWS. Perfect.

Then an early night back at the hotel. I knew what was coming.

Thursday: Umbraco UK Partner Summit

Up early, breakfast, and off to the Partner Summit.

I'll be honest. I've been to Partner Summits before and they were always a bit, meh. Lots of promises, not much action. I'm very pleased to say this year was different. I went along as the Initials Labs rep and came away with pages and pages of notes. I'm really looking forward to working with the Umbraco partner team (Aaron, Jacob and Gemma) to see what's possible over the next year.

Some highlights:

Jenny Bradshaw from Moriyama and Kirstie Buchanan from Cantarus gave really great talks about their own experiences with Umbraco and as partners.
Aaron Green (Partner Manager, UK) and Jacob Howell (Regional Manager, UK) delivered great business talks. The passion these guys have for Umbraco is refreshing.
Rune Stand (Product Manager, Cloud) talked about the future of Umbraco Cloud. It finally feels like a product you can use in the real world.
Mats Persson (CEO) and Filip Bruun Bech-Larsen (Umbraco CTO) also gave great talks about Umbraco and its products, and brought all the partners up to date.

All in all, a brilliant day. Not something I thought I'd ever say about a business summit!

Thursday Evening: Flight Club

That evening was all about socialising at Flight Club. I got to make new friends within the community and chat with fellow Umbracians I hadn't seen since Codegarden.

It was great to see my old pals from Gibe too. Always a pleasure, especially when you end the night drinking whisky with Tristan. Hmm, there might be a theme here.

Friday: Umbraco UK Conference

Friday started with breakfast, then I met up with my colleague Jack and we walked over to CodeNode, where the conference was being hosted. We collected our swag, grabbed a coffee (the first of many) and the day kicked off.

The new Umbraco Conference brand was announced, and having the rebrand explained was really interesting. After that, Bolette Kern (Head of Products at Umbraco) gave the keynote and product update, and she did it on her birthday! Happy birthday Bolette!

Here are the talks I attended:

Automate in Minutes, Not Sprints: Introducing Umbraco Automate, by Rick Butterfield
Beyond the Happy Path: Non-Functional Requirements in the Age of AI-Assisted Engineering, by Carole Rennie Logan
CSI: Umbraco, Forensic Tools for Catching Performance Killers, by Jason Elkin
Ghosts of Umbraco Past: Coding Practices to Lay to Rest in 2027, by Joe Glombek
The Great Umbraco Search Shake-Up: Examine, Algolia & Azure Compared, by Busra Sengul

They were all great talks and I don't want to pick a favourite. I got something from every one of them.

The time and effort that goes into preparing a talk is always appreciated, so #h5yr (that's high five, for the uninitiated. More details at H5YR.com) to everyone who spoke at the event.

The QR code on our badges was for a fun game of The Traitors. You had to scan other people's QR codes, and if you were a Traitor, you "killed" them and they were out of the game. If you were a Faithful, your aim was to stay alive and scan as many people as you could. The more scans you got, the better the prize. The first tier was a Lego minifigure, which, thankfully, I managed to get. The top prize was a ticket to Codegarden!

It was a lot of fun and a great way to get people talking to each other.

Now, the food. The food at the event was great and the snacks were immense. The doughnuts were so good I could have eaten the entire box. Biscoff doughnuts. Yum!

The closing keynote came from Lotte Pitcher and Sebastiaan Janssen, and it was really good. Funny but informative. Oh, and did you know that backoffice menu separators are back? Yes, really.

I spent the evening socialising with new and old friends and called it a night around 10pm. Back to the hotel to pack my bag.

Saturday: Board Games and a Very Long Way Home

On Saturday I met up with a few friends and headed to Arcanists Tavern, a table top game cafe. A great selection of games and a really nice way to spend a few hours before heading back to Edinburgh.

Then came the journey home, which was eventful. I got within 15 minutes of Edinburgh station and the train stopped. Then it started going in the opposite direction. We couldn't go any further because the signals on the track had gone out! I ended up having to ask my wife to come and pick me up, which was a 45 minute drive each way. Not great at 11pm!

Wrapping Up

A fantastic few days in London, signal failure aside. I learnt a lot, made some new connections and caught up with old friends.

Until next time!

UmbraDesktop v17.4.0 - Search, Quality of life and the arcade!

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:06:48 Z

The main highlights for this release are:

Much improved search in the launcher
Show workspace views next to the content or pop them out
A progress indicator for media uploads
A welcome wizard for new users
[Entertainment] A gaming service (The arcade) that games can integrate to work with leaderboards across users
[Entertainment] An UmbraCoffee app where you can see previous episodes AND that can notify you when a new episode is about to start!

NEW! Better search in the launcher.

The you tried the search bar that is on the launcher, it would open the default Umbraco search popup. Not bad perse, but I meant two things:

You could not search for apps (you needed to go to the ‘all apps view’ first)
You were taken out of the context of the launcher in favour of a new window.

This has been fixed in this release. The search will now open directly in the launcher like most OS’. It will show the search result by category, apps first.

NEW! Show workspace views next to the content!

Most workspace views can now be opened in a pane next to the content. In the example I used info, which isn’t that interresting, but there are a lot of workspace views that could be interresting to be visible next to the content you are actively working on. This uses the concept of a ‘linked’ pane or window that was introduced in 17.3.0, so that also means that you can detach the workspace view into a seperate, linked window.

NEW! Welcome wizard

New users now get a one-time wizard to set a few things:

The desktop language
The theme and backoffice theme (light/dark/high contrast)
Start in the desktop on boot

It has sensible defaults, so if you just click ‘next, next, next’, it will work without issues.

NEW! Progress indication where applicable

When you have a long-running task, the progress will be shown on the taskbar and on the icon of the window. Currently, this only works with uploading media.

NEW! [Entertainment addon] A gaming service for persistent scoring and leaderboards.

A new Nuget package is created called Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop.Services.Arcade. You won’t install this manually, but any add-on package can use this package to implement support for the ‘Arcade’, a gaming hub where you can see stats and leaderboards of the games that support it.

You can decide if you want to have your gaming scores visible to any other users in the Umbraco instance or not. These scores are persistent. You’ll even get a notification when you have a highscore in a game that was beaten by someone else! Minesweeper, snake and solitaire implement this package.

NEW! [Entertainment addon] The entertainment addon now has an UmbraCoffee app.

This will allow you to watch all UmbraCoffee episodes from the app. But it will also notify you when the next episode is about to begin and when the episode actually begins. You can do the live chat via the app as well. The notifications can be disabled in the settings of the app and in the settings of UmbraDesktop.

Small changes

External packages can now bring their own settings for in the ‘settings’ of UmbraDesktop. The first example is the settings for the screensaver of the accessories package.
The default ‘Umbraco’ theme felt a bit rough, so it was cleaned up with small touchups to colors and fonts.
The ‘snap’ outline when you want to snap a window has been vastly improved visually. On certain brackground you would not see the outline before this change.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Coverage per version: v17, v18 and the v19 dev branch, fetched live from the Umbraco-CMS repository on GitHub
Missing keys per language: click a language to see exactly which keys are missing, grouped by section
Copy as JSON: exports the missing keys in the same shape as a language file
Extra keys: keys a language still has that no longer exist in English
Runs a scan once every 24h

- Keys usage

It counts how many times each key is used, so you can prioritize the keys that will have the highest impact when translated.

- Keys with no static reference

Keys that never show up directly in the source code. Some may be unused, but some might be built dynamically at runtime, so those are flagged rather than declared dead.

How it works

Translation coverage is fetched live from GitHub, so it’s always up to date. A key counts as translated when it exists in the language file, even if the wording is the same as in English.

For key usage, it downloads a snapshot of the Umbraco source code, lists all the translation keys, and searches the whole codebase for each one. If a key shows up somewhere, it’s used. Auto-generated files that simply list every key are excluded, since listing a key isn’t the same as using it.

If you’re not happy with where your native language ended up, maybe now is a great time to open that PR and make a change

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Umbraco.AI.TypeSafe

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

TypeSafe AI provider for Umbraco AI

Umbraco.Community.WhoIsHere

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

See who else has a document open in the backoffice, and which field they are in. A soft lock: it warns, including when someone else saves, but never blocks editing or saving.

My First Umbraco UK Conference 2026: AI, Great Conversations, and the Umbraco Community ❤️

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 18:21:31 Z

My First Umbraco UK Conference 2026: AI, Great Conversations, and the Umbraco Community ❤️

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 18:21:31 Z

From India to London, one event filled with learning, familiar faces, exciting product updates, and a reminder of why I love being part of…

Continue reading on Medium »

New Package: Umbraco.Community.FrontendBlockPreview

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:46:20 Z

Preview Block List and Block Grid blocks in the backoffice rendered by your real frontend, with the editor’s unsaved values. Works with headless frontends on the Content Delivery API or your own API (React, Next.js, Angular, Vue, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, plain JavaScript) and with MVC Razor views. Multisite aware.

Preview Block List and Block Grid blocks in the Umbraco backoffice, rendered by your real frontend, with the editor’s unsaved changes.

Headless on the Content Delivery API: "Renderer": "DeliveryApi", no CMS code.
Headless on your own API: "Renderer": "Custom" plus one small class.
MVC: "Renderer": "Razor" renders each block’s partial view.
Any frontend: React, Next.js, Angular, Vue, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro or plain JavaScript. Add a catch-all route (you probably have one) and one script tag.
Multisite: a frontend URL per site, or your own resolver.
Desktop and mobile widths, live updates while typing.

"FrontendBlockPreview": {
  "Renderer": "DeliveryApi",
  "DefaultFrontendUrl": "https://www.example.com"
}

<script src="https://your-cms/App_Plugins/FrontendBlockPreview/frontend-block-preview.js"
        data-hide="header, footer" defer></script>

See the documentation for every framework, multisite and settings.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

New Package: Umbraco.Community.Search.Provider.AzureAI

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:46:10 Z

After my talk from Umbraco UK Conference, I thought I share my package here too.

An Azure AI Search provider for Umbraco Search. Indexes content in Azure AI Search and serves full text search, filters, facets and sorting, configured from appsettings with automatic field declarations from your content types.

An Azure AI Search provider for Umbraco Search.

Umbraco keeps your Azure indexes up to date as content changes. You query them through Umbraco Search, with full text search, filters, facets, sorting, cultures and protected content.

Getting started

Add the provider in a composer:

public class SearchComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
        => builder
            .AddSearchCore()
            .AddAzureSearchProvider();
}

Then configure it in appsettings.json:

{
  "AzureSearchProvider": {
    "Endpoint": "https://my-service.search.windows.net",
    "ApiKey": "<admin api key>",
    "Indexes": [
      { "Alias": "Products", "ContentTypes": [ "product" ], "AutoFields": true }
    ]
  }
}

Keep the admin API key in user secrets or environment variables (AzureSearchProvider__ApiKey), not in appsettings.json.

On startup the Azure indexes are created, and everything you publish is indexed from then on. AutoFields declares filterable, facetable and sortable fields from the content types’ property editors. If the site already has content, rebuild each index once with IDistributedContentIndexRebuilder. The full documentation shows how.

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Want to help shape the Marketplace and the wider package ecosystem? The Community Package Team is looking for new faces to join us. Applications close Friday 27 November. Keep reading to see what the team does, what we expect and how to apply.

Limbo.Umbraco.Vimeo 13.0.2

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 17:10:37 Z

Video picker for inserting Vimeo videos in Umbraco.

New package: Property Visibility (hide properties, tabs and groups per site)

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:42:56 Z

If you run several sites from one Umbraco installation, you probably share document types between them, and some of their fields only matter on one site. Up to Umbraco 13 you could hide those with a SendingContentNotification handler. That notification is gone since v14, and out of the box Umbraco hides properties per user group, but not tabs or groups, and not per site.

I built Property Visibility for exactly that. You write rules per site (a root node) and the backoffice hides the matching properties, tabs and groups for editors on that site.

What it does:

Hides properties, tabs and groups by alias: on every site, on one site, or on the sites that share a rule set
Works inside blocks too: Block List, Block Grid, Single Block and blocks in the rich text editor
Rules live in appsettings or a JSON file and reload without a restart. JSON schemas give IntelliSense, and a health check reports every alias or root node that doesn’t resolve

A minimal example:

"PropertyVisibility": {
  "Sites": {
    "corporate": {
      "RootNodeKey": "5c2b4d7e-9f1a-4c3e-8b6d-2a1f0e9d8c7b",
      "ContentTypes": {
        "landingPage": { "Containers": ["seoTab"], "Properties": ["relatedLinks"] }
      }
    }
  }
}

To be clear: it changes what editors see, not what they’re allowed to do. Hidden values are still in the Management API, the Delivery API and on the website. For permissions, use Umbraco’s property permissions on user groups.

1.x is for Umbraco 17 (from 17.6.2), 2.x for Umbraco 18 (from 18.2.1), both on .NET 10. On Umbraco 17, use the latest 1.x.

dotnet add package Umbraco.Community.PropertyVisibility

Marketplace · NuGet · GitHub (docs and issues)

Replacing your own v13 handler? The README has a short section on that.

Curious how others handle this today: do you hide fields per site in your own installs, and how?

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 13:45:53 Z

So we’ve all audited Umbraco sites where there are hundreds of media items uploaded to the root of site… even when there is a perfectly structured and complex folder strategy in place, AND EVERYONE agreed to use it.

And in amongst these audits… we’ve often discovered a plethora of duplicate images… sometimes in different folders, sometimes in the same.

And this is across different sites, different industries, different eras of Umbraco. The common thread. is that somehow, in a Media picking scenario… ‘just uploading a new image to the root of the Media section’ is… I don’t know?? - easier? intuitive? quicker?

If only we could talk to the editors and uncover why… if only that were possible! - oh, it turns out you can, you just have to ask.

It is interesting, because everyone is different, and there isn’t one reason behind this behaviour, and yeah yeah yeah, we’ve been talking about redesigning the Media section for years in Umbraco… Jeffreys’s dreams, Steve’s plan, Ravi’s something… and we are likely on the cusp of it happening.

Anyway, the thing that interested me on a human level, of the people using Umbraco, and how it makes them feel, and the learned behaviour that they discover to navigate their editorial tasks efficiently, the beliefs that bubble up, which wouldn’t necessarily be something you’d consider when designing a Media Picker, that just has to pick Media…

Some of the key threads, and I’m paraphrasing:

I won’t be able to find it again.
I don’t know which folder it’s meant to go in
I didn’t know it had already been uploaded by someone else
I didn’t know I had already uploaded it
It takes ages to click through to the Media folder
I can’t remember what the file is called, so it doesn’t appear in search
I just uploaded it to the Media section, but I can’t find where when I come to pick it
What do you mean the media picker has a list view?

etc etc

A revamp of media as a bigger picture thing, probably takes all this into consideration - but what resonated with me, is that feeling of ‘I’ve lost my keys’ - I know they are there but I don’t know where, and I just had them a moment ago. When you remember where they are…there is a Greek word about remembering inate knowledge called Anamnesis and wouldn’t that be a great name for an Umbraco package… and I thought although the Media Picker allows you to search or reorder by last updated, wouldn’t it be nicer, and more Umbracoish, if it said - have you looked on the kitchen table?

So I thought a thin strip of recently uploaded media ‘by me’ and ‘by everyone’

Might be the same ‘on the kitchen table’ helpful reminder?

It definitely improves the picking journey if you’ve just uploaded an image, and you now want to pick it. And it allows you to browse whats been recently uploaded by someone else.

And if you switch to the full recent view, it groups the images by time period ‘Today, Yesterday, This Week’ etc

The main thing that I got from looking at this, and I’m aware this sounds mad - is that ‘Recent Media’ isn’t a filter applied to a list of Media - it’s a ‘place’ in its own right… that you should be able to pick from. It’s a valid way of organising media, a Timeline view, and you see it everywhere in Flickr (if you are old) on your phone, etc

So this package also adds this place to the Media section too!

Editors have politely said they liked it, so this is a bit of an experiment, does this work for other people? it’s switchable configuration wise with the existing Media Picker, so you should be able to swap it over temporarily for a bit and see?

Less politely people have said Anamnesis is a stupid name.. “you can’t even say the word yourself” - that’s not constructive feedback… “nobody will know what it means”…

and that’s why it’s now the Recent Media Picker…

Icon wise… a tricky one, how do you capture the moment of remembering where an image is…

I’ve settled with a polaroid picture, fading… given that sense of nostalgia and the image isn’t far from being grasped…

Anyway, it’s available in the marketplace: Recent Media Picker | Umbraco Marketplace or wherever else you get your Umbraco Packages, be interested in hearing if editors find it useful, if only there were a way we could talk to them.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Umbraco AI - Blog based on document

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 11:45:19 Z

Discover how our AI agent inside Umbraco turns a document into a blog post. Upload your source file, and the agent reads it, pulls out the key points and fills the entire page, with human approval at the right moments.

Introducing HuSignal – Microsoft Clarity Analytics & AI Insights for Umbraco 17

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:31:37 Z

Hi everyone

I recently released HuSignal, a free, open-source package that integrates Microsoft Clarity analytics directly into the Umbraco 17 backoffice.

What does it do?

HuSignal brings Microsoft Clarity behavioural data into Umbraco, allowing editors and developers to:

View Clarity analytics directly within the backoffice.
Identify behavioural signals including rage clicks, dead clicks, quickbacks and scrolling patterns.
Generate AI-assisted reports that analyse behavioural data and highlight potential UX and SEO improvements.

The aim is to make behavioural analytics more accessible within Umbraco and help teams identify potential usability issues without constantly switching between platforms.

The package is built for Umbraco 17 / .NET 10 and is available for free.

Umbraco Marketplace:

I’d be interested to hear any feedback, suggestions or ideas for future features from the Umbraco community!

NEW! Rearrange the launcher

By default, the launcher shows the full catalogue of all available apps in the categories that the catalogue defines. Because editors have different roles, not everything is equally important to everybody. You can now completely customize the launcher to your taste: create or rename categories and drag and drop icons around. The full list of apps remains available in the ‘all apps’ overview.

NEW! Show the preview!

When you are editing content, you get a button to open the preview next to the content you are editing!

It will check what the preview URL is and open that URL in a panel next to the content. So this also works when you have custom URL providers for headless instances. The content refreshes on save. If the target cannot be iFramed (for instance if the X-Frames-Options header does not allow it, you have the option to open it in a new tab anyway.

This also introduces the concept of ‘connected’ windows, where two windows belong to each other. If you don’t have enough space, of if you want to have the preview in a seperate window, you can pop it out the panel:

The preview is now a seperate window that you can handle like any other window, but it is tied to the parent window. If the parent window closes, the preview closes as well. On the taskbar, you can see that these windows are linked by the box around it.

NEW! Notification system!

Because all Windows on UmbraDesktop are iFrames and are essentially all running a seperate frontend instance of Umbraco, each window could have it’s own nottification popups (those are the standard Umbraco notifications that you can in the lower right corner of Umbraco). Those notifications are now aggregated and ONLY show in the lower right corner of the desktop and no longer in each window. The makes it consistent. The latest 20 notifications are also stored and can be access in the notification overview when you click the clock.

This also allowed us to style the notifiications, so that they look like the theme you are currently at. Any warnings or errors will trigger a ‘dot’ with an orange or red color next to the clock.

NEW! Accessories Add-on!
@suedeapple has gone completely mad and created a new optional add-on package: accessories. It contains a number of apps that were on ‘accessories’ on WIndows 98, including a screensaver!

Yes, you can ACTUALLY edit media with Paint and save it back to media. And yes, you can ACTUALLY add shared sticky notes between editors! Did I already say that @suedeapple has gone completely mad?

NEW! Show the instance name on the desktop!

When you multiple Umbraco instances where you are using UmbraDesktop, it’s easy to mistake these instances. In the previous update, we expanded the settings so that when you pinned UmbraDesktop as an app, you could set the instance name and icon. This updates expands on this by allowing you to display the instance name and URL on the desktop.

NEW! Games!

The entertainment add-on package has two new games to play! The first one is snake, created by @suedeapple. The second is solitaire. And yes, it has some Umbraco themes card backs, including the Umbraco rabbit!

EXPERIMENTAL! View remote content!

In the previous version, we introduced the concept of ‘remote connections’. In this version we added a second experimental app: if you have at least one connection to another Umbraco instance, you get the app ‘Remote content’. This app allows you to read-only see the content tree of any remote Umbraco instance.

This is experimental for a reason, because I have yet to see how well this works in real life. Only the data comes from the remote instance, the property editors and all Umbraco UI components are from the local UmbraDesktop instance. This means that you can have version mismatches and if a property editor that is used on the remote instance does not exist on the local instance, it will only show raw JSON. Nevertheless, if this works well enough, it’s a tool where you can easily check some content from other instances.

Small improvements and utilities

Your profile gets migrated to the database on first boot. This means that your profile follows you between browsers and machines on that Umbraco instance. The only exception is ‘boot to desktop’. You need to access the desktop manually once per browser before this settings takes effect. You’ll see a splash screen and message when your data is migrated.
The taskbar now has a button for ‘full screen’. This makes the UmbraDesktop full screen, like pressing F11 on a browser on a Windows machine. This icon can be disabled in settings
Windows can now be properly dragged on a touch screen without a mouse.
Thanks to @suedeapple, by default, your window state is now stored per session. So an accidental F5 will reopen all your active windows. Where applicable, it will remember state, like solitaire. In the settings, you can change this to: none (in case you really hate yourself), or ‘always’, where you windows will be remembered between sessions in the same browser.
The documentation has now been reworked and added as a ‘help’ app in UmbraDesktop. It features documentation for editors (how to use it) and developers (who do I create my own addon packages).

Technical stuff

Packages can now bring their own catalogue definition. The catalogue defines the apps and groups on the launcher. Before this change, the only way to add a catalogue was to create a pull request into this repository. So that’s no longer needed.

What’s Changed

[ENTERTAINMENT] Add Snake to the Entertainment games by @suedeapple in [ENTERTAINMENT] Add Snake to the Entertainment games - Pull Request #82 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Add a full screen button to the taskbar by @suedeapple in Add a full screen button to the taskbar - Pull Request #90 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Store desktop settings on the user account (#29) b@Luuk1983 @Luuk1983 in Store desktop settings on the user account (#29) - Pull Request #92 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Let a package bring its own catalogue (#85)@Luuk1983by @Luuk1983 in Let a package bring its own catalogue (#85) - Pull Request #95 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Show the site’s name on the desktop (#9@Luuk1983) by @Luuk1983 in Show the site's name on the desktop (#93) - Pull Request #96 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Add attached windows and the live preview (#94@Luuk1983 #21) by @Luuk1983 in Add attached windows and the live preview (#94, #21) - Pull Request #98 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Fix touch input: windows can’t be dragged by tou@Luuk1983h (#97) by @Luuk1983 in Fix touch input: windows can't be dragged by touch (#97) - Pull Request #99 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Show a notification once on the desktop, not once in every wi@Luuk1983dow (#72) by @Luuk1983 in Show a notification once on the desktop, not once in every window (#72) - Pull Request #100 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Record what the media drag and paste s@Luuk1983ike found by @Luuk1983 in Record what the media drag and paste spike found - Pull Request #107 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Let users arrange their la@Luuk1983ncher (#59) by @Luuk1983 in Let users arrange their launcher (#59) - Pull Request #106 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Reopen the windows you had open when you come back by @suedeapple in Reopen the windows you had open when you come back - Pull Request #102 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Add Remote content: another instance’s content, r@Luuk1983ad-only (#105) by @Luuk1983 in Add Remote content: another instance's content, read-only (#105) - Pull Request #110 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Give an app window keyboard focus whenever it becomes active by @suedeapple in Give an app window keyboard focus whenever it becomes active - Pull Request #91 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Turn the README into a landing page and move the docs @Luuk1983nto guides (#78) by @Luuk1983 in Turn the README into a landing page and move the docs into guides (#78) - Pull Request #113 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Add the Accessories add-on: Notepad, Paint, Calculator, Clock and more by @suedeapple in Add the Accessories add-on: Notepad, Paint, Calculator, Clock and more - Pull Request #88 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Add Solitaire to the Ente@Luuk1983tainment package by @Luuk1983 in Add Solitaire to the Entertainment package - Pull Request #116 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Add the Help app: installed packages’ docs o@Luuk1983 the desktop (#55) by @Luuk1983 in Add the Help app: installed packages' docs on the desktop (#55) - Pull Request #117 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
Prepare@Luuk1983the 17.3.0 release by @Luuk1983 in Prepare the 17.3.0 release - Pull Request #118 - Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop - GitHub
17.3.0 screenshots: launcher retake and an all-games@Luuk1983Entertainment shot by @Luuk1983 in 17.3.0 screenshots: launcher retake and an all-games Entertainment shot by Luuk1983 · Pull Request #120 · Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop · GitHub

New Contributors

@suedeapple made their first contribution in [ENTERTAINMENT] Add Snake to the Entertainment games by suedeapple · Pull Request #82 · Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop · GitHub

Full Changelog: Comparing v17.2.0...v17.3.0 · Luuk1983/Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop · GitHub

3 posts - 3 participants

Read full topic

Forms Guard for Umbraco Forms released!

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:15:37 Z

I launched V1 of a new Umbraco Forms package I initially created at the London Umbraco Meetup AI Hackathon a few months ago.

So let me introduce to you Forms Guard.

The premise:

Most bot spam is already handled by honeypots and reCAPTCHA. But, what still gets through is the polite, well-written sales pitch: SEO offers, web design, lead generation. Some are created by people, but more and more these days are written by AI. They’re hard to filter with keyword rules without also catching genuine enquiries, and for many organisations a blocked genuine enquiry costs more than a spam email.

So, Forms Guard doesn’t block anything when the form is submitted. Every entry is saved as normal in Umbraco Forms and the visitor sees the usual thank-you message. In the background, some simple rules run first: honeypot, blocked domains, blocked phrases.

If none of those decide the entry, an AI model is asked a few plain questions about it, such as whether it’s an unsolicited sales pitch or a genuine enquiry.

You can set thresholds in the package which then approve the entry, quarantine it, or leave it for a person to review. Notification emails only go out when an entry is approved, and quarantined entries can be restored.

For compliance and data protection, only the fields you allow are sent to the model, email addresses are reduced to just their domain, and the package’s own tables don’t store any field values, so no personal data gets sent to any external models.

The default model is the new trendy kid in town - Jev from TypeSafe AI - and you can also use Umbraco.AI if you aren’t allowed to use Jev from a security perspective. It needs Umbraco 17 and .NET 10.

I’d love it if some people could try it out and let me know a) if it works and b) is it useful!!!

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

New Package - Crumpled.VerifyOwnership

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:15:25 Z

When somebody in an organisation, or your agency or another third-party agency wants to 'claim ownership of a website ’ in order to do Google/Bing Search Console voodoo/analsis (delete as applicable)

Then of course, you just set up a TXT DNS entry on the domain that unequivocally proves the individual has ownership… and you forget about it. And of course they remain verified forever whether they continue to work there or not… (Add it now as a regular maintenance check!)

Or, sometimes, you don’t have access to the DNS, and the client doesn’t want to go through their own IT department ‘for some reasons’ and they ask you to just add a html file to root of the site to prove ownership… and each deployment removes it, and when it rechecks they lose access (not often)… and with fancy build processes these days (what do you mean I can’t use FTP), it’s just easier to add it to source control… and then after a while there are a ton of these html files in the root of the site, just containing ids, and nobody knows which one links to which person and whether they still work here or not… It’s a chore!

In that ‘niche’ situation… there is now Crumpled.VerifyOwnership!

An Umbraco Backoffice dashboard/workspace that allows you to add your unique Google or Bing Search Console IDs, along with your name (so we know who to remove in the future). When added, it serves the 200 response the services look for during the HTML file verification process.

More importantly you can see who is verified and remove them when they leave, and it doesn’t involve a deployment, or cleaning up HTML files, or asking IT departments to set up a DNS entry…

Think of it as the entrance stall to the music festival: it fits the wristband; you show the wristband to Google to verify you have bought a ticket… and let you in #H5YR - or at least that’s what I was thinking for the logo:

(appreciate I’ve overthought that, and yes, as ever, more effort went into the logo than the package)

Available from the Marketplace and all good Umbraco Package retailers. Happy verifying!

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Crumpled.VerifyOwnership

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Google Search Console site-ownership verification for Umbraco - automatically serves the Google verification HTML file and provides a backoffice UI to manage verification codes without a redeploy.

Umbraco AI - Create bilingual blog

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:13:31 Z

Your English website shouldn’t be a translation. In this demo, Umbraco Copilot writes a complete blog post from one prompt. It writes the Dutch version first, then fills in the English version of the same page, with its own search terms, tone and examples. First, Copilot pulls up the content model and the True People writing guidelines. Then it fills in every field and builds the content blocks in Umbraco, for both languages. It’s fully automated, from briefing to finished page.

Umbraco vs Sitecore: Which CMS Is Better for Your Business?

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:26:35 Z

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

uSync.AI.Sync

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

uSync handlers and serializers for Umbraco.AI connections, guardrails, contexts, profiles and settings. API keys are never written to disk.

uSync.AI.Tools

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco.AI agent tools that run uSync reports, exports and imports, each checked against the acting user's uSync access.

Umbraco.Community.LogExplorer

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

A rich log explorer for the Umbraco backoffice and a drop-in replacement for the built-in Log Viewer. Install the package and it takes the Log Viewer's place under Settings, reading the same log files with no configuration. Click values, fields, histogram bars and patterns to build filters without knowing a query language, follow a request in one click, and see the query it runs whenever you want it.

Lait.Umbraco.Awesome.SEO

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

SEO report and action plan inside the Umbraco backoffice. Crawls your site and up to 5 competitors on a schedule, runs 38 SEO checks, gives a health score, shows what changed since last time, compares you side by side with your competitors and builds a prioritised action plan with links straight to the pages in Umbraco. Free and works without any external service. Optional AI (Claude and/or Jev by TypeSafe) explains the changes and makes the plan concrete, with a monthly USD cap. Dashboard UI in Danish.

Chicago: What a Wonderful Town

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 22:56:41 Z

Photo by Aveedibya Dey on Unsplash

Continue reading on Medium »

Chicago: What a Wonderful Town

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 22:56:41 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.TextBox 17.0.0-alpha003

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:44:24 Z

Limbo Textbox (or Limbo.Umbraco.TextBox) is a package that adds new textbox and textarea property editors for Umbraco 10+. While having similar functionality to the build in property editors, this package adds a few extra features.

Advanced Permissions release - keeping up to date + AI for Umbraco 18!

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 11:16:02 Z

It’s time for a double (or triple depending how you look at it) updates for Advanced Permissions! The main packages for v17 and v18 are updated and the optional AI add-on is finally ported to Umbraco 18!

The main package updates

Advanced Permissions v17.4.0 and v18.2.0 introduce a very important and cool feature: cross-browser and tab notifications to keep content up to date (for the nerds: a SignalR connection). This meant that the permissions can react to changes made by other on the fly.

For instance, when you edit a permission, the access viewer will immediately update the moment the changed permissions are saved. This makes sure that the access viewer is always up to date.

The permission editors themselves will also update when the permissions are changed from somewhere else (an other tab, an other browser window, an other editor, AI, you name it). This gives us the oppertunity to also spot possible conflicts. If someone has changed and stored a permission that you have as an unsaved change it wil now alert you:

So this is useful for everybody, but expecially when you are working with multiple windows in my UmbraDesktop package.

Advanced permissions can be found in the marketplace: Advanced Permissions for Umbraco | Umbraco Marketplace

Advanced Permissions AI addon

The advanced permission optional AI addon is finally ported to Umbraco 18. It gives Umbraco CoPilot and the Umbraco CoPilot Workspace view tools to understand how advanced permissions work and how to audit permission questions.

Advanced permissions - AI Copilot Tools can be found in the marketplace as well: Advanced Permissions for Umbraco — AI Copilot Tools | Umbraco Marketplace

1 post - 1 participant

Examine/Lucene index viewer

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:04:56 Z

I let Claude port the Java version of Luke to .net so you don’t need to have the Java Virtual Machine installed: GitHub - SteveVaneeckhout/luke.net: Lucene Index Viewer · GitHub
I have only tested the Windows version but it’s also available for Mac and Linux users.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

How Die Zeit's marketing team builds 600+ landing pages with Umbraco

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:23:36 Z

Die Zeit is one of Germany's most renowned media brands, with 600,000 copies sold. For almost ten years, its acquisition marketing team has used Umbraco to build and run the landing pages behind its campaigns. In this case study, Tim, Marketing Manager at Die Zeit, explains how the team has grown from three people to more than 20 working in Umbraco, and how every marketer can now build their own campaign pages. Today the team runs more than 600 targeted landing pages, and over half of all campaign responses come in through them. The video also covers why reliability matters when campaigns are always live, and why Die Zeit sees Umbraco as the right fit for a flexible, fast-moving marketing team. Chapters 00:00 Over half of all responses 00:15 Meet Tim from Die Zeit 00:38 From 3 to 20+ people in Umbraco 01:08 600+ landing pages for targeted campaigns 01:29 Why Umbraco is the right fit Learn more about Umbraco: www.umbraco.com Read the full case study: https://umbraco.com/case-studies-testimonials/die-zeit/

Arjo.Umbraco.WeglotTranslator

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Weglot-powered machine translation for Umbraco 17+: translated pages served from language-prefixed URLs, backoffice-managed languages and a drop-in language switcher. A licence is required for production use.

AI is changing how I approach Umbraco development

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

Building a PDF metadata dashboard with AI made me reconsider when I reach for Umbraco's standard tools and when a custom extension is worth the maintenance.

My Umbraco India Festival 2026 Experience

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 11:30:00 Z

Looking back at Umbraco India Festival 2026 in Kochi: a hackathon on the Water Metro, recording the sessions, great people, and the next edition in Goa.

Umbraco Management API Wonders

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 10:59:50 Z

You may have heard me talk about Rick Dangerous, a 1989 game I reversed-engineered long ago, which can now be played directly on the web, thanks to WebAssembly. All it takes is one .wasm file, and a couple of .js files. Now, because rick-dangerous.org is running Umbraco, and because it is simpler to have everything in the same place, those files are managed as Umbraco media. So each time I rebuild the game, I need to update those media files. But browsing in the media section is a manual and tedious process. Can we do better? Umbraco Management API The Umbraco Management API is the API that was introduced in order to support the revamped back-office in a clean and independent way. And straight from the beginning, it was meant to be. First create a dedicated API user. Second, authenticate: CLIENT_ID=umbraco-back-office-rick-dangerous-api CLIENT_SECRET=***** API_URL=https://www.zpqrtbnk.net/umbraco/management/api/v1 TOKEN=$( \ curl -s $API_URL/security/back-office/token \ -d "client_id=$CLIENT_ID" \ -d "client_secret=$CLIENT_SECRET" \ -d 'grant_type=client_credentials' \ | jq -r .access_token ) If all goes well, the $TOKEN shell variable now contains your authentication token. We are going to define a simple helper method for invoking the API: curl_api() { METHOD=$1 shift API=$1 shift curl -s \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \ -X $METHOD \ $API_URL/$API "$@" fi } Let us test it by retrieving the authenticated user name: curl_api GET user/current | jq -r .name Now let's assume that the media item containing the WASM file has a given UUID that we have retrieved from the UI, and we want to update its file with the recently built file xrick/build/web/xrick.wasm. This is what it takes: MEDIA_WASM="11467372-23fb-4d45-818b-fc78edf889a6" FILE_WASM=xrick/build/web/xrick.wasm # get the media name (required for updates?) MEDIA_NAME=$( \ curl_api GET media/$MEDIA_WASM | jq -r .variants[0].name ) # create a UUID for the temporary file UUID=$(uuidgen) # upload the file as a temporary file curl_api POST temporary-file -F "Id=$UUID" -F "File=@./$FILE_WASM" # edit the media to remove the current file curl_api PUT media/$MEDIA_WASM \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d "{\"id\":\"$MEDIA_WASM\",\"values\":[{\"alias\":\"umbracoFile\",\"culture\":null,\"segment\":null,\"value\":{}}],\"variants\":[{\"culture\":null,\"segment\":null,\"name\":\"$MEDIA_NAME\"}]}" # edit the media again, with the temporary file curl_api PUT media/$MEDIA_WASM \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d "{\"id\":\"$MEDIA_WASM\",\"values\":[{\"alias\":\"umbracoFile\",\"culture\":null,\"segment\":null,\"value\":{\"src\":\"\",\"temporaryFileId\":\"$UUID\"}}],\"variants\":[{\"culture\":null,\"segment\":null,\"name\":\"$MEDIA_NAME\"}]}" And... that is all. You will want to add some error checking here and there, but basically, this is all it takes to fully script the update of a media file. The list of things that can be done this easily is huge—pretty much anything in fact. Which is absolutely impressive. Loving it, would recommend.

The Umbraco MCP Benchmark: eleven AI models build the same blog

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 Z

I had eleven Anthropic and OpenAI models build the same Umbraco blog through the Umbraco MCP server. Grades, cost, time, honesty and temperament.

The coffee log, rebuilt in .NET

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:24:10 Z

The coffee log, rebuilt in .NET

Back in June I wrote about my coffee machine writing my blog. Smart plug watches the coffee machine, Raspberry Pi watches the plug, bit of Python tells Umbraco I've made a coffee. If you've not read that one, go and read it first, it covers the plug, the KLAP handshake, the controller on the site, all of it. None of that has changed.

So why am I writing about it again? Because I've ripped out the middle bit and rewritten it in .NET. And I know, I know, "it worked, why touch it?" Fair question. Let me explain.

It worked. I just couldn't remember how.

Here's the thing. I write C# all day. I don't write Python all day. So when I came back to the coffee log after a few months, I opened the script and had to learn it all over again. Which virtual env was it? Why is that library pinned to that version? Why is that one line commented out?!

The Python version was written for a Pi Zero, which meant pure Python only and being very careful about what got installed. All sensible at the time. But six months on it just felt like someone else's project.

The Pi has since been upgraded to a 64 bit model, and that opened a door I couldn't resist. .NET can publish self contained. One binary, no runtime to install, no pip, no package manager, nothing. Copy it over, run it. That alone was enough for me to fire up a new solution.

What a month of data taught me

In June the state machine had two ideas. Power goes up and stays up for a few seconds, that's a brew starting. Power drops and stays down for a while, that's a brew finished. Simple, and it mostly worked, because my machine switches itself off after brewing so every on, brew, off is one clean session.

Mostly. Every so often it would log a coffee I hadn't made, and I couldn't tell you why, because all I had was the post on the site and a vague memory of what I'd been doing that morning.

This time round the service writes every brew it detects to a JSON file on the Pi as well as posting it, and honestly that file turned out to be the best thing in the whole project. A month of it and I could see exactly what was going on. Have you ever looked at a month of your own coffee habits as JSON? No? Just me then.

So the detector now has a few more rules. It needs a run of readings above the threshold before it'll commit to a brew, a run below before it'll call one finished, a minimum duration so the short blips get binned, and a cooldown afterwards. That last one is the guard rail I care about most. If I make two or three cups in quick succession, say when we've got people round, it counts as one. I'm not after 100% accuracy here, it's a blog post about coffee, not a billing system. I'd much rather miss the odd cup than post about ones I never made.

Replay mode, or how to tune a coffee machine without drinking 40 coffees

The service logs every raw reading to a CSV, one file per day. And it has a replay mode. Point it at a CSV instead of the plug and it runs the whole day through the detector in about a second, using the timestamps from the file rather than the clock on the wall.

The trick is that the detector doesn't know or care where its readings come from. There's one interface for "give me a power reading", and either the real plug or a CSV file sits behind it. Everything downstream is identical.

mermaid.live

Swap the box on the left and nothing else changes. That's the whole reason it's tunable.

Nothing gets written in replay mode. No CSV, no state, no posts to the site, it doesn't even need credentials. So I can copy a month of captures off the Pi, replay them on the desktop with different settings, and check the results against the times I know I made a coffee. Change a number, run it, a second later I know if it helped. No standing at the machine pulling shots I don't want. No risk of publishing a post about a coffee from August either, which, trust me, I thought about.

Why I stopped retrying

Where a brew goes is now pluggable. There's a JSON file sink, an Umbraco sink, and a mode that does both, and I run both.

In June the Pi had a little pending queue that kept retrying a post until the site answered. Sensible, right? Until you remember the controller creates a node every single time it's called, and there's nothing in the request that lets the site spot a repeat. So if the site processed the request but the response got lost on the way back, the retry publishes the same coffee twice. Two blog posts, one coffee. Nobody needs that.

So the .NET sink deliberately never retries. If a post fails it gets logged and the brew's still sitting in the JSON file on the Pi. A missing post I can fix by hand in a minute. A duplicate one I have to notice first, and I won't.

The afternoon I lost to two keys

Right, confession time. Wiring the Pi back up to the site after a few months away, I went into the backoffice and created an API user. Because that's how you talk to Umbraco from outside, right? Management API, client id, secret, OAuth, all of that.

Not here it isn't. The controller from the June post isn't the Management API at all, it's a plain controller sat inside the site, and the only thing guarding it is one shared secret in an X-Api-Key header. No OAuth, no client id, nothing to create in the backoffice. The same string just has to live in two places, an environment variable on the Live environment in Umbraco Cloud, and the env file on the Pi. That's it. I'd built the thing and forgotten how it worked. Again.

And then, because one mistake is never enough, I put the secret in the wrong setting. The site also needs to know which node to create posts under, and that's a GUID in a setting called BlogParentKey, which sits right next to the API key in the Cloud portal. So for a good while I had a password sat in a field that wanted a GUID and was staring at 401s wondering what on earth was going on.

Deploying is one command now

The service runs under systemd as its own service account, credentials in a separate env file, and the unit file locks it right down. It can only write its own data folder, it can't see home directories, and it never gives up restarting after a power cut, which on a Pi is a matter of when, not if.

Deploying is a single script. Build for arm64, copy the binary over SSH, stop the service, install, start, print the status. It only ever replaces the binary and the default settings. It never touches the env file, the captured data or the detector's saved state, so I can run it at three in the afternoon and nothing gets lost.

So what's actually different?

Same plug. Same site. Same controller. Same daft idea. What's changed is that I can open this project after six months away, run the tests, replay a day of data to see what the detector thinks, and deploy with one command. It went from a thing I built to a thing I can actually maintain. Which, if you read my last post, is sort of the point I've been circling round for a while now.

Right then. Coffee. You'll know when I have.

Headless Umbraco Multi-Site: Vor- und Nachteile mehrerer Websites in einer einzigen Instanz

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:28:33 Z

Unternehmen betreiben heute selten nur eine Website. Konzernportale, Länderseiten, Produktmarken, Karriereportale und Kampagnenseiten…

Continue reading on Medium »

Umbraco vs Strapi vs Sanity: Choosing the right CMS for Asian Businesses

The Umbraco Community Store gets a facelift

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:20:00 Z

Just in time for Christmas! The Umbraco Community Store has had a bit of a facelift. https://umbracocommunity.store/and there are new Chistmas Jumper designs now online! https://umbracocommunity.store/collection/christmas-collection/#umbraco

Building a Six-Language Website in Umbraco: What We Learned

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:33:59 Z

We’ve recently finished building an Umbraco site that needed to support six languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, and there were a few interesting challenges along the way

We’ve written up some of the things we learned around culture variants, shared vs culture-specific properties, Umbraco translations, RTL languages, and handling content that’s automatically synced from an external source and needs to be machine translated.

One of the biggest takeaways was that multilingual content isn’t really one problem, different types of content often need completely different approaches.

Hopefully it’s useful if you’re building (or about to build!) a multilingual Umbraco site.

Building a Six-Language Website in Umbraco: What We Learned

Would be interested to hear how other people are approaching multilingual builds in Umbraco too, particularly where automated/external content is involved.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Umbraco Security: A Practical Guide to Protecting Your CMS

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 11:22:56 Z

A website can look perfectly healthy while an old contractor account still works, a private PDF opens without a login, and a security…

Continue reading on Medium »

Umbraco Kent Meetup - 21st September 2026 - Contentment

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:50:19 Z

A casual demo and overview of Contentment from Lee Kelleher

Umbraco Kent Meetup - 21st September 2026 - Contentment

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:25:58 Z

A casual demo and introduction of Contentment from Lee Kelleher

ContentCalendar.V17

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco Upgrade Decisions: Start With Knowing Where You Stand

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

This post explains that deciding whether to stay on, upgrade or rewrite an Umbraco site should start with an honest assessment of the current version, runtime, vulnerabilities, package dependencies, theme coupling and technical debt. It also highlights wider operational factors such as performance, accessibility, usability and changing traffic patterns, so the decision is based on evidence rather than assumptions. Continue reading

The coffee log, rebuilt in .NET

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

My coffee machine still writes my blog, but the Pi now runs .NET. Why I rewrote it, what a month of data taught me, and the afternoon I lost to two keys.

Dragonfly.UmbracoFlavoredMarkdownExtensions

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Additional UFM Components and tools for Umbraco 17+ sites.

Multi-Site Umbraco without the shared-tree mess

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 22:00:00 Z

At some point in a multi-site Umbraco project, someone creates a "Global" or "Shared" content node to hold whatever multiple sites need in common, and it never stops growing. Six months later it's holding navigation overrides, campaign banners some sites don't use, and properties nobody remembers the purpose of. This isn't really a technical failure, it's what happens when a single-site content model gets stretched across multiple sites without anyone deciding what "shared" actually means. Getting the structure right from the start, across content, media, permissions and search, keeps the tree something editors can still read a year later.

Introducing Umbraco.Community.PropertyNavigator

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:30:00 Z

Umbraco.Community.PropertyNavigator brings back the v13 Content field dropdown for Umbraco 17 — click the Content view to search and jump straight to any property on a node.

umbraCoffee - The September Shift

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:45:06 Z

Welcome to your monthly dose of #umbraCoffee! Your hosts - Marcin and Callum - together with their guest(s) will drive through all of the community news and happenings in the Umbraco world. So... grab a cuppa, join us LIVE and enjoy! See ya?! --- ☕ Wanna buy us a coffee/pizza/donuts? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/umbracoffee --- Notes: // TODO

Our.Umbraco.BlockFieldVisibility

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Hide page and block editor fields in the backoffice—content stays in the database.

Umbraco.Community.PropertyNavigator

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Find and jump to any field on a content node. Click the active Content view for a dropdown of every field (like v13); type to filter, click to jump. Search box, descriptions and aliases are configurable via appsettings.

Most Automation Is a Decision, Not a Conversation

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Most of the AI steps I see people build into automations aren’t really about generating anything. They’re about deciding something. Is this comment...

Umbraco Kent Meetup - Hybrid - Monday 19th October 2026 @ 7pm

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:51:53 Z

Join us on Monday 19th October at 7pm for the next Umbraco Kent Meetup. It’s a hybrid event, so you can come along in person in Rochester or join online.

Not based in Kent? No problem, you’re very welcome to join remotely from home.

This month we’ll have a talk from Richard Howell, followed by a chat about our takeaways from the Umbraco UK Conference the week before.

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

UmbraDesktop 17.2.0 is here! Lot's of improvements and quality of life updates!

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:47:47 Z

This release has a lot of small improvements and quality of life changes that make working with the UmbraDesktop much more enjoyable.

NEW! Window snapping

Window snapping is now a thing! You can drag any window to the top, left or right edges of the screen and it will snap it there. It remembers it’s previous state, so if you unsnap, it will return to it’s previous size

NEW! Boot directly into the desktop mode + loading screens

A setting was added where you can specifiy that you want to directly boot into desktop mode after login. It will now display the most awesome splashscreen with a loader. I liked the loading animation that much, that I also used it for when the content of a window is loading

NEW! Install Umbraco as an app!

A manifest definition was added that identifies the desktop as a web app. Most browsers will give you an option to install it as an app. You can specify the Name of the app and a custom icon if desired. This makes sure that if you have multiple Umbraco instances with UmbraDesktop, you can easily identify them by name and/or icon.

NEW! Language and region

You can now set the regional format on how dates and times are written. The default is the culture of the backoffice, but because the default backoffice is en-US with a 12h clock you can now change that. Currently, this only effects the clock, but in the future this could mean more things. You can also directly change the backoffice language for you from this please instead of having to go to the user section (which you don’t always have access to).

NEW! A ‘breadcrumb’ bar

Each window that has a path (any window with a sidebar, like the content editor or media editor) now has a breadcrumb bar at the top. Previously it was almost impossible to get back to the root of a section and view the dashboards. This takes care of that.

NEW! Taskbar settings

The taskbar/dock now has two settings the influence the presence of two sets of icons:

If you have the Umbraco AI CoPilot workspace installed, it will now show a chat icon from where you can open the CoPilot window. This is explicitly limited to a single window.
Your pinned ‘apps’ now also appear on the taskbar/dock as well as in the launcher.

Both these are enabled by default.

UPDATE! Styling and appearance

The styling and theming options have been reworked to be much more faithful in reflecting what you’d get. Each theme now has an attached background image and you can choose to match the background to the theme if you want to. Picking a custom background automatically disabled this setting to prevent accidental overrides.

You can now also set the Umbraco theme (light/dark/high contrast) directly from the desktop settings instead of the default user menu, making it more convenient.

UPDATE! Settings reworked

The settings menu had an overhaul and now consist of multiple categories. This was needed because of the increase of settings. I’m considering making the settings a proper window, but for now it’s still a modal.

EXPERIMENTAL! Connect to other environments

I’ve added an experimental feature where you can connect to other environments. This is a very first test on how we can work with different Umbraco instances in one desktop.

In the settings, you can add multiple instances. You need to create an API user per target environment and provide that when adding the instance in UmbraDesktop. The API key is written away as securely as possible the same way Umbraco does it and you cannot retreive it anymore after it’s saved.

Once you have at least one additional environment setup, an experimental section is added to the launcher with an ‘Connection status’ app. This for now will show the run state the Umbraco version and the runtime mode.

Like I said, this is a first step and kind of a proof of concept on what we can do. Don’t expect full editing of multiple environments though, that is practically impossible. But for instance a health check dashboard, or dragging and dropping media between environments could be in the cards.

3 posts - 2 participants

Read full topic

New Package - Umbraco.Community.TipTopTipTap

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:57:38 Z

There are some really cool TipTap extensions that exist in the TipTapASphere, we thought it might be good to have an open source package that brought them all together as options into Umbraco? to make Tip Tap more Tip Top.

The one thing that most of our clients who’ve upgraded to v17 have flagged, is when they cut and paste from word into the TipTap editor it’s not quite the same experience as v13 and TinyMce, in terms of the stripping of inline styles and the cleaning up of markup generally…

… we then found this existing TipTap office extension: @intevation/tiptap-extension-office-paste

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 08:44:09 Z

Dyfort.Umbraco.HTagEditor

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

H-tag editor is a simple property editor that lets the editor pick a desired heading size (H1 down to H6) and the text-alignment (left, center or right). This package is a fork of [mastrup/ourHtagEditor](https://github.com/mastrup/ourHtagEditor)

Smidge 5 is out

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:28:07 Z

Smidge 5 is out Smidge 5.0.0 is out on NuGet! It's been about a year since the last release, so sorry 'bout that 😅. This one turned into a proper major version rather than another collection of small fixes: Smidge is now on .NET 10, NUglify is the only minifier, the MVC dependency is gone, the package structure is simpler, and a few long-running production bugs have finally been tracked down properly. The full release notes have every detail. This is the story behind the parts that matter most. One minifier instead of three Smidge has historically shipped with its own hand-rolled JavaScript and CSS minifiers, JsMinifier and CssMinifier, while also offering NUglify through the separate Smidge.Nuglify package. That made sense when those minifiers were first added, but over time it meant maintaining two different approaches to the same job. The built-in implementations had their own edge cases and bugs, while NUglify was already the better maintained and more capable option. In v5 the old JSMin and CSSMin implementations are gone. NUglify is now included directly in the main Smidge package and is used automatically by the normal AddSmidge() and UseSmidge() setup. The separate Smidge.Nuglify package, along with AddSmidgeNuglify() and UseSmidgeNuglify(), is no longer needed. This is a breaking change, but it's also a much simpler default. There is one minification pipeline, one set of behaviour to test, and source maps work without having to opt into another package. .NET 10 and no more MVC dependency Smidge now targets .NET 10. The old MVC controllers used to serve bundle, composite-file and source-map requests. Those have been replaced with lightweight minimal API endpoints, with the old action-filter behaviour moved into endpoint filters. That removes the MVC dependency entirely. If you're using Smidge in a small ASP.NET Core app you no longer need to pull MVC into the application just to serve a CSS or JavaScript bundle. As part of that work, the old Smidge.Core project has also been folded into Smidge. There isn't much value in making consumers understand the internal package split, and having the public surface spread across assemblies made the dependency graph harder to follow than it needed to be. The practical result is fewer packages, fewer setup methods and less framework machinery underneath it all. The random bundle crash was actually a race condition There have been a couple of reports over the years of Smidge suddenly throwing a NullReferenceException from BundleFileSetGenerator.ValidateFile. The frustrating part was that it only seemed to happen in production, often after an application had been running for a while, and recycling the app pool would make it disappear. The immediate symptom was a null file entry inside a bundle, but there was no obvious path that intentionally added one. I added defensive checks so a bad entry could be logged and skipped instead of taking down the entire bundle response, but that still didn't explain how it got there. The missing clue came from somebody who found that wrapping their view-based bundle registration in an application-level lock made the problem go away. That pointed at the real problem. BundleManager is a singleton and its bundle dictionary was thread-safe, but each bundle stored its files in a normal List. View-based declarations can run from multiple concurrent requests, which meant multiple threads could call List.Add on the same list at the same time. List doesn't support concurrent writers, and if two additions collided during an internal resize the list could lose entries or end up with null slots. It wasn't the cache buster, app pool idle state or a missing source file. It was memory corruption inside a concurrently mutated list. Bundle.Files is now backed by an immutable list and updated with ImmutableInterlocked.Update. Reads get a complete, unchanging snapshot with no locking cost, and concurrent writers use a compare-and-swap loop rather than corrupting the same backing array. There are also defensive null checks at bundle creation and file-set generation, because a bad input still shouldn't turn into a broken page. A concurrency test that registers files from 50 tasks at once reliably lost entries against the old implementation. With the new implementation every file is present and there are no nulls. This is probably the most important fix in the release even if it's not the flashiest one. Missing cache files now return 404 The other production hardening work is around stale or invalid bundle URLs. Composite bundle URLs contain references to already-processed cache files. If the cache was cleared, an in-memory cache disappeared after an application restart, or somebody deliberately requested a made-up file hash, Smidge used to call a throwing file lookup. That surfaced as a 500 and could be triggered repeatedly, which made it a fairly easy denial-of-service path. The HTTP-facing composite and source-map handlers now use non-throwing lookups. If a requested cache file isn't there, Smidge returns a normal 404 instead of throwing. Internal invariants still throw where they should - a source file configured in a real bundle disappearing is different from an arbitrary client asking for a stale cache path. The same work fixed an older source-map issue where an unexpected sourceMappingURL request could fail with Could not parse ... as a valid smidge path. Invalid or missing source-map requests now just return 404, which is what the browser expects anyway. Globs and directory bundles There are a couple of smaller file-matching fixes that are worth calling out. Pointing a bundle at a bare directory used to expand it to *.*. That could pull generated files such as .js.gz or .map into a JavaScript bundle and then hand binary gzip data to NUglify, which ended about as well as you'd expect. Bare directory bundles are now constrained to the bundle type, so JavaScript bundles get .js files and CSS bundles get .css files. Recursive glob patterns are supported as well: bundles.CreateCss("site", "~/assets/css/**/*.css"); They already worked for the common physical-file-provider case through .NET's built-in globbing support, but the fallback used for embedded and composite file providers didn't understand the **.css form correctly. Both **.css and **/*.css now behave consistently across providers. Breaking changes This is a major version, so there are a few things to account for when upgrading: Smidge now targets .NET 10. Smidge.Core has been merged into Smidge and the separate assembly no longer exists. Smidge.Nuglify, AddSmidgeNuglify() and UseSmidgeNuglify() are no longer needed. NUglify is built into the normal Smidge setup. The old built-in JsMinifier and CssMinifier are gone. A few old MVC handler and filter types are now internal implementation details. Bundle.Files is now IReadOnlyList rather than a mutable List. Use Bundle.AddFile(IWebFile) if you need to add files programmatically. For most applications the upgrade should mainly be removing the old NUglify-specific setup and package reference, then rebuilding against .NET 10. If you only used the standard AddSmidge() / UseSmidge() APIs and predefined bundles, there shouldn't be much else to change. Build and release cleanup The dependency set has been brought up to date, including the Microsoft.Extensions packages, SourceLink, xUnit, the test SDK and Moq. I've also replaced GitVersion with MinVer. The version now comes directly from the Git tag: normal builds produce a 5.0.0-ci. prerelease version and the v5.0.0 tag produces exactly 5.0.0. It's considerably less machinery for what Smidge needs. Give it a go Smidge 5.0.0 is available on NuGet, and the source and full release notes are on GitHub. This release took longer than it should have, but it also ended up being more substantial than I'd originally planned. The package setup is simpler, the runtime surface is smaller, and the two worst classes of production failure - corrupted bundle registrations and attacker-reachable cache misses turning into 500s - are now properly fixed rather than worked around. If you run into anything while upgrading, please open an issue. And thanks to everyone who kept reporting the weird, hard-to-reproduce failures over the years. Those are never the fun ones to investigate, but in this case they led to a much better fix than another null check 🙂

Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival (2026)

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:30:31 Z

During the first edition of the Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival, Lottie and Sebastian from Umbraco HQ took the audience through a year…

Continue reading on Medium »

3 cool new packages released: TrueCopy, ErrorDashboard and ContentDashboard

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 01:34:35 Z

Last weekend I tried to use Claude for making an Umbraco plugin with the new backoffice and to my surprise it works pretty well! I was able to make 3 plugins that I’ve always wanted to make based on my experience with Umbraco and working with customers over the last 10 years. I’m sure any of you can find at least 1 plugin that will enhance your Umbraco experience.

TrueCopy - TrueCopy for Umbraco | Umbraco Marketplace
Ever needed to copy a whole site within Umbraco? What’s the first thing you do after the pages are copied? You go into the new pages and fix all the links because they still point to the original pages. This plugin will go through all the copied pages and point the links to the new pages.

ErrorDashboard - Error Dashboard for Umbraco | Umbraco Marketplace
Browsers can send a report to your website in case they encounter a 404, 500, SSL or connection issue. This plugin collects those reports and sends an email in case there is a sudden spike of errors. (This only works with Chrome-based browsers for now. Firefox might support it in the future, it’s behind a flag)

ContentDashboard - Content Dashboard for Umbraco | Umbraco Marketplace
This is for when you have a whole team of content editors working on the site. You can assign/transfer ownership of pages to users and see which pages are scheduled to be (un)published.

I made the plugins for Umbraco 18 instead of 17 LTS since they are all new and not battle tested yet. If you want to try out a plugin without installing it on your own site you can easily clone the repository and run the included sample website.

2 posts - 1 participant

Read full topic

Umbraco.Community.SchemeWeaver.TypeSafe

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Calibrated, typed AI judgments for SchemeWeaver's Schema.org auto-mapper, powered by TypeSafe System One (Jev). No LLM provider, no prompt parsing: the model selects from closed option sets and code owns the rules.

ByteEditor 17 Release: Rebuilt for Umbraco 17, with a New Design Token System

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 17:20:14 Z

Hello Umbraco Community,

I’m happy to share that ByteEditor Website Builder 17 package is here! A full migration to Umbraco 17 and .NET 10 — rebuilt from the ground up for the new Umbraco backoffice. This release focuses on what matters most for a major platform jump: stability and a solid foundation for what’s next.

Here’s what’s new in ByteEditor 17 Release:
Full Umbraco 17 & .NET 10 support. Rebuilt every editor extension and block preview for the new Lit-based backoffice.
Design Builder is now token-based. One structured system for colors, typography & buttons — change a token, and every block across your site updates instantly.
Live SEO Page Structure & Content Stats Tabs. Separate tabs to see your full heading outline and keyword density update in real time, right inside the Page Builder — no save required.
Per-block Theme Variants in an individual card, banner, or layout block.
Automatic upgrade script included. Migrating from an older version? The package migrates your existing content and design data to v17 for you.

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:52:39 Z

Video picker for inserting YouTube videos in Umbraco.

Limbo.Umbraco.UrlPicker 17.0.0-alpha002

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:42:11 Z

Umbraco package that extends the functionality of Umbraco's build-in Multi URL Picker property editor.

Limbo.Umbraco.TextBox 17.0.0-alpha002

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:37:21 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.Tables 17.0.0-alpha002

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:32:48 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.Tables is a package for Umbraco featuring property editor for building table based content.

Limbo.Umbraco.Skyfish 17.0.0-alpha002

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:26:11 Z

Video picker for inserting Skyfish videos in Umbraco.

Limbo.Umbraco.Seo 17.0.0-alpha003

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:49:24 Z

SEO package for Umbraco.

Limbo.Umbraco.MediaPicker 17.0.0-alpha002

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:37:32 Z

Umbraco package that extends the functionality of Umbraco's build-in media picker property editor.

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 07:47:19 Z

Umbraco CMS 17.7.0

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 07:47:16 Z

FestiveUmbraco

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Temporarily transforms the Umbraco backoffice into a festive experience during date ranges you choose. Eight themes (Christmas, Halloween, New Year, Diwali, Valentine's Day, Easter, St Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving), each with its own subtle background effect, an occasional themed cameo, and a celebratory toast on publish. Run a single theme for one occasion, or plan the whole year ahead with a schedule that switches itself over. Backoffice only, off by default, and it never touches your content or your front end.

Umbraco.AI.Moonshot

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Moonshot AI (Kimi) provider for Umbraco AI

UBookIt.Web

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

What a visitor actually sees: the uBookIt booking flow's Razor views and view components, the booking page document type, the delivery API, and a stylesheet a site can restyle or replace. The markup itself is replaced by supplying a theme. Part of uBookIt, a booking system for Umbraco; install the UBookIt package rather than this one.

Umbraco.AI.Alibaba

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Alibaba Cloud (Qwen) provider for Umbraco AI

UBookIt.Persistence

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Entity Framework Core storage for uBookIt: entities, the DbContext, the Umbraco migration plan and the repositories behind the domain's store abstractions. Requires SQL Server — SQLite is not supported. Part of uBookIt, a booking system for Umbraco; install the UBookIt package rather than this one.

Umbraco.AI.OpenRouter

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

OpenRouter provider for Umbraco AI

UBookIt.Backoffice

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

The uBookIt backoffice: a Bookings section for managing bookable resources, availability, services and reservations, built with Lit and the Umbraco UI Library, plus the Management API behind it. Part of uBookIt, a booking system for Umbraco; install the UBookIt package rather than this one.

UBookIt

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

A booking system for Umbraco 17: bookable resources, availability rules, services, and a booking flow a visitor can complete without JavaScript. Install this package — it brings the domain, the storage, the backoffice section and the front-end rendering. Requires Umbraco 17 (LTS) and SQL Server.

Umbraco.AI.ZAI

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Z.AI provider for Umbraco AI

Umbraco.Community.Search.Examine.Reindex

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Add on for the Umbraco Search Examine provider that adds a re-index function to the backoffice UI

DarkStrata.CredentialCheck.Umbraco

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Blocks compromised passwords and logins for Umbraco members and backoffice users by checking them against the DarkStrata breach corpus using k-anonymity. Passwords never leave your server.

Umbraco.Community.Security.WindowsAuthentication

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Lets the Umbraco backoffice run behind IIS Windows Authentication with anonymous authentication disabled, without affecting front-end, member or custom authentication.

Running the Umbraco backoffice behind Windows Authentication

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

From Umbraco 14 onwards, the backoffice stops working on sites where IIS has Windows Authentication on and anonymous authentication off. Here's why that happens, and a small package that fixes it for Umbraco 17 and 18.

Element.Preview

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Preview every page an Umbraco Element is used on, before you publish it.

Skybrud.Umbraco.Redirects 17.1.0-beta002

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 20:49:51 Z

Award winning redirects manager for Umbraco.

Upgrading Umbraco 13 to 17 on Umbraco Cloud? Set the .NET runtime first

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:30:00 Z

Umbraco Cloud deploy failing with NETSDK1045 after a 13 to 17 upgrade? The .NET runtime setting in the Cloud portal needs changing.

Limbo.Umbraco.Spa 17.0.0-alpha001

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:03:32 Z

SPA (single page application) package for Umbraco.

Limbo.Umbraco.Spa 13.0.0

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:53:18 Z

SPA (single page application) package for Umbraco.

Limbo.Umbraco.Seo 17.0.0-alpha002

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:41:38 Z

SEO package for Umbraco.

Manage video in Umbraco, stream elsewhere

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

uMux now supports Umbraco 18, joined by uBun and uGum for syncing local videos to Mux, Bunny Stream or Gumlet without changing the editor workflow.

If we want Umbraco to grow, we need to start with the next generation

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

How can education help Umbraco grow in new markets? Jonas Poulsen shares why introducing more developers to Umbraco can help build stronger local ecosystems.

How I built the Umbraco Kent Meetup website using Umbraco and Astro

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

How I built the Umbraco Kent Meetup site headless on Umbraco 17 and Astro, hosted on Azure for less than a Cloud starter, without writing any of the code myself.

Limbo.Umbraco.MultiNodeTreePicker 17.0.0-alpha002

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 15:02:46 Z

Umbraco package that extends the functionality of Umbraco's build-in Multinode Treepicker property editor.

Umbraco Cloud: From Running Projects to Growing Portfolios

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:35:27 Z

Most Umbraco agencies are running multiple client projects. Many are responsible for portfolios of ten, twenty, or hundreds of websites. Every new project brings more infrastructure to maintain, more environments to manage, more upgrades to plan, and more time spent on operational work that doesn’t directly create value for clients. The question isn't whether Umbraco Cloud has matured — it has. The question is whether your delivery model has kept pace with what's now possible on it. Join Umbraco HQ and agency leaders for an honest discussion about how Umbraco Cloud has evolved, what the latest Codegarden announcements mean in practice, and how leading partners are using Cloud to simplify operations, improve delivery, and support long-term portfolio growth. Whether you’re reviewing your hosting strategy ahead of 13 end of life, looking to reduce infrastructure overhead, or simply exploring what’s changed in Umbraco Cloud, this session will help you make an informed decision. Why watch: ✔️ Understand whether Cloud makes commercial sense for your agency today ✔️ Understand the new dedicated resource and load balancing options ✔️ Get practical insight from agencies already running production portfolios on Cloud ✔️ Understand what the 13 end-of-life means for your hosting strategy Learn more about Umbraco Cloud: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cloud/ Discover our support agreements: https://umbraco.com/products/support/

Limbo.Umbraco.Seo 17.0.0-alpha001

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:26:06 Z

SEO package for Umbraco.

PartnerDashboard

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

A branded partner dashboard for the Umbraco backoffice: a customizable welcome message, rotating marketing tips, latest blog posts pulled from an RSS feed, and customer care contact details.

Umbraco.Community.UmbraDesktop.Entertainment

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Games for UmbraDesktop. An optional add-on that puts Minesweeper on the desktop, in a window of its own and themed along with the rest of it.

Limbo.Umbraco.MultiNodeTreePicker 17.0.0-alpha001

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:40:29 Z

Umbraco package that extends the functionality of Umbraco's build-in Multinode Treepicker property editor.

Umbraco.Community.uGum

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Automatically sync local video assets from Umbraco to Gumlet

Umbraco.Community.uBun

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Automatically sync local video assets from Umbraco to Bunny Stream

UmbHost.FallbackImagePickerProperty

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

An Umbraco image picker property editor with a fallback/default image that editors can optionally override. Maintained by UmbHost (continuation of the original Wholething package).

Umbraco.Community.RazorSearch

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Search rendered page content with Umbraco Search. Configurable CSS and published-property extraction, language variants, background rebuilds and an optional Examine companion.

Writing My First Umbraco Extension: Building ThtaAI

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Building my first Umbraco extension: lessons learned creating ThtaAI, from AI-powered property editors to full page generation and publishing.

UmbHost.FallbackTextProperty

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

An Umbraco property editor with a fallback/default value (Mustache template over node properties) that editors can optionally override. Maintained by UmbHost (continuation of the original Wholething package).

Limbo.Umbraco.Boolean 17.0.0-alpha001

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:16:07 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.Boolean is a small package for Umbraco that adds a new boolean property editor which some extra functionality compared to Umbraco's build-in boolean property editor.

Limbo.Umbraco.RecycleBin 17.0.0-alpha001

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 08:22:35 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.RecycleBin is small package for Umbraco that takes out the trash.

UMBFY.Umbraco.ContentGuard

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

UMBFY Content Guard protects Umbraco content integrity with Where Used, Safe Delete, Publish Guard, Content Health, multilingual dependency validation, and dependency impact analysis. Detects supported references across Content, Media, Rich Text Editor internal links, Multi URL Picker, and nested Block Grid content for Umbraco CMS 17 and 18.

Umbraco.Community.Catalyst

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco Catalyst is a backend-extending package for Umbraco CMS with useful, out-of-the-box property editors and backoffice extensions. It currently includes Star Rating, CDN Image, and TipTap Emoji, with more features planned over time.

umContactManager

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco backoffice package for managing contact form submissions, email history, and related CRM workflows. Centralizes incoming leads, spam filtering, outbound email, notifications, and optional AI assistance — with shared validation for built-in forms, same-site custom UIs, and external API sources.

Limbo.Umbraco.Time 17.0.0-alpha001

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:34:19 Z

Umbraco package featuring a number of property editors related to picking date and time.

Production-Grade Umbraco Hosting on Azure: Designing for High-Traffic Marketing Websites

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:44:14 Z

How we designed a scalable, secure, privately connected Umbraco platform using Azure App Service, Front Door, Private Endpoints, NAT…

Continue reading on Medium »

Diagnosing a Redis session timeout that only happened in production

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

A StackExchange.Redis 3 upgrade caused session timeouts that only appeared in production, and the real cause turned out to be .NET ThreadPool starvation rather than the client itself.

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Turns keyword mentions in Umbraco rich text and markdown into links to the corresponding page or external link, at render time, with no editor action required. Stored markup is never modified, so an article picks up a link the day somebody adds the keyword. Keywords live in a backoffice section of their own rather than on your document types, and point at a page or an external URL through Umbraco's Multi URL Picker. Shows which pages carry links and lets individual ones be switched off. Multilingual.

The First Umbraco India Festival

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 14:44:00 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.Vimeo 17.0.0-alpha001

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 13:32:45 Z

Video picker for inserting Vimeo videos in Umbraco.

Resetting an Umbraco Backoffice Password at the Database Level

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 06:44:23 Z

Resetting an Umbraco Backoffice Password at the Database Level

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 06:44:23 Z

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Our own website spent years at the bottom of the list. Last year we rebuilt it on Umbraco 13, moved it to 17, rewrote every page and did the SEO work properly. Here is what we did and what we would do differently.

Rebuilding our Umbraco Website

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco 2-way relations - Umbraco Features You Didn't Know You Needed

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:47:52 Z

Relations in Umbraco: asking the question your picker can't answer

You've probably used a Content Picker (or a Multinode Treepicker) to wire content together. A page picks a banner, a landing page picks a set of related articles, a policy picks the older policy it replaces. That gives you one direction for free: open the page, and you can see exactly what it points at.

But pickers only answer one question. "What does this page use?" is easy. "What uses this?" is not. The picker property lives on the node that did the picking, not on the node that got picked. If you want to go the other way, your only option is make the pages hierarchical or to loop over every piece of content in the tree and check whether its picker field happens to mention the node you care about.

That's exactly the gap Umbraco's Relations are for. A Relation is a first-class, queryable link between two entities that you can walk in either direction via IRelationService: GetByParentId for "what does this point at", GetByChildId for "what points at this". This post walks through a small example project that uses a Relation to answer a question a picker alone can't.

The scenario: policies that supersede each other

Imagine a "Policy Page" doctype. Editors write a new policy, and pick (via a normal Multinode Treepicker) which older policy or policies it supersedes. That's a completely standard one-way relationship: new policy → picks → old policy.

The picker answers "which policies does this one supersede" perfectly well. What it can't answer is the question an editor actually asks when they land on an old policy page: "Has this been superseded, and by what?" Nothing on that old policy's own data points back to the newer one — the pick lives entirely on the other node. Short of scanning every Policy Page in the site for one whose supersedes field happens to mention this node's ID, there's no way to answer it.

Why not just use Umbraco's built-in "Related Document" relation?

Umbraco ships a built-in relation type for exactly this kind of document-to-document link, aliased umbDocument. It would technically work — except it's a single shared, undifferentiated bucket. Anything in Umbraco (media picker usages, link pickers, whatever else) can write a generic document-to-document reference into it, so a reverse lookup on umbDocument can't reliably tell you "which policy superseded this one" versus any other unrelated reference someone else recorded into the same bucket.

The fix is a relation type of your own policySupersedes so a reverse lookup on that alias only ever returns the thing you actually care about.

The implementation

The example lives in four files.

1. The doctype and the picker. Add a "Policy Page" content type with a bodyText richtext property and a supersedes Multinode Treepicker, filtered so it can only pick other Policy Pages.

This is the plain, one-way picker. Nothing special yet.

2. Syncing the picker into a Relation. PolicySupersedesRelationSyncHandler listens for ContentSavedNotification. Every time a Policy Page is saved, it wipes out whatever relations already exist for that node under the policySupersedes alias and rebuilds them from whatever's currently picked:

    public void Handle(ContentSavedNotification notification)
    {
        foreach (IContent content in notification.SavedEntities)
        {
            if (content.ContentType.Alias == PolicyPageContentTypeAlias)
            {
                SyncSupersedesRelations(content);
            }
        }
    }

    private void SyncSupersedesRelations(IContent newPolicy)
    {
        IRelationType relationType = _relationService.GetRelationTypeByAlias(ExampleConstants.RelationTypeAlias)
            ?? CreateRelationType();

        foreach (IRelation existingRelation in _relationService.GetByParentId(newPolicy.Id, ExampleConstants.RelationTypeAlias))
        {
            _relationService.Delete(existingRelation);
        }

        foreach (int supersededPolicyId in GetPickedContentIds(newPolicy))
        {
            var relation = new Relation(newPolicy.Id, supersededPolicyId, relationType)
            {
                Comment = $"Marked as superseded on {DateTime.UtcNow:u}",
            };
            _relationService.Save(relation);
        }
    }

As shown above, you can also add a comment to a relation, which we use to store additional information on when the policy was superseded in our example, which can then be shown again on the Policy page.

The relation type itself is created on demand as non-bidirectional, Document-to-Document, and importantly isDependency: true:

    private IRelationType CreateRelationType()
    {
        var relationType = new RelationType(
            "Policy Supersedes",
            ExampleConstants.RelationTypeAlias,
            isBidrectional: false,
            parentObjectType: Constants.ObjectTypes.Document,
            childObjectType: Constants.ObjectTypes.Document,
            isDependency: true,
            key: null);
        _relationService.Save(relationType);
        return relationType;
    }

3. Wiring it up. Add the notification handler with the standard IComposer boilerplate, nothing Relations-specific.

4. Reading both directions in the view. This is where the payoff shows up. policyPage.cshtml reads the picker property directly for the forward direction, and calls RelationService.GetByChildId for the reverse direction, the direction the picker alone could never give you:

var supersededByRelations = RelationService.GetByChildId(Model.Id, ExampleConstants.RelationTypeAlias);

@if (supersededByRelations.Any())
{
    <div style="border: 2px solid red; padding: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
        <strong>This policy has been superseded.</strong>
        <ul>
            @foreach (var relation in supersededByRelations)
            {
                var newerPolicy = ContentQuery.Content(relation.ParentId);
                if (newerPolicy is not null)
                    {
                        <li>
                            Replaced by <a href="@newerPolicy.Url()">@newerPolicy.Name</a>
                            <br />
                            <small>@relation.Comment</small>
                        </li>
                    }
            }
        </ul>
    </div>
}

Open an old policy that's been superseded, and the page now knows it without ever scanning the rest of the tree.

The other payoff: you can't delete a still-referenced policy without a warning

Setting IsDependency = true on the relation type isn't just documentation, it plugs straight into Umbraco's own dependency checks. Try to delete or unpublish a policy that's still marked as superseded by another one, and the backoffice will warn you it's in use, the same way it would for a media item still referenced by a Content Picker elsewhere.

This is the practical version of "what if you need to delete a shared component, but three pages still reference it": with a plain picker, deleting the referenced item is silent and the reference just breaks. With a proper Relation, Umbraco already knows something depends on it and stops you.

When to reach for this

A picker is enough when you only ever need to ask "what does this content point at", the normal, forward direction.
The built-in "Related Document" relation is fine for generic, low-stakes cross-references where you don't care about precision on the reverse lookup.
A custom relation type is worth the extra notification-handler code when you need a reverse lookup you can trust "what points at me" and/or you want deletion/unpublish safety for content that's still depended on.

Responsive image markup for Umbraco, driven entirely by configuration. Define breakpoint rule sets once in appsettings.json, then render them anywhere with a tag helper or from Razor: picture elements with per-breakpoint art direction, img tags with srcset and sizes, and responsive CSS background images with focal-point-aware background-position. Every crop is anchored on the focal point the editor set in the back office. That is the part a CDN cannot do for you: an edge resizer has to guess where the subject of an image is, while Umbraco already knows, because someone chose it. Faces stay in frame at every breakpoint. Lazy loading is native browser lazy loading plus inline LQIP (Low-Quality Image Placeholder) blur-ups generated at render time, so there is no runtime JavaScript dependency at all: no lazysizes, no bundler, nothing extra to ship. Above-the-fold images can instead be marked to load eagerly at high fetch priority, and they register preload hints that a single tag helper emits in your layout head, which is what actually moves your Largest Contentful Paint. A strict Content Security Policy is supported first class: pass a nonce and the placeholder styles and scripts are emitted as nonce-tagged blocks instead of inline attributes. Rendered markup and resolved rule sets are cached, and the cache is invalidated automatically when content or media changes, including through the cache refreshers that reach every node in a load-balanced setup. Optionally, hand the resizing off to the edge: point a rule set at Cloudflare Image Transformations and the package composes Cloudflare image URLs, focal point and all, instead of asking your origin to crop. Optional CDN cache purging drops replaced images from the edge when an editor saves new media. Both are off by default. The package ships a JSON schema for full appsettings IntelliSense and auto-registers through an Umbraco composer, so installing it and adding one addTagHelper line is the whole setup.

Blog schrijven + vullen AI Agent Umbraco | True People

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:15:31 Z

Ontdek hoe onze AI-agent binnen Umbraco zelfstandig een blog schrijft én de volledige pagina vult. Van briefing tot gevulde contentblokken, met een menselijke goedkeuring op de juiste momenten. Benieuwd wat Umbraco AI in jouw omgeving kan doen? Neem contact op via www.truepeople.nl

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 11:37:09 Z

When I first started experimenting with Umbraco Automate, I wanted to find a real-world use case instead of creating an integration just for the sake of trying the API. It didn't take long to find one. On several Umbraco projects, we use Cloudflare in front of the website. When content changes, there are situations where we want to invalidate the cached version of the affected page.

Traditionally, I would solve this in code:

Content published
      ↓
Notification handler
      ↓
Determine published URLs
      ↓
Call Cloudflare API
      ↓
Purge cache

That works. But after looking at Automate, I started wondering:

What if the application doesn't need to know anything about Cloudflare at all?

Instead, publishing content could simply trigger an automation, with small reusable actions taking care of the individual steps.

That idea eventually resulted in three NuGet packages:

Umbraco.Community.Automate
Umbraco.Community.Automate.Extensions
Umbraco.Community.Automate.Cloudflare

All currently available as version 17.0.0 for Umbraco 17.

This post describes how I got there, some of the problems I encountered, and what I learned about extending Umbraco Automate along the way.

Starting with the obvious solution

My first idea was simple. Umbraco Automate already provides a Content Published trigger, so I wanted to create a Cloudflare action that could take the published page and purge it from Cloudflare.

Something like:

Content Published
      ↓
Purge Cloudflare

The Cloudflare API itself makes this fairly straightforward.To purge specific URLs you can send a request to:

POST /client/v4/zones/{zoneId}/purge_cache

with:

{
  "files": [
    "https://www.example.com/some-page/"
  ]
}

So initially I thought the Cloudflare action could simply accept the URL of the published page.

The Content Published trigger doesn't provide a URL.

It exposes information such as:

contentKey
contentName
contentTypeKey
contentTypeAlias
cultures

And actually, that makes sense. A URL isn't necessarily a property of the publish event.

A content item doesn't necessarily have one URL

This became the first interesting part of the implementation.

Consider a multilingual Umbraco website:

https://www.example.com/
https://www.example.com/en/

Now add multiple hostnames, which is perfectly valid in an Umbraco installation:

https://www.example-a.com/
https://www.example-a.com/en/

https://www.example-b.com/
https://www.example-b.com/en/

For a single content item, asking:

What is the URL?

is therefore not always the right question.

The better question is:

What are the published URLs for this content item and culture?

That distinction ended up having quite a large influence on the package design.

Separating Umbraco from Cloudflare

My first instinct was to put the URL resolution inside the Cloudflare action.

The action could receive:

Content Key
Culture

and internally:

Resolve the Umbraco content.
Determine its URLs.
Call Cloudflare.
Purge those URLs.

But that didn't feel right.

Resolving published URLs has nothing to do with Cloudflare.

The same functionality could be useful when:

notifying an external API;
updating a search index;
sending a webhook;
invalidating another CDN;
generating a sitemap;
or building another Automate workflow.

So instead I created a generic action:

Get Published Content URLs

and moved it into a separate package:

Umbraco.Community.Automate.Extensions

Cloudflare became its own integration:

Umbraco.Community.Automate.Cloudflare

This allows Automate to do what it is good at: composing small pieces of functionality.

The workflow becomes:

Content Published
      ↓
For Each Culture
      ↓
Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
Purge Cloudflare URLs

That separation is probably the design decision I'm happiest with.

Building Get Published Content URLs

The generic action receives a content key and culture.

Its settings are roughly:

public sealed class GetPublishedContentUrlsSettings
{
    public Guid ContentKey { get; set; }

    public string Culture { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}

The output deliberately contains an array:

public sealed class GetPublishedContentUrlsOutput
{
    public Guid ContentKey { get; set; }

    public string Culture { get; set; } = string.Empty;

    public string[] Urls { get; set; } = [];
}

Notice that it's Urls, not Url.

This is important for installations where a culture is available through multiple domains.

Conceptually the action does:

Content Key + Culture
          ↓
 Umbraco published content
          ↓
 Primary + alternative URLs
          ↓
       string[]

That output can then be consumed by any other Automate action.

Lesson learned: be careful with service lifetimes

While building the action I ran into another useful lesson.

My first implementation injected IPublishedContentQuery directly into the action.

That resulted in:

Cannot consume scoped service
'Umbraco.Cms.Core.IPublishedContentQuery'
from singleton
'GetPublishedContentUrlsAction'.

Automate actions are registered as singletons, while several Umbraco services used for published content are scoped.

Injecting one directly into a singleton therefore isn't safe.

Instead, the action needs to work with the appropriate Umbraco context/service scope when resolving published content.

It's an easy mistake to make when building your first Automate extension because the action itself looks very similar to a normal service.

The important takeaway:

Always consider the lifetime of the services you inject into an Automate action.

Cultures introduced another interesting problem

The Content Published trigger exposes cultures.

Not culture.

That means a single publish operation can involve multiple cultures.

The obvious workflow is therefore:

Content Published
      ↓
For Each
      ↓
Get Published Content URLs

The collection for the loop is:

${ trigger.cultures }

And inside the loop the current culture is:

${ loop.item }

Initially I accidentally passed:

${ trigger.cultures }

directly into the action's Culture field.

That resulted in something like:

["es"]

being passed as the culture instead of:

es

and consequently:

Content '<guid>' is not published for culture '["es"]'.

The correct pattern is:

For Each:
${ trigger.cultures }

Get Published Content URLs:

Content Key:
${ trigger.contentKey }

Culture:
${ loop.item }

A small mistake, but a good example of why understanding the difference between a collection binding and the current loop item matters.

Then I wanted to purge multiple URLs at once

Initially the Cloudflare package had:

Purge Cloudflare URL

with:

public string Url { get; set; } = string.Empty;

This worked perfectly when combined with another For Each:

Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
For Each URL
      ↓
Purge Cloudflare URL

But Cloudflare already accepts multiple URLs in one request.

So why make one HTTP request per URL?

I changed the action to:

Purge Cloudflare URLs

and the Cloudflare client now accepts a collection:

Task PurgeUrlsAsync(
    string apiToken,
    string zoneId,
    IEnumerable<string> urls,
    CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);

The resulting request can contain all URLs:

{
  "files": [
    "https://www.example-a.com/en/",
    "https://www.example-b.com/en/"
  ]
}

This makes the workflow much nicer:

Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
Purge Cloudflare URLs

At least, that was the idea.

And then I learned something interesting about Automate bindings.

Binding an array isn't the same as binding a string

My first settings model looked perfectly reasonable:

public sealed class PurgeUrlsSettings
{
    public string[] Urls { get; set; } = [];
}

The previous action already returned:

string[] Urls

so I expected this binding to work:

${ previous.urls }

Instead Automate failed before the action was even executed:

Failed to resolve model 'community.cloudflare.purgeUrls'
to type PurgeUrlsSettings.

The JSON value could not be converted to System.String[].

That was confusing at first because the source value really was a string[].

The important detail is how action settings are stored.

The binding itself is initially represented as:

{
  "urls": "${ previous.urls }"
}

That's a string expression.

If the property is already declared as string[], JSON deserialization needs to happen before that expression can resolve to its collection value.

So:

"${ previous.urls }"
        ↓
Deserialize as string[]
        ↓
💥

Looking at For Each provided the answer

The interesting thing was that this already worked:

Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
For Each

Collection:
${ previous.urls }

So Automate clearly could consume my array.

That led me into the Automate source code.

The built-in For Each doesn't define its collection setting as an array.

Instead, conceptually it does this:

public string Collection { get; set; } = string.Empty;

The setting contains the binding expression, not the resolved collection.

The expression is evaluated later at runtime.

That same approach works nicely for the Cloudflare action.

The setting can remain:

public sealed class PurgeUrlsSettings
{
    public string Urls { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}

and the configured value remains:

${ previous.urls }

At runtime, Automate's BindingEvaluator can evaluate the raw expression:

var value = _bindingEvaluator.EvaluateRaw(
    settings.Urls,
    context.BindingData
        ?? new Dictionary<string, object?>());

The action can then turn that resolved value into the collection it needs.

This was probably the most interesting technical lesson from building the package.

Sometimes the type of a configuration property shouldn't represent the type of the eventual runtime value.

In this case:

Setting
string expression
      ↓
BindingEvaluator
      ↓
runtime collection
      ↓
Cloudflare API

is a better model.

Normalizing the URLs

Before sending anything to Cloudflare, the action normalizes the collection:

urls = urls
    .Where(url => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(url))
    .Select(url => url.Trim())
    .Distinct(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
    .ToArray();

Then it verifies that something remains:

if (urls.Length == 0)
{
    return ActionResult.Failed(
        new ArgumentException(
            "At least one URL is required."));
}

and validates the URLs:

var invalidUrl = Array.Find(
    urls,
    url => !Uri.TryCreate(
        url,
        UriKind.Absolute,
        out _));

if (invalidUrl is not null)
{
    return ActionResult.Failed(
        new ArgumentException(
            $"'{invalidUrl}' is not a valid absolute URL."));
}

Only after that does the action call Cloudflare.

Creating a reusable Cloudflare connection

I didn't want API tokens and zone IDs to be configured on every action.

Automate has a connection concept for exactly this purpose, so the Cloudflare package provides its own connection type.

The connection contains information such as:

Account ID
Zone ID
API Token

The API token can also be validated against Cloudflare.

Cloudflare provides an endpoint for checking whether a token is valid and active, which makes the connection test much more useful than simply checking whether a value was entered.

A successful response looks roughly like:

{
  "result": {
    "status": "active"
  },
  "success": true
}

This gives users feedback while configuring the connection instead of waiting for their first automation run to fail.

Keep API tokens scoped

For the Cloudflare API token, I recommend granting only the permissions required by the workflow.

For cache purging, don't use a token with unnecessary account-wide permissions.

The connection should know:

API Token
Zone ID

and the action should only perform the operation it was designed for.

It's a small detail, but integrations like these make security boundaries very visible.

The resulting packages

The experiment eventually became three packages.

Umbraco.Community.Automate

The convenience package.

Installing it brings in the complete collection:

dotnet add package Umbraco.Community.Automate

Umbraco.Community.Automate.Extensions

Generic Automate building blocks:

dotnet add package Umbraco.Community.Automate.Extensions

Currently including:

Get Published Content URLs

Umbraco.Community.Automate.Cloudflare

The Cloudflare integration:

dotnet add package Umbraco.Community.Automate.Cloudflare

Currently providing the Cloudflare connection and cache purge functionality.

The packages are versioned alongside their supported Umbraco major version, so the first stable release is:

17.0.0

for Umbraco 17.

Why I like this approach

The part I like most isn't actually the Cloudflare API integration.

Calling an HTTP API isn't particularly complicated.

The interesting part is the separation of responsibilities.

Instead of writing:

public class ContentPublishedHandler
{
    // Find content
    // Determine cultures
    // Determine domains
    // Resolve URLs
    // Read Cloudflare configuration
    // Call Cloudflare
    // Handle failures
}

we can create reusable building blocks:

Content Published
      ↓
For Each Culture
      ↓
Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
Purge Cloudflare URLs

And tomorrow somebody could build:

Content Published
      ↓
Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
Notify external service

or:

Content Published
      ↓
Get Published Content URLs
      ↓
Update search index

without changing Get Published Content URLs.

That's where I think Automate becomes really interesting.

What I learned

A few things stood out while building these packages.

Actions should do one thing

Get Published Content URLs shouldn't know Cloudflare exists.

And Purge Cloudflare URLs shouldn't need to know anything about Umbraco content.

The workflow connects them.

Model collections explicitly

A published content item can have multiple cultures, and one culture can have multiple URLs.

Designing around collections from the start avoids assumptions that only work for simple websites.

Bindings are runtime values

A binding expression such as:

${ previous.urls }

is stored as a string but may resolve to something completely different at runtime.

Looking at how Automate's own For Each implementation handles this was extremely useful.

Watch your DI lifetimes

Automate actions and Umbraco scoped services don't necessarily share the same lifetime.

Be careful when injecting services such as published-content APIs directly into actions.

Composition beats coupling

The Cloudflare use case resulted in a generic action that turned out to be useful completely independently of Cloudflare.

That's a good sign that the responsibility belongs in its own extension.

What's next?

There are plenty of directions this could go.

Cloudflare supports more than purging individual URLs, so possible future actions include:

Purge by cache tag
Purge by prefix
Purge by hostname
Purge everything

But I don't want one giant "Cloudflare action" with every possible option.

I'd rather keep each operation explicit and let Automate compose them.

The generic Extensions package also opens the door to other reusable Umbraco actions that aren't tied to a specific integration.

And that's probably what I find most interesting about Automate: once you start thinking in small triggers, actions and outputs, you quickly start seeing automation opportunities everywhere.

Try it

The packages are available on NuGet:

Umbraco.Community.Automate
Umbraco.Community.Automate.Extensions
Umbraco.Community.Automate.Cloudflare

Demonstrating an approach to migrate a site from Examine to Umbraco Search

Need Senior CMS Talent Fast? Stop Waiting Months for Recruitment.

I built a free, self-hosted PWA package for Umbraco, because the alternative bills per site

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:59:54 Z

There are over 900 packages on the Umbraco Marketplace.

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 Z

uSync serializers and handlers for Umbraco Commerce. Extends uSync so store settings — stores, currencies, countries, regions, tax classes, shipping/payment methods, order statuses, and email/print/export templates — export and import as config files, the same way uSync handles content types and the rest of the backoffice. Discounts and gift cards are supported too, opt-in.

BaryoDev.Umbraco.Pwa

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 Z

Turn an Umbraco site into an installable, offline-capable app, and see who installed it from the backoffice you are already signed into. Free and self-hosted: the install data lands in your own database and never leaves your server, so there is no third-party dashboard to log into and no processor to declare.

What Is Umbraco? A Complete Guide to the Open-Source CMS

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:40:46 Z

Continue reading on Medium »

Umb.CacheManager

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 Z

A backoffice dashboard for Umbraco 17 and later that allows you to view, inspect, and clear application caches without restarting the website.

Expanding the backoffice search in Umbraco - Highlighting lesser known Umbraco features

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:53:14 Z

Recently, I started using Erik-Jan Westerndorp's community package "Heading". on a project. It’s one of those packages that solves a very specific problem really neatly.

In this case, the client wanted editors to be able to choose the heading level for a title on an element. So, for example, one image block might need an H2, while another might need an H3, depending on where it sits on the page.

The package worked great for that.

But, as often happens, solving one problem uncovered another.

Not long after, the client came back with a new bit of feedback:

I can’t search for the custom title I’ve added.

And honestly, my first reaction was: surely that should just work?

So I gave it a try - and they were right. The backoffice document search was only finding results based on the page name, not on values stored in custom fields.

Searching by page name returns the page
Searching by page title returns no results

The first thing I did was check the internal index — and the title field was there, so that allowed me to cross off one possible issue.

So the content was being indexed - it just wasn’t being searched by the backoffice search.

I asked a few colleagues about it, and the general feeling was that this probably wasn’t something you could change. The assumption was that Umbraco backoffice search just searches a predefined set of fields and that was that.

Still, it felt like there had to be a way.

And there is.

The Missing Piece: UmbracoTreeSearcherFields

It turns out this is already supported and documented, but it was a feature I hadn’t come across before. Since I suspect I’m not the only one, it’s worth highlighting here:

Backoffice Search - A guide to customization of Backoffice Search

That article introduced me to UmbracoTreeSearcherFields, which controls the indexed fields used by backoffice search. By replacing it with a custom implementation, you can expand the list of searchable fields.

My first attempt looked like this:

public class CustomUmbracoTreeSearcherFields(ILanguageService languageService)
    : UmbracoTreeSearcherFields(languageService), IUmbracoTreeSearcherFields
{
    public new IEnumerable<string> GetBackOfficeDocumentFields()
    {
        return new List<string>(base.GetBackOfficeFields()) { "title" };
    }
}

I restarted my environment, tried again… and it still didn’t work.

Backoffice search could still only find the page by name.

The Catch: Variant Field Names

After taking a closer look at the index, the reason became clear: the field key wasn’t simply title. Because the property had language variants, the indexed field name includes the language ISO code.

So instead of hardcoding a single field name, I updated the implementation to generate the variant field names dynamically. That also makes it more future-proof — if new languages are added later, search continues to work without any code changes.

Here’s the updated version:

public class CustomUmbracoTreeSearcherFields(ILanguageService languageService)
    : UmbracoTreeSearcherFields(languageService), IUmbracoTreeSearcherFields
{
    private static readonly string TitleAlias = PublishedModelHelper.GetModelPropertyAlias((Page x) => x.Title);

    public override IEnumerable<string> GetBackOfficeDocumentFields()
    {
        return base.GetBackOfficeDocumentFields().Concat(GetVariantFieldNames(TitleAlias));
    }

    private IEnumerable<string> GetVariantFieldNames(string alias)
        => languageService.GetAllAsync().GetAwaiter().GetResult().Select(l => $"{alias}_{l.IsoCode.ToLowerInvariant()}");
}

And with that in place, the backoffice search started returning results based on the custom title value as well.

Why I’m sharing this

This is one of those things that’s probably obvious once you’ve worked with it before, but until then, it’s easy to assume backoffice search is less flexible than it actually is.

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:16:01 Z

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 Z

The time has finally come for the second part of this exciting two-part series. This time, you will hear from Sebastiaan and Laura, who share what they are most excited about on the new Community site.

Umbraco.Community.Imaging.ImageSharp

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 Z

Stops Umbraco sites being OOM-killed in memory-limited containers while browsing the media section. ImageSharp decodes each source image at full resolution before resizing, and concurrent thumbnail requests are not bounded, so peak memory is the number of images being processed at once multiplied by the decoded source size. This package caps both the unmanaged buffer pool ImageSharp retains between requests and how many images are processed concurrently, deriving both from the memory available to the process. It is a backport of the fix proposed for the CMS in umbraco/Umbraco-CMS#23557, for Umbraco 17 sites that need it before it ships in the product.

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco Deploy addon for SchemeWeaver — deploys Schema.org mappings between environments as disk-based Deploy artifacts, alongside the document types they belong to. Requires Umbraco Deploy (OnPrem or Cloud) on the host site.

Designing Umbraco with Umbraco: building a backoffice design system in Claude Design

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Create high-fidelity, interactive prototypes and mock-ups in no time. Discover how to build an Umbraco backoffice design system using Claude Design.

ExamineX 10.0 for Azure Search and 7.0 for Elasticsearch released to support Umbraco 18

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:52:00 Z

ExamineX 10.0 for Azure Search and 7.0 for Elasticsearch released to support Umbraco 18

Why Umbraco 17 Is More Than an End-of-Life Escape

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:40:39 Z

GeoChecker.Umbraco

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Scores how ready your Umbraco site is to be found and cited by AI engines — llms.txt, robots.txt AI rules, sitemap, structured data and more — from a dashboard in the backoffice.

SA.Automate.QRcode

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

QR code generation actions for Umbraco Automate, powered by QRCoder. Generate a QR code for a URL as part of an automation workflow.

Umbraco.Community.Automate.ClickUp

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

OAuth-based ClickUp provider for Umbraco Automate.

uTPro.Feature.SEOAudit

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Site-wide SEO & content audit for Umbraco (16, 17, 18). Crawls every Content & Media URL (plus sitemap.xml), checks for broken links, images and resources, and audits each page: SEO (title, meta description, canonical, H1-H3, noindex/nofollow, lang), Open Graph & Twitter cards, technical SEO (HTTPS, gzip, browser caching, schema.org, viewport, favicon), content quality (word count, readability, keyword density, thin & duplicate content), a static accessibility subset and estimated carbon emissions with an A-F rating. Get a per-run health score, a per-page composite SEO score (Lighthouse-style, 0-100), issues grouped by severity and priority, orphaned-page detection, incremental scans, CSV export and a per-page detail view - all inside the backoffice. Adds a per-node SEO Audit tab in the Content and Media editors that auto-audits on open. Runs as a recurring background job (auto-discovered by uTPro Job Monitor). Server-side and SSRF-safe. Built on the framework-agnostic T4VN.Seo.Core engine.

First speaker announced for Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:19:00 Z

First speaker announced for Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival

MGC.InstagramFeed

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

A high-performance Razor Class Library for Umbraco 17 (.NET 10) that integrates Instagram feeds using the official Instagram Graph API (v21.0). Features automatic Umbraco dictionary item seeding through package migration, secure configuration of Instagram Access Token and User ID via Umbraco Dictionary keys, zero-config dependency injection registration through InstagramComposer, and strongly typed C# models for Instagram profile data and media items including images, reels, and carousel albums with captions, like counts, comment counts, thumbnails, media URLs, and permalinks.

Umbraco.Community.NetlifyDashboard

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

A backoffice dashboard for Netlify: connect with a personal access token, view your last deploys and their status, and purge the Netlify CDN cache (full or by cache tag).

Security Patches for Umbraco Forms are now available

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

A high-level security vulnerability has been identified in Umbraco Forms. A security patch for Umbraco Forms 13, 17, and 18 is out now. We highly recommend upgrading.

A reusable deploy pipeline for Umbraco Cloud

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Create a reusable deploy pipeline for Umbraco Cloud

UmbHost.Automate.Teamwork

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Teamwork Projects connection type and actions for Umbraco Automate.

UmbHost.Automate.GitHub

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

GitHub connection type, actions, a jsonpath binding filter and an X-Hub-Signature-256 webhook authenticator for Umbraco Automate.

Security Advisory: Upcoming Security Patch for Umbraco Forms ready on July 28, 2026 at 08 AM UTC

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

A security vulnerability has been identified in Umbraco Forms. A security patch for Umbraco Forms 13, 17, and 18 are scheduled for release on Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 at 08 AM UTC.

uSkinned Upgrade Umbraco Cloud 13 to 17

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:56:00 Z

Upgrade Umbraco Cloud 13 to 17 | uSkinned Site Builder 6 to 7 | Tutorial - YouTube

uSkinned Upgrade Umbraco CMS 8 to 17

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:56:00 Z

Upgrade Umbraco CMS 8 to 17 | uSkinned Site Builder 1 to 7 | Tutorial - YouTube

uSkinned Umbraco 17 Upgrade Video Guides

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:55:00 Z

Umbraco 17 Upgrade Video Guides Ready to make the move to Umbraco 17? We've got you covered. We've created two practical video guides to help you upgrade to the latest Long-Term Support (LTS) release. Whether you're running a long-standing self-hosted project or an Umbraco Cloud website, Marc walks you through the process step by step.

The Green Track to Codegarden

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Discover how Umbraco's Green Track travelers saved 1.5 tonnes of CO2 by taking the train to Codegarden, redefining productive and sustainable business travel.

Umbraco.Community.AI.MediaJanitor

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

An AI Media Assistant for the Umbraco Media section. Finds images with missing alt text, generic names, or in the wrong folder and suggests a better file name, alt text, caption, and folder — you review, edit, and apply.

Umbraco.Community.AdminOnly

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

A friendlier backoffice for non-admin editors. Hide document types, tabs and properties from everyone who isn't an administrator — without touching user groups, permissions or document type structure. Editors see only what's relevant to their work; admins keep the full picture, with a lock icon marking every hidden item. Configuration is point-and-click from a settings dashboard, so there is no code to write and nothing to recompile. Note: this is a backoffice UX layer, not server-side authorization — use Umbraco's user groups and permissions to protect sensitive data.

Umbraco.Community.IconPicker

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Pick SVG icons straight from your own sprite. IconPicker adds a property editor that reads any SVG sprite in your site's wwwroot folder and lets editors choose a symbol from it — no icon library to install, no duplicate assets. The icons your designer delivered are the icons your editors get.

Umbraco.Community.LinkedPages

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Package Description

Umbraco.Community.HeadsUp

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Protects Umbraco editors against lost content when the same document is open in multiple tabs or edited by multiple users. Notifies other editors in real time when a document they have open is saved or published, lists the changed fields and offers to reload.

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Bridges Umbraco 17 content Dictionary items into the backoffice UI localization system. After install, any `#Key` in a content-type property label (or anywhere `localize.string()` is called) resolves to the current backoffice user's culture value from the Dictionary section. Works for every existing and future dictionary key; no per-key manifest wiring.

FoxCart.Members

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Member area addon for FoxCart: profile management, order history, saved addresses and complete authentication flows built on Umbraco Members. Ships as a Razor Class Library with overridable Flowbite-style default views.

Top Umbraco Development Company in Pune | Associative

Umbraco 13 to 17

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 20:00:00 Z

This site has started as an Umbraco v4.x site, and has been regularly upgraded since then, never completely rebuilt. It has been running Umbraco 13 for about 3 years now, and it is about time to upgrade. We started with 17 in mind, so this post is about upgrading to 17. But 18 is out, and we are going to upgrade to it soon. Packages This is the easy part. The solution contains two projects: a Core project, and a UI project. Open each .csproj file, bump TargetFramework from net8.0 to net10.0, bump Umbraco package references from 13.0.2 to 17.4.0, bump a few other packages as per NuGet's suggestions. The excellent Breaking Changes documentation tells us to remove RazorCompileOnBuild and RazorCompileOnPublish so, let us do it. It also tells us to clean our Program class a little. Remove a .AddDeliveryApi() call, remove a .UserInstallerEndpoints() calls, that is it. At this point, rebuilding fails. ModelsBuilderSettings.ModelsMode used to be an enum, looks like it is now a string. Quite simple to fix. Everything that queried the IPublishedContentCache does not compile anymore, porting to IPublishedContentQuery is trivial. There is no IContentService.SaveAndPublish() anymore, apparently, and one needs to Save() then Publish(). All in all, nothing dramatic. Some of my custom Markdown property editor and converter will not compile, I am going to comment them out for the time being. And... it builds. Will it boot? Database Trying to boot the site fails... with a BootFailedException. A migration seems to want to delete a non-existing constraint named DF_umbracoUser_createDate. A quick Internet search shows that this happened to others as well, so something must have gone wrong with migrations at some point. Not going to troubleshoot, manually creating the missing constraints before upgrading is quicker: ALTER TABLE umbracoUser ADD CONSTRAINT DF_umbracoUser_createDate DEFAULT GETUTCDATE() FOR createDate; ALTER TABLE umbracoUser ADD CONSTRAINT DF_umbracoUser_updateDate DEFAULT GETUTCDATE() FOR updateDate; And presto... the site upgrades, boots, and I can log into the back-office. Networking At least, I can on my development machine, where I access Umbraco directly on localhost via IIS. But on production, where Umbraco runs in a Docker container behind NGINX, I get weird 400 Bad Request errors. At this point I went through a few hours of frustration and random experiments. I sort of thought that it might have to do with forwarded headers as my issue was close to this Umbraco forum post. I added the ForwardedHeaders middleware to the app, along with the headers in NGINX configuration. Would not work. Then I left the middleware in place but reverted the NGINX configuration. It finally worked. I don't know why. Now connecting to the back-office would fail with upstream sent too big header while reading response header from upstream errors being logged. That one was easier, it's an FAQ and applying the fix to NGINX configuration fixed it all. At that point we have: a functional back-office, and broken sites due to... Data Types A range of data types are gone or have changed. And of course my custom data types are CompletelyBroken™ which is not a surprise, since the back-office UI has been entirely rebuilt. First, native data types. Basically, go into the Data Types back-office section, and re-assign those that have issues to the proper property type. Rather simple. Weird enough, a content list datatype is throwing in the back-office, because of its orderBy value. Something a migration did not catch? Manually re-saving the datatype fixes it. And then, I actually use two custom data types: ZpqrtBnk.ImageFocus is an image focus data type which is an alternative to crops. It allows the user to define a rectangle that represents the "zone of interest" of an image. That zone is defined on the media itself. Next, whenever we need to render the media, we can automatically figure out the best crop based upon this zone. ZpqrtBnk.Markdown is a custom Markdown data type that uses the back-office widget pretty much unchanged, but implements some rendering helpers for links or images. As far as Markdown is concerned, I was using a property editor in order to support additional custom syntax. Turns out a property editor is not needed anymore, a plain IMarkdownToHtmlConverter implementation is all that is needed. So, the property editor is gone, and it is way nicer this way. On the other hand the image focus editor needs to be completely rebuilt. My First Property Editor There is some nice documentation about property editors in v17, so let us follow it. mkdir PropertyEditors cd PropertyEditors npm create vite@latest ZpqrtBnk.ImageFocus # with Lit # with TypeScript # without Vite RollDown (but I was not proposed it) cd ZpqrtBnk.ImageFocus npm i && npm install -D @umbraco-cms/backoffice@17.4.0 rm -rf public/* src/* Then, Update vite.config.ts Create src/zpqrtbnk-imgfocus.element.ts Create public/umbraco-package.json Is all it takes. OK, it takes a bit of time to figure out how to put everything together but hey, this is my very first time with the new UI. The end result is quite polished. As in, it makes way more sense than the convoluted Angular version. In the end, npm run build Drops files in my site's App_Plugins and we are done. As in, it just works. I have to say the experience is quite pleasant. Models We are not entirely done with backend work. A few more things have changed, including the CLR type of objects returned by various data types. So, most of our models are broken. The new MediaPicker3 for instance does not return a plain IPublishedContent, but a MediaWithCrops. I do not care about crops. And I had a media converter ensuring that the property value type would be reported as Image in case the picker can only pick one single image. So... that converter needs a bit of update to report the proper type, and to unwrap MediaWithCrops to Image wherever appropriate. And then, with the various changes applied to property types, I though I would rebuild my models. Turns out they were built using the Our.ModelsBuilder edition of the Models Builder, not the built-in one, because I am using some extra features. Well, a few more hours were spent bringing Our.ModelsBuilder to 2026 standards. It still is a huge mess, but at least it is working again. I have pushed the changes to the repository. I do not believe anyone uses it anymore, but hey. It has advanced features that Core does not provide. Wrapping Up At this point, I have a running back-office, clean data types, everything is nice, time to test the front-end. And... it works. What else can I say? Total time spent is probably 1 to 2 days of work. I like it way better than rebuilding everything, I really like that it this used to be a v4 site :) It is funny to see how many things have not changed much over the past 4-5 years, in terms of low-level concepts. On the other hand the experience is getting way more polished and user-friendly. And I love the new back-office. The new Markdown editor does not seem fully stable, but probably it will get better with 18. Good work, team!

How I upgraded Umbraco 13 to 17 in less than two hours!

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:19:00 Z

Flowcourier.Umbraco.AI.Agents.Translation

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Translate whole Umbraco pages in one click — every property, nested block content and SEO fields — using the AI provider you already configured through Umbraco AI. Every translation lands as a draft and goes through a human approval flow before anything publishes, with reviewer emails, automatic reminders and a Translation Workflow dashboard inside Umbraco's Translation section. Free for Umbraco 17.5+, including commercial production use.

Flowcourier.Umbraco.AI.Agents.Seo

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Improve the SEO of any Umbraco page in one click. The SEO Agent reads the open page, works out which properties are SEO and metadata fields — even when they have non-standard names — and drafts optimised meta titles, descriptions and social fields from the page's own content, using the AI provider you already configured through Umbraco AI. Every suggestion is staged into the editor for you to review, edit and Save; nothing is ever written without you. Free for Umbraco 17.5+, including commercial production use.

Migrating Umbraco 13 to Umbraco 17 on Umbraco Cloud

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 23:00:00 Z

A developer guide to upgrading an Umbraco 13 site to Umbraco 17 on Umbraco Cloud by migrating locally and deploying into a fresh Cloud project, covering the full sequence through to a low downtime go live.

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

A small VS Code extension that adds Go to Definition and live diagnostics for Razor partial view references in .cshtml files.

Why We Pair Next.js with Umbraco 17 ?

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:49:11 Z

When building a content-driven website, there are two goals that are often in tension: give visitors a fast, modern, SEO-friendly site, and give the content team a CMS they can actually use without calling a developer every time a page needs to change.

Our answer is to split the problem in two and let each half of the stack do what it's best at:

Umbraco 17, running on .NET 10, as the content backend
Next.js 16 with React 19, running on the App Router, as the presentation layer

Here's why we made that call, and how it plays out in practice.

Two apps, one clean contract

Rather than bolting a headless CMS onto an existing site, we build the two halves as genuinely independent applications that only talk to each other over HTTP:

The Umbraco installation is the backoffice, the content types, the media library, the database. This is where content editors log in, build pages out of reusable blocks, and manage content like blog posts.
The Next.js app is a standalone frontend. It never touches the Umbraco database directly, every piece of content it renders comes from an HTTP call.

That separation is the whole point of a "headless" CMS: the people managing content and the people managing the website's code can move independently. CMS upgrades don't require a frontend deploy, and frontend releases don't require touching the CMS.

The content pipeline: Umbraco's Delivery API

Umbraco 17 ships with a Content Delivery API a built-in, versioned JSON API that exposes published content without any custom plumbing. We lean on it heavily rather than building a bespoke API from scratch, which saves real development time.

A page fetch from Next.js looks like this in practice:

GET /umbraco/delivery/api/v2/content/item/home?expand=properties[$all[properties[$all[properties[$all]]]]]

That expand parameter is doing a lot of work: pages are built by editors dragging and dropping content blocks (hero sections, feature grids, image-and-text panels, calls to action) using Umbraco's Block Grid editor, and those blocks can be nested. The expansion query lets us pull an entire page blocks inside blocks inside blocks in a single round trip instead of chasing references with follow-up requests.

On the Next.js side, a small typed fetch helper wraps every one of these calls, attaches an API key, and lets Next's own data cache handle short-lived revalidation. There's no GraphQL client, no heavyweight SDK just fetch(), TypeScript types that mirror the Umbraco content model, and a short cache window so published changes show up almost immediately without hammering the CMS on every request.

Rendering: server-rendered, block by block

Generic content pages funnel through a single catch-all route that renders server-side on each request. Instead of one big template, rendering is driven by content type: a dispatcher component looks at what kind of block came back from Umbraco a feature section, an image gallery, a testimonial, a two-column layout and hands it off to the matching React component.

The effect is that adding a new content block is mostly a two-sided change: define the element type in Umbraco, add a matching case in the renderer. Editors get a new building block to compose pages with; developers don't have to build new pages from scratch every time a new layout is needed.

Beyond the CMS defaults

The Delivery API covers page content well, but a few features need more than "fetch a page and render it":

Filtering and search. Category pages, tag pages, and "previous/next" navigation are backed by custom API endpoints that walk the content tree directly, and free-text search runs on Umbraco's built-in Lucene-based indexer rather than an external search service. That avoids standing up and paying for a separate search product just to let visitors search content.
Forms. Submissions are validated in the browser, sent through a Next.js API route, and stored by a small custom endpoint on the Umbraco side with a lightweight dashboard added to the Umbraco backoffice so the team can review submissions without leaving the CMS they already use every day.
Media handling. Images uploaded into Umbraco's media library are served through Next.js's image optimizer, so editors don't need to think about responsive image sizes or formats that's handled automatically on the way out.

What this stack gets you

Putting it together, the architecture gives:

Speed, from server rendering and Next.js's image and asset optimization
SEO control that lives with content, since page titles, descriptions, and indexing rules are authored directly in Umbraco and flow straight into page metadata no separate SEO tooling to keep in sync
A content team that isn't blocked by developers, because new pages are built from existing blocks rather than new code
A frontend that isn't blocked by the CMS release cycle, because the two halves deploy independently

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 19:18:36 Z

I've added a giscus powered comments, and the awesome H5YR widget, to my blog posts!

Introducing ImageSharp TrimCache for Umbraco

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 23:00:00 Z

A free Umbraco package that trims the ImageSharp.Web image cache by age on a schedule, for both the local physical cache and Azure Blob storage. Stop the media cache growing unbounded on Umbraco Cloud and self hosted sites.

Letting AI agents loose on Examine

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 17:45:20 Z

I've been maintaining Examine for a very long time now. It's the search and indexing library that sits underneath every Umbraco site, and like any project that's been around long enough, it has plenty of hot paths that could be faster, a steady trickle of issues that need triaging, and a backlog of "I'll get to that eventually" performance work that, well… I never actually get to. So a couple of months ago I thought I'd try an experiment - what if I stopped doing all of that myself and instead let a bunch of AI agents do it for me, on a schedule, while I got on with everything else? This post is about how that went. I've shipped a few releases off the back of it and some of the hot-path improvements are genuinely a bit ridiculous. So what are these "agentic workflows"? The thing I installed is GitHub Next's Agentic Workflows - a set of markdown-defined workflows that run in GitHub Actions and drive an AI agent to do actual maintenance work on your repo. They're not chat bots. They run on a schedule, they have persistent memory, they open real pull requests, and they leave the "should this ship?" decision to me. I ended up with a few of them running on Examine: Perf Improver - runs daily, hunts for performance bottlenecks, writes benchmarks to actually prove the improvement, and opens a draft PR with the before/after numbers. Efficiency Improver - its scrappier sibling, focused on the smaller allocation-and-LINQ-state-machine wins that add up over time. Daily Issue Triage - goes through untriaged issues, sets types, applies labels, spots duplicates, and leaves a tidy triage report for me. Agentic Maintenance - keeps the whole setup ticking along. Each one is just a markdown file in .github/workflows/ with a description, a schedule, some safe-outputs limits (things like "you may open at most 4 PRs per run, and they must be drafts") and a big prompt describing how to behave. That's it. The nice part is that the guardrails are declarative, so the agent can't merge its own PRs, it can't touch protected files, and it can only comment so many times per run. All of that is baked in. How it actually works day to day The bit that makes this more than a gimmick is the persistent memory. Every run, the Perf Improver reads its own notes - which build/test/benchmark commands it validated, what's on its optimisation backlog, what it worked on last time, and which suggestions I've already ticked off. Then it does a couple of tasks in a round-robin fashion so it's not endlessly poking at the same corner of the codebase. It also keeps a single rolling "Monthly Activity" issue open with a checklist of what needs my attention. So my side of it is pretty simple: the agent opens a draft PR with measured before/after numbers, I read it and run CI, and if I'm happy with it I merge. That's the whole loop. I'm the reviewer, the agent is the workhorse doing the grind I never had time for. So what did they actually get done? Over roughly the last two months, here's what these workflows actually got up to on Examine: 124 successful Perf Improver runs and 9 successful Efficiency Improver runs 20 successful Daily Issue Triage runs quietly keeping the issue tracker tidy 24 performance/efficiency PRs reviewed and merged (13 from Perf Improver, 11 from Efficiency Improver) between late May and the end of June And the bit that actually matters - three releases shipped off this work: v3.8.0, v3.9.0 and the v4.0.0-beta.7 pre-release That last point is really the whole thing. This isn't a pile of speculative branches rotting in a fork somewhere - it's code that went through my review, passed CI, and is now sitting in NuGet packages that real Umbraco sites are running. Show me the numbers Right, this is the part I actually get excited about. One of my favourite things about the Perf Improver is that its prompt tells it to only attempt improvements it can actually measure - establish a baseline first, make the change, then measure again and document both numbers. For the algorithmic hot-path stuff that means benchmarks, so along the way it built out a proper BenchmarkDotNet suite that compares the current source against the published NuGet packages (3.0.1 through 3.3.0), which means I can show you real, reproducible deltas instead of hand waving. The full-text search hot path ManagedQuery is the primary full-text search entry point in Examine - it's what runs on basically every search. The agent noticed it had no dedicated benchmark, wrote one, and then stacked up a series of small, individually measured changes: a volatile factory cache in SearchContext.GetFieldValueType, an early return in the extract-terms check, and killing off some redundant ConcurrentDictionary lookups in AddDocument. Here's the current source vs the most recent 3.3.0 release, on a 1,000-document index: Method Version Mean Allocated ManagedQueryAllFields 3.3.0 11.42 ms 1,323 KB ManagedQueryAllFields Source 2.17 ms 371 KB That's about 5.3x faster and roughly 3.6x less memory allocated on the single most travelled code path in the whole library. On the busiest thing Examine does. I'll happily take that. Building queries GroupedAnd / GroupedOr / GroupedNot are the workhorses of the query builder. A little string[] fast-path (skipping a defensive .ToArray() copy when the caller already handed it a string[]) plus some allocation trimming got this: Method Version Mean Allocated CreateQueryOnly 3.3.0 3,995 ns 8.34 KB CreateQueryOnly Source 319 ns 2.20 KB GroupedAndStringArray 3.3.0 21,377 ns 21.10 KB GroupedAndStringArray Source 16,659 ns 14.34 KB The CreateQuery() baseline dropping from 8.34 KB down to 2.2 KB is a lovely little win, and the grouped clauses are about 25% faster with a third of the allocation shaved off. Constructing a ValueSet Every single document you index goes through a ValueSet constructor. The old path allocated an intermediate dictionary and a generator state machine per field, which is exactly the kind of thing you don't notice until you're bulk indexing a big site. The agent got rid of both: Method Version Mean Allocated FromDictionary5Fields 3.3.0 1,183 ns 2,200 B FromDictionary5Fields Source 226 ns 592 B FromDictionary20Fields 3.3.0 4,007 ns 6,544 B FromDictionary20Fields Source 654 ns 1,520 B That's roughly 5-6x faster and about 4x less allocated on indexing, and when you're rebuilding the index on a large Umbraco site that adds up fast. The really nice touch is that these benchmark result tables now live in doc-comments right next to the benchmark code, so the numbers are versioned in the repo alongside the thing they measure. The agent did that bit too. Was it actually worth it? For me the thing that makes it work is the measurement. Everything comes to me as a small, focused, draft PR with the numbers attached, so I can look at it, sanity check it, run CI, and decide in a couple of minutes. It's not zero effort - I still read every change before it goes anywhere near main - but the ratio is fantastic. I'm getting a steady stream of well-measured, single-purpose performance PRs on a library I care about, on paths I'd genuinely never have found the time to optimise by hand, and I've shipped real releases because of it. For a project I maintain around everything else, that's a pretty great deal. If you maintain a repo with a backlog you never get to, especially performance work that needs benchmarks to justify it, I'd recommend giving GitHub Next's agentics a go. You can see all of it out in the open on the Examine repo - the [perf-improver] and [efficiency-improver] PRs, the benchmark suite, and the releases they fed into. And there's a nice bonus here for me too: ExamineX, my managed, cloud-hosted Examine search offering, runs on this exact same internal plumbing. So all this work the agents have been doing to tighten up Examine's query and indexing hot paths feeds straight through into ExamineX - the underlying engine gets faster and leaner, and every ExamineX site gets those wins for free without changing a thing. If you'd rather have your search running as a managed service instead of hosting Lucene indexes on your own servers, that's what ExamineX is there for. 🙂

Limbo.Umbraco.Tables 17.0.0-alpha001

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 12:56:06 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.Tables is a package for Umbraco featuring property editor for building table based content.

Umbraco London July Meetup .. the write- up

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:18:14 Z

Umbraco London July Meetup .. the write- up

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:18:14 Z

Umbraco london is trying something silly a short unprogrammed stream of useless brain fog.

Continue reading on Medium »

Creating A Safe Space for Editors to Be Wrong

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

I spend most of my time these days working on Umbraco AI, bringing AI into the hands of content editors. So I think a lot about what actually makes...

Phases.Umbraco.ContentSearch

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Advanced content search for the Umbraco backoffice. Editors can search content by document type and property, view results in a sortable grid, export to CSV or Excel, and save searches for later.

UMBRAAD 2026 | Accessibility Manual Testing: Why Lived Experience Matters - Thiago Carmo

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:48:53 Z

Accessibility Manual Testing: Why Lived Experience Matters by Thiago Carmo UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Accessibility Debt in Digital Products - Shivansh Mathur

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:28:49 Z

Accessibility Debt in Digital Products: What AI Fixes and What It Doesn't by Shivansh Mathur UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Write Once, Reach Everyone: Accessible Writing - Corey Vilhauer

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:24:46 Z

Write Once, Reach Everyone: Accessible Writing and GEO Want the Same Solution by Corey Vilhauer UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Why Automated Accessibility Tools Are Not Enough - Shadrack William Kyei

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:19:35 Z

Why Automated Accessibility Tools Are Not Enough by Shadrack William Kyei UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | What No One Tells You About Working in Accessibility - Danny Lancaster

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:16:46 Z

What No One Tells You About Working in Accessibility by Danny Lancaster UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Shift Left on Accessibility: Beyond the Audit - Ramona Domen

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:13:10 Z

Shift Left on Accessibility: Beyond the Audit by Ramona Domen UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Designing for cognition - Ellie Barrett

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:05:11 Z

Designing for cognition by Ellie Barrett UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Automating Accessibility Audits - Jordan Smith

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:00:43 Z

Automating Accessibility Audits: Building a Full-Pipeline A11Y Scanning & Reporting Tool by Jordan Smith. UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

UMBRAAD 2026 | Accessibility starts before the software - Carl Sargunar

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 06:44:05 Z

Accessibility starts before the software: hardware, cloud tooling, LLMs and diminishing returns by Carl Sargunar. UMBRAAD is a free virtual Umbraco community event packed with practical talks, live demos, and expert Q&A sessions on building a more inclusive web. Read more on https://umbraad.com

Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival, a new festival on september 22 in the netherlands.

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 05:29:39 Z

Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival, a new festival on september 22 in the netherlands. We like to get a lot of people.

Ideo.Umbraco.MediaManager

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Safe, async media cleanup for Umbraco v17: find and remove orphaned media nodes and orphaned physical files, guarded by a deep reference scan, with dry-run preview and Recycle Bin safety.

The Agent-Ready CMS: Enable the ecosystem

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Learn how Umbraco’s MCP platform and software factory empower partners and clients to build agentic AI tools for a truly agent-ready CMS ecosystem.

Umbraco.Community.ImageSharp.TrimCache

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 Z

Scheduled, age-based trimming of the ImageSharp.Web image cache for Umbraco. Supports both the Azure Blob cache and the local physical cache, keeping the cache from growing unbounded (for example exceeding Umbraco Cloud media-storage limits). Old variants are removed in the background and regenerated on the next request. Supports Umbraco 13, 17 and 18.

How to setup Claude Design + the Umbraco UI Library

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:53:35 Z

Codegarden 2026 - a little late, because it gave me something to build

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:53:03 Z

A few weeks ago I was in Copenhagen for my first Codegarden, and one quiet thought has stuck with me since. It didn't come from a keynote. It came from the bit the keynote leaves out.

I've worked with Umbraco for years, but I'd never been to Codegarden, and I turned up without much of a fixed idea of what the two days would be. I kept that open on purpose. I wanted to take it in rather than measure it against something I'd decided in advance. What struck me most was that the value came from two places at once. The sessions were a fantastic source of inspiration; everything from keynotes to guest speakers all seemed to resonate in some way or another. The conversations in between the sessions - drifting around the event space and finding common ground with anyone and everyone - proved just as valuable. I came home more energised than I've been in a while, with a notebook full of half-formed ideas and a better feel for the community I'm part of.

But the thing I kept turning over afterwards was that bit the keynote leaves out. That's what I want to write about.

The easy half and the hard half

Every major Umbraco release gets the same treatment. A polished keynote, a clean demo, a feature that looks effortless on stage. There's plenty in 18, and which part matters most depends on what you're building. For me it's Elements: a new Library section where you manage reusable content and reference it through a new element picker. Create once, use everywhere. It's a genuinely good direction. Reusable content has lived awkwardly in the content tree for years, and Library finally gives it a proper home.

What the demos don't show you is the part I've been playing around with for the past few weeks. Taking a real Umbraco 17 site, with content pickers threaded through block lists, block grids, rich text blocks and base document properties, and getting all of it to point at the new Library without an editor ever noticing anything moved underneath them.

The feature is the easy half. The migration is the half that decides whether anyone actually uses it.

Why migration is where adoption lives

A new way of modelling content only matters if existing sites can get to it. New projects will use Library because it's there and it's the obvious choice. The much bigger pile of work is the sites already in production, built the old way, where reusable content was faked with content pickers pointing at hidden nodes because that was the best tool on offer at the time.

Upgrade conversations with clients are increasingly turning into "end of life is on the way, you need to upgrade!" but Umbraco have given us some genuinely useful new features that can turn those conversations from scaring clients away from security woes to improving their content management and supercharging their marketing activities.

There's a timing thing here. The migration path has to exist when the feature does, not three months later when the upgrade conversation has gone cold. A site that wants Library is at its most willing in the window right after release, while the appetite is fresh and the project is being planned anyway. Miss that window and you're asking someone to reopen a decision they've already made, which almost never happens.

That's the question I bring to every shiny thing on a keynote slide. Not "is this exciting", but "what's the real path from a live production site to it, and how much of that path can be made painless". The exciting idea is the easy part. The route onto it is the work.

What the package actually does

This is the problem the Library Migrator package is built to solve, and the job is less glamorous than it sounds. It moves documents from Content into Library, so the things that were always meant to be reusable end up where they belong. It swaps every content picker on the relevant types for an element picker pointed at Library, so editors keep the same workflow and have nothing new to learn. And it rewrites the stored values, which is the part that earns its keep: every value held in an old content picker is updated to reference the new elements, across block lists, block grids, rich text blocks and base document properties. One reference left behind is a broken link an editor finds at the worst possible moment.

None of that shows up in a demo, using a brand new, tailored project designed to show the feature off at its best. Yet content is the centrepiece of all CMS solutions and the value in existing content is always at the forefront of our clients' minds. Whether it's a same-platform upgrade or a complete rebuild, the question of migration always gets raised.

The Library Migrator is out now. If you're looking at an Umbraco 17 site and wondering how on earth it's going to reach 18's (or 21 if you're LTS-conscious) Library, that's exactly what it's for.

Library Migrator on Umbraco Marketplace

Library Migrator repository

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 18:17:02 Z

Packages

This is the easy part. The solution contains two projects: a Core project, and a UI project. Open each .csproj file, bump TargetFramework from net8.0 to net10.0, bump Umbraco package references from 13.0.2 to 17.4.0, bump a few other packages as per NuGet's suggestions.

The excellent Breaking Changes documentation tells us to remove RazorCompileOnBuild and RazorCompileOnPublish so, let us do it. It also tells us to clean our Program class a little. Remove a .AddDeliveryApi() call, remove a .UserInstallerEndpoints() calls, that is it.

At this point, rebuilding fails.

ModelsBuilderSettings.ModelsMode used to be an enum, looks like it is now a string. Quite simple to fix. Everything that queried the IPublishedContentCache does not compile anymore, porting to IPublishedContentQuery is trivial. There is no IContentService.SaveAndPublish() anymore, apparently, and one needs to Save() then Publish().

All in all, nothing dramatic.

Some of my custom Markdown property editor and converter will not compile, I am going to comment them out for the time being.

And... it builds.

Database

Trying to boot the site fails... with a BootFailedException. A migration seems to want to delete a non-existing constraint named DF_umbracoUser_createDate. A quick Internet search shows that this happened to others as well, so something must have gone wrong with migrations at some point. Not going to troubleshoot, creating the missing constraints before upgrading is quicker:

 ALTER TABLE umbracoUser ADD CONSTRAINT DF_umbracoUser_createDate DEFAULT GETUTCDATE() FOR createDate;
 ALTER TABLE umbracoUser ADD CONSTRAINT DF_umbracoUser_updateDate  DEFAULT GETUTCDATE() FOR updateDate;

And presto... the site upgrades, boots, and I can log into the back-office.

Data Types

A range of data types are gone or have changed. And of course my custom data types are CompletelyBroken™ which is not a surprise, since the back-office UI has been entirely rebuilt.

First, native data types. Basically, go into the Data Types back-office section, and re-assign those that have issues to the proper property type. Rather simple. Weird enough, a content list datatype is throwing in the back-office, because of its orderBy value. Something a migration did not catch? Manually re-saving the datatype fixes it.

And then, I actually use two custom data types:

ZpqrtBnk.ImgFocus is an image focus data type which is an alternative to crops. It allows the user to define a rectangle that represents the "zone of interest" of an image. That zone is defined on the media itself. Next, whenever we need to render the media, we can automatically figure out the best crop based upon this zone.
ZpqrtBnk.Markdown is a custom Markdown data type that uses the back-office widget pretty much unchanged, but implements some rendering helpers for links or images.

As far as Markdown is concerned, I was using a property editor in order to support additional custom syntax. Turns out a property editor is not needed anymore, a plain IMarkdownToHtmlConverter implementation is all that is needed. So, the property editor is gone, and it is way nicer this way.

On the other hand the image focus editor needs to be completely rebuilt.

My First Property Editor

There is some nice documentation about property editors in v17, so let us follow it.

mkdir PropertyEditors
cd PropertyEditors
npm create vite@latest ZpqrtBnk.ImgFocus
# with Lit
# with TypeScript
# without Vite RollDown (but I was not proposed it)
cd ZpqrtBnk.ImgFocus
npm i && npm install -D @umbraco-cms/backoffice@17.4.0
rm -rf public/* src/*

Then,

Update vite.config.ts
Create src/zpqrtbnk-imgfocus.element.ts
Create public/umbraco-package.json

Is all it takes. OK, it takes a bit of time to figure out how to put everything together but hey, this is my very first time with the new UI. The end result is quite polished. As in, it makes way more sense than the convoluted Angular version.

In the end,

npm run build

Drops files in my site's App_Plugins and we are done. As in, it just works. I have to say the experience is quite pleasant.

Models

We are not entirely done with backend work. A few more things have changed, including the CLR type of objects returned by various data types.

What is new in Umbraco 18

The Umbraco 18 release is (and I quote) "a short and sweet release". The main attraction is the new Library section and the first version of reusable Elements.

Reusable Elements in the Library section are essentially Content nodes without rendering and routing. Other than that, they behave a lot like Content: you can create, delete, move them, and so on. That made them the perfect candidate for support in v18 of the Advanced Permissions package.

Besides Library support, the package also has a few other improvements and additions. Let's talk about them!

Library support!

The first obvious new feature is the Permissions Editor for the Library. Just like with Content, you can set permissions for a User Group using the same inheritance and scoping system as the Content Permissions Editor.

You'll notice that not every permission is applicable in every case, so N/A is displayed when a permission does not apply.

And just like with Content, the Library also has an Access Viewer where you can see the effective permissions for a User Group or an individual User.

I also added a Library Element Type Permissions Editor. Just like the Document Type Permissions Editor, you can set the insert options for Element Types for a specific User Group.

With this Permissions Editor, you can control whether a User Group can create instances of an Element Type. This acts as a filter on the "create" list in the Library. And when a User has multiple User Groups, the well-established resolver will determine the effective permissions.

Currently, because of a limitation in Umbraco, it is not yet possible to scope these permissions to a specific part of the Library tree like the Document Type Permissions Editor does.

And of course, the Element Type Permissions Editor also has an associated Access Viewer.

Redesign

Because of all these new Permissions Editors and Access Viewers, the menu became harder to read at a glance. So the main menu has been redesigned around the scope of the editor and viewer.

All editors and viewers in the menu are now called Permissions Editor and Access Viewer respectively. Their purpose is determined by the menu header they are under: Content, Document Type, Library, or Library Element Type.

In the screenshot, you'll also notice a slight redesign of the workspaces for the editors and viewers. They now look more Umbraco native and display a one-line description of what the editor or viewer is for. And when you have not selected anything yet, it will now display a much nicer view. This will also be ported back to the Umbraco 17 version.

To help or not to help

In the top-right corner of each editor or viewer, you'll also notice a "learn more" button. This button gives access to more detailed documentation. It describes what the editor or viewer is for, and it links to more generic documentation explaining the concepts.

Consider this a first version. It is already much better than nothing, but I think it can still be improved over time. This will also be ported back to the Umbraco 17 version.

Localization support!

And lastly, apart from the expanded documentation, Advanced Permissions now has localization for all languages that the Backoffice supports. Obviously, these translations are automatically generated because I am not fluent in 28 languages, so if you find an error, please let me know!

All in all, I think this is a very nice and complete release. I'm happy that Advanced Permissions can support new Umbraco features as soon as they come out.

You can find Advanced Permissions for Umbraco here:

NuGet:
https://www.nuget.org/packages/Umbraco.Community.AdvancedPermissions/

The Umbraco Marketplace:
https://marketplace.umbraco.com/package/umbraco.community.advancedpermissions

OC.Automate update

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

OC.Automate.LinkedIn is out of beta and OC.Automate.Bluesky and OC.Automate.Mastodon are all working on Umbraco 18

umbraCoffee - Codegarden 2026 Wrapped 🌯

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 23:06:54 Z

Welcome to your monthly dose of #umbraCoffee! Your hosts - Marcin and Callum - together with their guest(s) will drive through all of the community news and happenings in the Umbraco world. So... grab a cuppa, join us LIVE and enjoy! See ya?! --- ☕ Wanna buy us a coffee/pizza/donuts? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/umbracoffee --- Topics: //ToDo:

[Breaking change]: Umbraco Search replaces existing search in Umbraco 19

Umbraco Automate Workflows

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Building with Claude and Umbraco: Setting Up MCP and Creating Content with AI

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:00:16 Z

I'll be honest, when Jason first mentioned setting up an MCP server to connect Claude to our Umbraco dev environment, I assumed it was going to be a difficult dev-heavy project that would take the day at least, and be a bit past my coding comprehension ability as a Front End Developer. I even made a new local branch assuming I was going to have to write and commit code.

Nope! It wasn't like that at all. And I'm still a little surprised about it. It was just setting up a config file in Claude and setting up API users in Umbraco.

If you're an Umbraco developer who's been curious about AI-assisted content workflows but figured the setup overhead wasn't worth it, this post is for you. I'm going to walk through exactly what I did, what tripped me up (spoiler: one small thing), and what became possible on the other side of it.

Part 1: What Is the Umbraco MCP Server, Anyway?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It's an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude connect directly to external tools and services, not just chat about them, but actually interact with them.

The Umbraco MCP server is an implementation of that standard for Umbraco. Once it's set up and connected, Claude can read and write content in your Umbraco instance through the Management API. We're talking creating pages, updating properties, working with block components, the same things you'd do in the back office, but driven by Claude. It's actually pretty amazing to see it work.

Part 2: Setting Up the MCP Server

Before anything else, a quick note on prerequisites. You'll need an Umbraco site to connect to (we're using our dev environment), and Claude Desktop or Cowork installed on your machine. That's really it on the "before you start" front, which was the first pleasant surprise.

The MCP server itself is configured through a JSON config file in Claude. Go to your Claude settings, then Developer, and click the "Edit Config" button to bring up the claude_desktop_config.json file in your favorite editor.

Note: Close Claude completely (including killing it in the taskbar) while working on the config file. If Claude is running, it will overwrite your changes when it closes.

Note: Make sure you're on the latest version of Node before you start.

Drop this into your config file, change the name as you like, change the BASE_URL to your site, and we'll cover the CLIENT_ID and SECRET in the next steps.

"mcpServers": {
  "YOUR-umbraco-dev-mcp-server": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": [
      "@umbraco-cms/mcp-dev@latest"
    ],
    "env": {
      "UMBRACO_CLIENT_ID": "umbraco-back-office-api-user",
      "UMBRACO_CLIENT_SECRET": "12345-GUID-OR-PASSWORD-6789",
      "UMBRACO_BASE_URL": "https://your-site.io",
      "UMBRACO_INCLUDE_TOOL_COLLECTIONS": "document,media,document-type,data-type"
    }
  }
}

Part 3: Creating an API User in the Umbraco Back Office

This is the part I was most nervous about. "API user" sounds like something that involves a terminal and a lot of Googling. It does not. It's just a few clicks in the Umbraco back office and I was genuinely a little embarrassed by how straightforward it was.

Head into your Umbraco back office and navigate to the Users section. We're going to create both a new User Group and a new API user. First, the User Group. Create one and call it MCP-User-Developer and give it as much control as a developer would. If you ever wanted another group called MCP-User-Editor with less control, you can do that too. For now, add Content, Media and Settings sections and turn on everything you'd like it to have access to.

Next, go to Users and create a new API User. Name it something like "something-mcp-developer" and make it a member of the MCP-User-Developer group we just made. Add an email address for its username and check on access to start nodes (or give it full access).

Now the key step: click the Client Credentials button to add the key we'll need in the Claude config file. The ID will have a prefix of "umbraco-back-office" and then you name it whatever you want. In my example I went with "api-user", so the full ID becomes "umbraco-back-office-api-user". For the Secret, generate a GUID or secure password however you like.

Note: Once you click Create, the password won't be visible again. Save it somewhere before moving on!

Now we have all the info for the config file. Go back and add "umbraco-back-office-api-user" to the UMBRACO_CLIENT_ID and your password to the UMBRACO_CLIENT_SECRET.

Part 4: Connecting Claude to Your Umbraco Site

At this point you've got the config file set up and your API user created. The last step is getting Claude to actually recognize the connection. Save your claude_desktop_config.json file and restart Claude. Go to Settings, then Developer again, and you should see your MCP server listed there and running.

I was stuck here for a bit because I was not on the latest version of Node, and also because I had the UMBRACO_CLIENT_ID wrong. Woops! So make sure your config has all the correct info. But if everything checks out you should see a "running" label next to your server, and you're now connected!

A quick way to confirm everything is working is to just ask Claude something simple about your site. Something like "list the pages under the home node" or "what document types are available?" If Claude comes back with real data from your Umbraco instance, you're in business. As soon as it gave me the ID of the home node of our dev site, I knew things were about to get real.

Part 5: Creating Content with Claude

This is the fun part.

Once Claude is connected to your Umbraco instance, you can start asking it to do real content work. Not just drafting copy in the chat window, but actually creating and populating pages inside Umbraco. I started simple, asking Claude to create a Basic Page under the home node with a title and some body text. It did it. First try. I went and checked the back office and there it was, sitting as a draft, ready to review.

From there I started pushing it further. Our Basic Page document type has a bunch of block components available, things like Feature Boxes, Statistics, Testimonials, FAQ sections, Numbered Steps, and a Two-Column Comparison block. I described what I wanted the page to be about and asked Claude to use as many relevant components as made sense for the content. The results were genuinely impressive, well-structured pages with appropriate blocks chosen for the content, not just a wall of rich text.

A few tips from what I've learned so far:

Give Claude context about your document types. The more it knows about your block components and what fields they have, the better the output.
Keep pages as drafts first. Claude creates content as drafts by default, which is exactly what you want. Review before publishing.
Be specific about tone and content. Claude will make reasonable choices on its own, but the more direction you give it, the closer the first draft will be to what you actually want.
Watch out for placeholder content. Claude may generate fictional quotes or statistics as placeholders. Always review before anything goes live.

One small thing to be aware of: on our setup, pages created via the MCP server sometimes needed the template set manually in the back office before they'd render on the front end. It's a quick fix, just one more thing to check on your first run through.

Part 6: Real-World Use Cases

So what's this actually good for in practice? After spending some time with it, here are the use cases that have stood out most.

Spinning up draft pages quickly. If you've got a list of pages that need to exist, Claude can create and populate them fast. What might take an editor an afternoon of copying, pasting and formatting can happen in minutes. The drafts still need a human review pass, but you're starting from something solid rather than a blank page.

Consistent page structure across a site. When Claude is working from the same document type and block components every time, the output is naturally consistent. Every page gets a hero, a logical block order, appropriate use of the available components. It's a lot harder to end up with that one orphaned page that's formatted completely differently from everything else.

Exploring content strategy. This one surprised me. Being able to say "create a page making the case for upgrading Umbraco and use whichever block components make sense" and get back a fully structured draft is genuinely useful for figuring out what you actually want to say. It's a fast way to go from a topic to a first draft you can react to.

Auditing and rewriting existing content. Claude can read your existing pages too, which means you can ask it to review copy, flag inconsistencies, or suggest rewrites across multiple pages without touching the back office yourself.

Like I said, I knew things were about to get real.

We're still figuring out the best workflows ourselves at ProWorks, but it's already changing how we think about content production. I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

If you have questions or want to share what you've built with it, feel free to reach out.

Alan Ballard, Front End Developer, ProWorks

Umbraco MCP as a Platform Intoduction

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:11:03 Z

Phil Whittaker and Bolette Kern introduce the "Umbraco in AI" framework, showcasing how the Umbraco Management API exposes content, media, document types, and search configurations to modern AI models. This session highlights how to bridge the CMS with artificial intelligence using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and dedicated command-line tools. Learn how to move beyond local environments using Hosted MCP servers with secure OAuth authentication, connect terminal environments directly via the new CLI tool, and use the Base MCP SDK to make custom Umbraco packages agent-ready. The talk also explores advanced architectural patterns like MCP chaining and an automated five-phase Software Factory. This video is for Umbraco package authors, digital agencies, and platform developers looking for a structured path to implement AI agents. By leveraging these official tools, development teams can eliminate manual integration plumbing and focus entirely on building custom logic, strategy, and creative experiences for clients. Key Takeaways: - Management API Core: Serves as the central translation engine, transforming structured CMS capabilities into discoverable data points that LLMs can read, reason about, and automate. - Multi-Channel Architecture: Support for Local MCP (on-machine agents), Hosted MCP (cloud remote agent access via secure user authentication), and a developer-centric CLI tool. - Marketplace Readiness: The official Base MCP SDK enables package authors to instantly convert existing OpenAPI schemas into functional MCP servers with minimal overhead. - The Five-Phase Software Factory: A command-line toolkit that handles boilerplate scaffolding, project configuration, API schema discovery, tool generation, and automated integration/evaluation testing. - Advanced MCP Chaining: Eliminates redundant manual configurations through structural orchestration patterns like proxying, delegation, and composite multi-step tools. Timeline Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to the Umbraco in AI Strategy 00:59 - Interactive Integration Diagram Overview 01:07 - The Central Role of the Umbraco Management API 01:29 - Stage 1: The Local Developer MCP Foundation 02:10 - Stage 2: Hosted MCP and Custom ChatGPT App Setup Demo 03:24 - Native Connections via the CLI Tool and Claude Code Integration 05:08 - Unpacking the Differences: Local MCP vs. Hosted MCP vs. CLI 06:49 - Stage 3: Making Umbraco Packages Agent-Ready with the Base SDK 07:43 - Stage 4: Scaffolding a Server Using the Five-Phase Software Factory 09:57 - Stage 5: Advanced MCP Chaining (Proxying, Delegation, and Composite Tools) 11:07 - Composing Shared Capabilities Across Custom MCP Servers 11:51 - Stage 6: The New Umbraco in AI Documentation Section 12:12 - Summary: Lowering Barriers and Reducing Friction for Digital Agencies Resources and Links: Official Umbraco in AI Documentation: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-in-ai Model Context Protocol (MCP) Core Concepts: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-in-ai/concepts/model-context-protocol Base MCP Package Guide & Repository Info: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-in-ai/mcp/base-mcp Developer MCP Server Configurations: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-in-ai/mcp/cms-developer-mcp Umbraco AI strategy: www.umbraco.com/ai Umbraco Official CMS Resources: www.umbraco.com

Unboxing Umbraco 18

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:10:54 Z

Join us for a developer's perspective on Umbraco 18, the new Standard-Term Support release of the CMS. We discuss the new Elements feature, typed OpenAPI schemas for the Delivery API, and the move from Swashbuckle to Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi. We also look at features you may have missed in recent Umbraco 17 minors, and explain the plan for Umbraco 17 - the current Long-Term Support release. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:51 Releases review 02:50 A look at Elements 14:06 Typed OpenAPI schemas for the Delivery API 18:29 Moving from Swashbuckle to Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi 21:10 The new login screen! 23:30 Umbraco 17 minors review 23:51 Umbraco 17.4 changes for AI 27:36 Upgrade considerations 29:21 Finding more information Related resources: Dive into the Umbraco 18 final release blog post: [URL] Visit our Umbraco 18 product page: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cms/umbraco-18/ Ready to learn more? Explore the Umbraco 18 documentation: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms Specific documentation links: Version-specific upgrade instructions: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/18.latest/get-started/upgrading-and-migrating/version-specific Umbraco 18 Release Candidate blog post: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-18-release-candidate/ Laura's blog post on migrating away from Swashbuckle: https://dev.to/lauraneto/umbraco-18-and-openapi-a-heads-up-for-extension-developers-1k7 Filip's product update from Codegarden: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-product-updatecodegarden-keynote-highlights-q2-2026/ Andy Butland's CMS Roadmap talk from Codegarden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO0BsEebTys

Clean Starter Kit v8 Released

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 08:07:26 Z

Clean Starter Kit v8 released for Umbraco 18. Explore the new element library features, block list labels workaround, and runtime migration solution for categories.

Krebil.UmbracoAzureSearch

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Plug Azure AI Search into Umbraco Search as a fully-featured provider: filtering, faceting, sorting, culture/segment variants, and protected content out of the box.

Umbraco 18 Release

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

The latest Major Release of Umbraco is here: Umbraco 18. Including Phase One of Elements for reusable content management, and typed OpenAPI schemas for the Delivery API. Upgrade today

Umbraco.Community.MemberLogin

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Sign in to the front-end as a member from the Umbraco backoffice, with optional culture and redirect page, opening in a new tab.

I'm an Umbraco MVP for the fifth year running!

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:04:05 Z

Every year, Umbraco recognises the people who have gone above and beyond with their contributions to Umbraco projects and community, and I am pleased to announce that I am honoured to be renewed as an Umbraco MVP for the fifth consecutive year. To celebrate this achievement, I also wrote an article which you can read here. Thank you, Umbraco, and the Umbraco community, for their fantastic support in making this happen once more! #h5yr

Phil Whittaker, Umbraco in AI

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 11:15:38 Z

In this session from Codegarden, Phil Whittaker explores the strategic vision and practical application of Umbraco in an AI-first world. The discussion details how AI agents and Large Language Models (LLMs) interact with the CMS outside of the traditional backoffice environment using shared best practices. The presentation covers the architectural shift from a base Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to a chained MCP architecture. By reducing technical friction, developers can enable AI agents to assist directly with content modeling, site deployment, and day-to-day management tasks. This video is designed for Umbraco developers, digital agencies, and content editors looking to integrate AI orchestration into modern web development. As agentic workflows become standard, learning how to build composable AI skills and deploy deterministic workflows ensures your digital experiences remain maintainable and future-proof. Key Takeaways: - Augmentation over Automation: Focusing on how developers and AI can collaborate effectively rather than replacing human expertise. - The Open-Source Advantage: Why Umbraco's transparent architecture makes it uniquely positioned for efficient AI model training and context comprehension. - Streamlining the Pitch Phase: Using the Umbraco UI library within design tools to prototype backoffice extensions rapidly. - The MCP Software Factory: Combining deterministic CLI phases and probabilistic AI phases to scaffold, build, and test custom MCP servers. - Chained and Remote MCPs: Establishing cross-connector collaboration between external tools (like Google Drive) and Umbraco to manage content at scale. Timeline Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Umbraco in AI 01:40 - The Evolution of AI and Agentic Products 03:03 - Strategy for Reducing Friction with AI Agents 04:56 - Open Source as an AI Advantage 06:59 - Leveraging AI in the Product Pitch Phase 11:56 - Implementing Backoffice Extension Skills 14:33 - AI in Production: Content Modeling and Implementation 21:32 - The Role of the Community AI Team 22:23 - Building Umbraco MCP Servers via Software Factories 27:07 - Architecture of Chained MCPs 29:03 - The AI-Accelerated Editor Experience 33:14 - Practical Prompts and Cross-Connector Collaboration 36:22 - Hosting Options: Umbraco Cloud and Cloudflare Workers 38:00 - Custom Editor Workflows and Deterministic Processes 42:46 - Building for Future Capabilities and Conclusion Resources and Links Umbraco AI Initiatives & Product Pages: https://umbraco.com/products/ai/ Latest Umbraco Product Update: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-product-updatecodegarden-keynote-highlights-q2-2026/ Umbraco in AI documentation: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-in-ai Codegarden: https://codegarden.umbraco.com/

Validating an Umbraco 13 to 17 Upgrade with a Sitemap Audit

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:54:04 Z

How I used a small .NET console tool to crawl a sitemap, compare Umbraco 13 and 17 environments, and quickly find broken pages after an upgrade....

You Never Know What'll Stick

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

On unconventional career paths, accidental dev tools, and great people. There

SA.Automate.WeatherApi

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

WeatherAPI.com connection types and actions for Umbraco Automate. Get the current weather for a location as part of an automation workflow.

Lait.Umbraco.Content.DragAndDrop

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Drag-and-drop and keyboard reordering for the Umbraco backoffice Content tree, plus the ability to drag an item out of a collection (list view) and drop it anywhere in the content tree. Three-zone drop targets, cross-parent moves, a move-in-progress spinner and WCAG-compliant keyboard grab & place.

Boost Your Workflow with Umbraco 17: Developer Productivity Hacks

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 22:00:00 Z

As developers, we’re always searching for ways to get our work done faster. New frameworks roll out and promise to make us blazing fast, AI tools keep booming with talk about writing half our code, and if you’ve ever sat through a developer conference lately, you know there’s always a session on “How to be More Productive.” But after working with Umbraco since version 4, I have to be honest: those massive productivity leaps don’t really come from the shiny, new, revolutionary tools. It all comes down to friction. And not the dramatic, show-stopping kind. I mean those hundreds of tiny speed bumps scattered all over your day. A few extra clicks in the Umbraco backoffice. Rebuilding the same component again and again. Always double-checking a property alias. Waiting for your solution to spin up. Poring over a monster Razor file, desperately trying to recall where you put that chunk of markup. None of these feel like deal-breakers on their own, but stacked together? Suddenly, you’re delivering features at a crawl. What’s won me over with the latest Umbraco versions, especially Umbraco 17, is just how much more aligned the platform is with standard .NET development. It feels less like you’re wrestling with a quirky CMS and more like you’re just building .NET applications. There’s a real payoff: less fighting the system means more time solving real business problems.Over the years I’ve picked up quite a few habits that speed up Umbraco development and make it less painful—some are tied directly to Umbraco 17, while others are just hard-earned lessons from a decade of building websites. Here’s what’s helped the most for me.

Kenn Jacobsen, It's Elemental; reuse your content!

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:44:00 Z

Discover how upcoming updates to the Umbraco CMS introduce a dedicated, native framework for managing reusable components. This session details the architectural transition away from traditional content tree workarounds toward a structured, centralized approach that optimizes backend performance and editorial control. Learn about the native Library section and Elements feature launching with Umbraco 18, alongside an early look at the comprehensive block editor integrations scheduled for Umbraco 19. The presentation highlights how these framework changes resolve historical challenges regarding schema inflation, content routing security, and context-switching during development. Who This Video Is For: This session is designed for Umbraco developers, solution architects, and technical content editors managing complex, multi-site, or multi-tenant environments. Understanding these architectural changes ensures teams can design leaner schemas and build intuitive, decoupled component libraries for future projects. Key Takeaways: - Built on Existing Frameworks: Elements utilize familiar native systems like Models Builder and IPublishedElement, ensuring a minimal learning curve for developers. - Leaner Database Schemas: Eliminates the necessity of duplicating document types for local and global contexts, maintaining uniform rendering pipelines regardless of data origin. - Native Security and Non-Routable Architecture: Centralized elements do not generate independent URLs or templates, removing template-sniffing risks and Delivery API exposure. - Segmented Permissions: Dedicated configuration layers separate content tree permissions from library access, reducing administration overhead in tenant environments. - Strict Control Mechanisms: Content libraries remain strictly opt-in on a per-element-type basis, preventing structural clutter from baseline utility compositions. Video Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Welcome 00:22 - Traditional Workarounds for Reusable Content 01:29 - Editor Friction and Content Tree Workflows 02:32 - Block Structure and JSON Serialization Challenges 05:32 - Technical Friction: Routing, Delivery API, and Security 07:04 - Schema Growth and Component Rendering Complexities 08:42 - Centralizing Content: Arriving in the New Library Section 09:44 - Architectural Overview: Sourcing Elements vs Local Blocks 11:55 - Cross-Context Tracking with the Out-of-Context Link Icon 14:26 - Element Characteristics: Lifecycles, Permissions, and Multi-Tenancy 16:52 - Managing Library Control via Opt-In Configurations 17:29 - Future Scope: Consolidating Editorial Features into the Library 18:16 - Implementation Roadmap: Umbraco 18 and Umbraco 19 Updates 18:44 - Live Demo: Implementing and Configuring the Element Picker 21:48 - Managing Lifecycles, Single-Sourced Editing, and Preview Mode 28:44 - Technical Preview: Future Block Editor Integrations 34:12 - Advanced Editorial Control: Disconnecting and Transferring Sourced Elements 40:59 - Strategic Takeaways and Presentation Wrap-Up Key Resources and Links: Umbraco 18 Release Candidate: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-18-release-candidate/ Umbraco CMS: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cms/

Matt Brailsford, AI in Umbraco

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:19:15 Z

Umbraco AI Staff Engineer and Lead Developer, Matt Brailsford, goes beneath the surface of out-of-the-box copilot packages to show how developers can extend the core platform. Using a real-world podcast management system as a blueprint, this technical deep dive demonstrates how to leverage native framework architecture to build tailored client solutions. The presentation walks through practical implementations of programmatic speech-to-text execution, custom LLM profile isolation, and context layering. Matt illustrates how to inject dynamic data from background systems and empower models to run custom execution tools rather than relying on manual, hard-coded prompt strings. This video is for Umbraco backend developers, solution architects, and engineering leads looking to solve complex business requirements with generative AI. It details how to move away from rigid chat interfaces and toward resilient, goal-oriented AI agents integrated into back-office event handlers and automation pipelines. What You Will Learn: - How to orchestrate background queuing for long-running LLM tasks without blocking the content-saving process. - The method for building custom context resource types that auto-generate Umbraco back-office UI elements using C# code attributes. - How to implement custom AI Tools that give LLMs secure access to external data registries like the HubSpot API. - The architectural benefits of shifting from step-by-step prompting to goal-oriented AI Agent reasoning. - Techniques for marrying Umbraco AI with Umbraco Automate to manage custom event triggers, workflow conditioning, and token management. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction & The Core Philosophy of Umbraco AI 01:52 - Demo Overview: Podcast Management Requirements 03:49 - Setting up a Background Queue & Loop Prevention 06:41 - Configuring Connections, LLM Profiles, and Brand Context 08:02 - Step 1: Programmatic Audio Transcription Implementation 09:47 - Step 2: Generating Episode Summaries & Show Notes 12:12 - Debugging LLM Behavior via AI Back Office Logs 14:04 - Extending Context: Building Custom Resource Types 18:16 - Always Inject vs. On-Demand Context Configurations 21:48 - Empowering LLMs via Custom AI Tools & HubSpot API 29:27 - Shifting to AI Agents for Goal-Oriented Reasoning 34:54 - Analyzing Agent Decision-Making & Conversation Logs 37:16 - Integrating Umbraco AI with Umbraco Automate 41:40 - Custom Triggers, Actions, and Automated Notifications 44:18 - Summary of Extension Points & Closing Remarks Links & Resources: Umbraco, the agent-ready CMS: https://umbraco.com/products/ai/ Umbraco AI Framework Documentation & Developer Guides: https://docs.umbraco.com/ai-in-umbraco Umbraco Automate product page: https://umbraco.com/products/add-ons/automate/ Codegarden 2026 Session Schedule & Announcements: https://codegarden.umbraco.com/

Bolette Kern, Umbraco CMS in the Age of AI

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:19:07 Z

Umbraco CMS Product Manager, Bolette Kern, outlines the strategic evolution of content management systems in the era of generative artificial intelligence. Rather than hard-coding trendy, rigid AI features directly into the core platform, Umbraco's architecture focuses on establishing an extensible framework built on choice, governance, and structural flexibility. This session breaks down how organizations can implement AI workflows on their own terms, utilizing localized control profiles, pre-generation data screening, and automated performance testing. It also highlights how the platform is preparing for an ecosystem where external AI agents read, write, and manage content alongside human creators. This video is for digital agency architects, enterprise development teams, content strategists, and product owners who need to design future-proof content platforms. It provides a technical blueprint for maintaining data privacy, evaluating non-deterministic LLM outputs, and managing concurrent multi-author content changes safely. What You Will Learn: - The structural risks of vendor-locked AI strategies and why platform flexibility acts as a long-term competitive advantage. - How to configure pre-generation PII guardrails using regular expressions to protect sensitive user data before it reaches external LLMs. - Methods for quality-checking non-deterministic prompt outputs using automated grading criteria and side-by-side model comparisons. - The architecture of Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and open-source agent skills designed to guide AI assistants in writing idiomatic Umbraco code. - A first look at upcoming core CMS features for real-time editor collaboration, property-level merge resolution, and visual text differentiation within block editors. Chapters 00:00 - The Role of a CMS in an Unpredictable Future 02:04 - Umbraco's Two-Track AI Strategy Overview 03:02 - The Risks of Hard-Coding AI into the CMS Core 05:15 - Demo: Managing LLM Connections, Profiles, and Contexts 06:14 - Enforcing PII Guardrails and Content Integrity Rules 08:36 - Testing and Grading Non-Deterministic AI Prompt Performance 13:32 - Leveraging the Umbraco AI Foundation for Custom Packages 15:30 - Track 2: Interfacing with External AI Agents 17:43 - Open-Source Agent Skills for Best-Practice Code Generation 22:46 - Model Context Protocol (MCP) Platform Architecture 26:48 - Demo: Content Orchestration via the Hosted CMS Editor MCP 31:43 - Automating Content Audits with Global Updates 35:18 - Core Platform Advantages in a Code-Generation Ecosystem 38:41 - Roadmap: Property-Level Editor Collaboration & Conflict Resolution 41:44 - Integrating Visual Diff Views into the Publishing Flow Links & Resources Umbraco, the agent-ready CMS: https://umbraco.com/products/ai/the-agent-ready-cms/ Codegarden: https://codegarden.umbraco.com/

Extending Tiptap in Umbraco – a real world list example

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 07:37:36 Z

If you've spent any time migrating editors or building rich-text features, you'll know Tiptap looks great on paper but sometimes feels a little... minimal compared to what TinyMCE shipped out of the box. At ilionx we've been moving a few large sites to Umbraco 17 and bumped into the same feedback: list style options. Nothing dramatic, just the ability to pick Roman numerals, different bullet shapes, that sort of thing, but enough to make editors ask for the old behavior back.

So we wrote a small TypeScript extension that adds back list-style variants. It gets built to App_Plugins with Vite, plugs into the UmbTiptapExtensionApiBase and wires up extra toolbar menu items. The actual extension is tiny, it just adds a listStyleType attribute to the list nodes and renders it as inline CSS, but the surrounding bits (icons, toolbar menus, wiring) make the UX feel polished.

Tiptap has solid docs on extending and creating extensions, and Umbraco documents how to register a Tiptap extension, but stitching everything together took a little trial and error. Below is the extension configuration we used. It looks like a lot for a simple feature, but a fair chunk of the files are just icons and small glue code.

Let’s start with the actual extension definitions in Umbraco-package.json, where we define 4 extensions:

"extensions": [
  {
    "type": "icons",
    "alias": "My.Icons.TiptapListStyle",
    "js": "/App_Plugins/My.TiptapListStyle/list-style-icons.js"
  },
  {
    "type": "tiptapExtension",
    "alias": "My.Tiptap.ListStyle",
    "api": "/App_Plugins/My.TiptapListStyle/list-style.tiptap-api.js",
    "meta": {
      "icon": "icon-ordered-list",
      "label": "List style type",
      "group": "#tiptap_extGroup_formatting"
    }
  },
  {
    "type": "tiptapToolbarExtension",
    "kind": "menu",
    "alias": "My.Tiptap.Toolbar.OrderedList",
    "overwrites": "Umb.Tiptap.Toolbar.OrderedList",
    "api": "/App_Plugins/ My.TiptapListStyle/ordered-list-menu.tiptap-toolbar-api.js",
    "forExtensions": ["My.Tiptap.ListStyle", " My.Tiptap.OrderedList"],
    "items": [
      {
        "label": "Numbered list",
        "data": null,
        "appearance": { "icon": "icon-ordered-list" }
      },
      {
        "label": "Numbered list: i, ii, iii",
        "data": "lower-roman",
        "appearance": { "icon": "icon-list-style-lower-roman" }
      },
      // add other style definitions here
    ] 
  },
  {
    "type": "tiptapToolbarExtension",
    "kind": "menu",
    "alias": " My.Tiptap.Toolbar.BulletList",
    "overwrites": "Umb.Tiptap.Toolbar.BulletList",
    "api": "/App_Plugins/My.TiptapListStyle/bullet-list-menu.tiptap-toolbar-api.js",
    "forExtensions": ["My.Tiptap.ListStyle", "Umb.Tiptap.BulletList"],
    "items": [
      {
        "label": "Bullet list",
        "data": null,
        "appearance": { "icon": "icon-bulleted-list" }
      },
      {
        "label": "Bullet list: circle",
        "data": "circle",
        "appearance": { "icon": "icon-list-style-bullet-circle" }
      },
      // add other style definitions here
    ]
  }
]

Here’s what we register:

an icon set (a bunch of tiny SVGs showing what each list style looks like)
one Tiptap extension which carries the list-style attribute
two toolbar extensions that replace the ordered/bulleted list buttons with menus that expose the variants.

The icon set

The icons are trivial: I asked an AI to generate SVGs for different list markers and put each one in a tiny TypeScript file that exports the SVG string.

/** Ordered list with lower-roman markers (i, ii, iii). */
export default `<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="1.75"><text x="1" y="7.5" font-size="4.5" fill="currentColor" stroke="none" font-family="serif" font-style="italic">i.</text><path d="M9 6h12"/><text x="1" y="13.5" font-size="4.5" fill="currentColor" stroke="none" font-family="serif" font-style="italic">ii.</text><path d="M9 12h12"/><text x="1" y="19.5" font-size="4.5" fill="currentColor" stroke="none" font-family="serif" font-style="italic">iii.</text><path d="M9 18h12"/></svg>`;

And a small registry file maps the icon names to those files:

export default [
  {
    name: 'icon-list-style-lower-roman',
    path: () => import('./icons/svg-ordered-list-lower-roman.js'),
  },
    //...
];

These images are purely to make the toolbar menus readable — a little UX polish so editors instantly recognise the option they’re picking.

The Tiptap extension

The extension itself is surprisingly compact. It adds a listStyleType attribute to the built-in orderedList and bulletList nodes and serialises it as inline list-style-type style so the HTML stays portable and renders the same in the backoffice and on the front end.

import { Extension, UmbTiptapExtensionApiBase } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/tiptap';

/**
 * Extends the built-in orderedList and bulletList nodes with a `listStyleType`
 * attribute that maps to the CSS `list-style-type` property.
 *
 * The attribute is serialised as an inline style so the stored HTML is portable
 * and renders correctly both in the backoffice editor and on the front end.
 */
const ListStyleExtension = Extension.create({
  name: 'listStyle',

  addGlobalAttributes() {
    return [
      {
        types: ['orderedList', 'bulletList'],
        attributes: {
          listStyleType: {
            default: null,
            parseHTML: (element) => element.style.listStyleType || null,
            renderHTML: (attributes) => {
              if (!attributes['listStyleType']) return {};
              return { style: `list-style-type: ${attributes['listStyleType']}` };
            },
          },
        },
      },
    ];
  },
});

export default class ListStyleTiptapExtensionApi extends UmbTiptapExtensionApiBase {
  constructor(...args: ConstructorParameters<typeof UmbTiptapExtensionApiBase>) {
    super(...args);
    this.getTiptapExtensions = () => [ListStyleExtension];
  }
}

That’s it, the extension maps an attribute to CSS and makes sure works in both front- and backoffice. Nothing scary.

The toolbar extensions

Because ordered and unordered lists are separate toolbar buttons, we overwrite each one with a menu that exposes the style variants. To avoid duplicating logic we put the toolbar behaviour into a single helper and import it from the two small extension files.

Each toolbar menu has to do a few things:

create a list if the selection isn’t in one
switch between ordered and bullet lists
toggle or set a specific list-style-type and reflect the active state in the menu UI.

That last bit is where the logic concentrates, the UI needs to show which style is active and allow toggling back to the default behaviour.

The per-list-type extension files look like this:

import { createListStyleMenuToolbarApi } from './list-style-menu-toolbar-api.js';

export default createListStyleMenuToolbarApi('bulletList');

And the shared toolbar helper contains the actual implementation and state logic:

import type { Editor } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/tiptap';
import { UmbTiptapToolbarElementApiBase } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/tiptap';

type ListStyleMenuItem = { data?: string | null };

function getStyleType(item?: ListStyleMenuItem): string | null | undefined {
  return item?.data;
}

function applyListStyle(
  editor: Editor,
  listType: 'orderedList' | 'bulletList',
  styleType: string,
): void {
  if (editor.isActive(listType)) {
    const currentStyle = editor.getAttributes(listType)['listStyleType'] as string | null;
    const newStyle = currentStyle === styleType ? null : styleType;
    editor.chain().focus().updateAttributes(listType, { listStyleType: newStyle }).run();
    return;
  }

  if (listType === 'orderedList') {
    editor
      .chain()
      .focus()
      .toggleOrderedList()
      .updateAttributes('orderedList', { listStyleType: styleType })
      .run();
  } else {
    editor
      .chain()
      .focus()
      .toggleBulletList()
      .updateAttributes('bulletList', { listStyleType: styleType })
      .run();
  }
}

function applyDefaultList(editor: Editor, listType: 'orderedList' | 'bulletList'): void {
  if (editor.isActive(listType)) {
    const currentStyle = editor.getAttributes(listType)['listStyleType'] as string | null;
    if (currentStyle) {
      editor.chain().focus().updateAttributes(listType, { listStyleType: null }).run();
      return;
    }
    if (listType === 'orderedList') {
      editor.chain().focus().toggleOrderedList().run();
    } else {
      editor.chain().focus().toggleBulletList().run();
    }
    return;
  }

  if (listType === 'orderedList') {
    editor.chain().focus().toggleOrderedList().run();
  } else {
    editor.chain().focus().toggleBulletList().run();
  }
}

/**
 * Toolbar menu API for ordered/bullet list buttons with list-style-type variants.
 */
export function createListStyleMenuToolbarApi(listType: 'orderedList' | 'bulletList') {
  return class extends UmbTiptapToolbarElementApiBase {
    override isActive(editor?: Editor, item?: ListStyleMenuItem): boolean {
      if (!editor) return false;

      const styleType = getStyleType(item);
      if (styleType === undefined) {
        return editor.isActive(listType);
      }

      if (styleType === null) {
        const currentStyle = editor.getAttributes(listType)['listStyleType'] as string | null;
        return editor.isActive(listType) && currentStyle === null;
      }

      return editor.isActive(listType, { listStyleType: styleType });
    }

    override execute(editor?: Editor, item?: ListStyleMenuItem): void {
      if (!editor) return;

      const styleType = getStyleType(item);
      if (styleType === undefined || styleType === null) {
        applyDefaultList(editor, listType);
        return;
      }

      applyListStyle(editor, listType, styleType);
    }
  };
}

TODO / caveats

I’m still getting comfortable with TypeScript, so this isn't a 100%-polished extension. One known quirk: clicking a custom style button after setting a style will clear the style but not fully remove the list node the way the stock ordered/bullet button does. It's a small UX edge-case and likely fixable by tweaking the toggle logic, but I haven't had time for it yet.

If you want to copy this approach, the important bits are:

expose a listStyleType attribute on the list nodes,
serialize it in a way that works in both editor and front end (inline style is the simplest)
replace the toolbar buttons with menus that set/update that attribute.

Hopefully this saves you a few hours of experimentation. The overall idea is small, but the payoff for editors is surprisingly nice.

My First CodeGarden: AI, Umbraco 17 and 18, and Why I

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

This was my first time travelling to Copenhagen, and my first ever CodeGarden, and what a way to start. I went over with Luca Colella and Kat Dixon and we had a brilliant couple of days.

Knowit.Umbraco.EditorLock

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Prevents two editors from changing the same content node at the same time. When a node is already open, a second editor gets a read-only view with a red border and can either Request access (the current editor is prompted to accept or decline) or Force access (an immediate takeover with confirmation). Locks auto-release when the holder disconnects or goes idle, so nodes never get stuck. Real-time over SignalR.

SA.Automate.Pushover

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Pushover connection type and action for Umbraco Automate. Send notifications to Pushover as part of an automation workflow.

SA.Automate.Ntfy

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

ntfy connection types and actions for Umbraco Automate. Send notifications to ntfy as part of an automation workflow.

The Pragmatic Enterprise: Balancing AI Innovation with Predictable TCO

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.Video 17.0.0-alpha001

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:05:01 Z

Package serving as a base for Limbo's video picker packages.

Bjarke Berg, Running Umbraco in a Changing World

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:23:06 Z

Umbraco Cloud Lead, Bjarke Berg, delivers a technical keynote at Codegarden 2026 detailing the operational realities of hosting web platforms in a shifting threat and traffic landscape. With automated bot scanning and AI-driven probes doubling overall platform requests to 10 billion monthly hits, legacy hosting defaults are no longer sufficient to guarantee stability. The presentation reviews a year of infrastructure updates driven by a core philosophy of user self-service. Key product rollouts include edge-enriched performance analytics via Cloudflare, custom fallback error pages, granular carbon tracking APIs through direct Azure integration, and dedicated compute load balancing powered by out-of-process Redis caching. Who This Video Is For: This session is designed for technical architects, systems administrators, backend developers, and digital agencies operating Umbraco infrastructure. It provides actionable best practices on platform protection, explains the performance impacts of production runtime mode configurations, and maps out the platform's architectural transition to containerized, CI/CD-aligned artifact deployments. Key Takeaways: - How automated bot traffic has shifted platform demands and why edge network DOS mitigation is mandatory. - The security and performance implications of compiling views using Production Runtime Mode settings. - How to configure custom fallback pages, localized maintenance windows, and proactive alert rules using webhooks. - The mechanics of load balancing using out-of-process Redis caching under sticky session configurations. - The upcoming Artifact Deployment model designed for external CI/CD pipelines and zero-downtime rolling updates. - Umbraco’s long-term infrastructure roadmap moving toward multicloud availability, containerization, and Linux hosting environments. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction & Self-Service Strategy 02:12 - Traffic & Performance Edge Analytics 06:11 - Custom Error Pages & Sustainability Dashboards 08:07 - Load Balancing & Redis Caching Configurations 10:42 - Scaling Under 2026 Bot & Automated Traffic Pressures 12:50 - Security Foundations & DOS Mitigation 15:33 - Maximizing Performance via Production Runtime Mode 17:22 - Web Application Firewalls & Content Caching Headers 23:17 - Clean Repositories & Configuration Best Practices 24:28 - Proactive Uptime Monitoring & Webhook Alert Rules 27:15 - Scheduled Maintenance Windows by Timezone 31:07 - Architectural Shift: Introducing Artifact Deployments 35:10 - Read-Only Schema Controls & Automated Pull Requests 37:27 - Unlocking Zero-Downtime Rolling Updates 38:42 - Long-Term Horizon: Multicloud, Containers, and Linux Links & Resources: Umbraco Cloud product page: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cloud/ Umbraco for Enterprise Solutions: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-for-enterprise/ Umbraco Product Update q2, 2026: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-product-updatecodegarden-keynote-highlights-q2-2026/ Codegarden Sessions & Announcements: https://codegarden.umbraco.com/

Umbraco Codegarden Keynote, 2026: Mats Persson, Emma Bustow & Filip Bech-Larsen

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:51:13 Z

This keynote kicks off the flagship annual event, Codegarden, bringing together the global community to look back at a milestone year and preview what lies ahead for the ecosystem. The presentation is hosted by Umbraco CEO Mats Persson, Umbraco CTO Filip Bech-Larsen, and Head of Developer Relations Emma Burstow. Together, they outline recent growth metrics, international initiatives, and shifting developer dynamics across the ecosystem. The keynote is split into distinct parts. First, Emma and Mats cover community milestones, international office expansion, and business achievements. Following their segment, Filip steps into a solo keynote presentation focusing on core technical updates, massive platform architecture updates, and major product announcements. WHO THIS VIDEO IS FOR This video is essential viewing for Umbraco developers, solutions architects, agency partners, open-source contributors, and technology leaders. Staying aligned with the platform’s core engineering choices ensures your teams can plan upgrades accurately, adopt native AI capabilities securely, and design future-proof, composable architectures. TIMESTAMPS Part 1: Community & Business Milestones (Mats & Emma) 00:00 - Welcome to Codegarden 2026 & Opening Remarks 01:00 - Speaker Introductions & Record-Breaking Attendance Figures 02:02 - The Infamous Pre-Conference Social Bike Ride Recap 04:40 - Global Footprint: Meetups, Festivals, and the New Melbourne Office 07:20 - AI Hackathons & "Vibe Coding" Innovation Era 15:08 - Guest Segment: Top Hackathon Packages Showcase with Lottie Pitcher 19:08 - Maturing the Marketplace: Platform Strategy, Search, and Vendor Trust 26:23 - Breakout Sessions & Community Roadmap Overview 29:55 - Community Teams & Feedback-Driven Development 32:28 - 2026 Most Valuable People (MVP) Awards Ceremony Part 2: Product Keynote & Technical Announcements (Filip) 39:35 - Part 2 Intro: Balancing Developer Love with Business Trust 42:05 - Enterprise Security: ISO 27001 Certification & Cloud 100% SLA Policies 43:25 - CMS Core: Umbraco 17 LTS Overview & Umbraco 13 EOL Timeline 45:16 - Architectural Shifts: Entity Framework (EF Core) & Search Abstraction 1.0 46:50 - Content Modeling: Introducing Native "Elements" & Feature Demo 51:50 - The Umbraco AI Framework: Guiding Principles & Architecture 55:15 - Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server & Hosted Remote MCP for Cloud (Beta) 58:10 - Data Privacy & Testing: Microsoft Extensions AI, Guardrails, and Base Models 1:03:05 - Community Innovation: AI Log Analyzer Feature Demo 1:04:52 - Extending the UI: Semantic AI Search, Voice Mode, and Copilot Upgrades 1:08:10 - Major Announcement: Native Workflow Engine ("Umbraco Automate") 1:16:32 - Composable Architecture: Umbraco Compose & Injection Upgrades 1:21:56 - Platform Add-ons: Engage Personalization, Forms Analytics, and Commerce Scale 1:25:44 - Cloud Portal Infrastructure: Live Edge Insights & Gamified Recommendations 1:31:26 - Major Announcement: Direct Architecture Load Balancing on Umbraco Cloud KEY TAKEAWAYS A New Class of Content: The debut of "Elements" as a fourth native type introduces clean, non-routable, reusable content models managed via a central Library Section, drastically improving author workflows. Umbraco Automate: The release of built-in low-code workflow automation allows developers and editors to map triggers (like saving content or uploading media) directly to chain-linked actions, API webhooks, and AI pipelines. Remote MCP Integration: The Model Context Protocol is shifting to a fully hosted cloud structure this summer, granting secure backend developer contexts to AI tools without complex local token installations. Direct Cloud Load Balancing: Starting July 1st, Umbraco Cloud will support single-click multi-instance scaling backed by dedicated Redis caching tiers to ensure infrastructure elasticity. OFFICIAL LINKS & RESOURCES Umbraco Product Homepage: www.umbraco.com Codegarden 2026 keynote highlight Blog Post: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-product-updatecodegarden-keynote-highlights-q2-2026/ Explore the Umbraco Marketplace: https://marketplace.umbraco.com/ Community Announcements & Upcoming Events: https://community.umbraco.com/ Codegarden website: https://codegarden.umbraco.com/ Read the Umbraco Code of Conduct: [Insert Link]

Arnold Visser, Build. Scale. Grow. From Running Projects to Growing Portfolios with Umbraco Cloud.

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:28:07 Z

Umbraco Head of Business Development, Arnold Visser, discusses the operational evolution of managing large client portfolios. While digital agencies have traditionally excelled at building individual Umbraco projects, long-term success requires a shift toward managing, supporting, and scaling those assets as business-critical platforms. This presentation details how Umbraco Cloud and the Umbraco Enterprise offering are changing to support agencies beyond the initial launch phase. By introducing deeper runtime diagnostics, isolated dedicated tiers at lower price points, and flexible licensing options, the ecosystem aims to minimize the hours development teams spend on infrastructure maintenance and deployment coordination. This video is for digital agency executives, account managers, technical architects, and project managers handling multiple live Umbraco environments. It provides a strategic look at moving away from reactive server management toward a mature, portfolio-wide operational framework that protects client uptime and uncovers ongoing growth opportunities. What You Will Learn: - The operational inflection points that occur when an agency scales from 5 to more than 50 active projects. - Core updates to Umbraco Cloud, including Load Balancing, 90 days of edge traffic insights, custom branded maintenance pages, and ISO 27001 compliance. - Commercial adjustments to the platform, such as lower-cost entry tiers for dedicated resources and the introduction of an agency-wide Umbraco Deploy license. - The mid-term technical roadmap covering proactive health alerting via webhooks, automated scaling, and customizable maintenance windows. - How to leverage artifact deployments and container-based infrastructure to execute rolling updates without client site downtime. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction: The Portfolio Gap 01:42 - The Shift from Building to Operating Platforms 02:52 - Build vs. Scale vs. Grow Framework 04:45 - The Tribal Knowledge Trap at 50+ Projects 05:45 - The Role of Umbraco Cloud Infrastructure 06:57 - Umbraco for Enterprise Overview 08:48 - Solving Common Operational Challenges 11:01 - Addressing Partner Feedback on Visibility and Costs 12:38 - Traffic Performance Insights and Runtime Data 14:04 - Plan Extensions and Custom Maintenance Pages 17:01 - New Dedicated Scaling Options and Lower Pricing 19:46 - Umbraco Deploy Agency Licensing 21:11 - The Unified Umbraco Partner Portal 23:08 - Operational Roadmap: Alerting, Webhooks, and Metrics 26:21 - Artifact Deployment, Rolling Updates, and Containers Links & Resources: Umbraco Cloud product page: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cloud/ Umbraco for Enterprise Solutions: https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-for-enterprise/ Umbraco Product Update q2, 2026: https://umbraco.com/blog/umbraco-product-updatecodegarden-keynote-highlights-q2-2026/ Codegarden Sessions & Announcements: https://codegarden.umbraco.com/

Andy Butland, Our Roadmap, Your CMS Umbraco 17 Released and What We're Building Next

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 08:57:50 Z

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Clone and try our four-hour Codegarden workshop on extending Umbraco's extensions: an escape room of coding quests across Engage, Workflow and Deploy.

The most interesting thing at CodeGarden wasn

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

There were plenty of shiny things to look at this year. New content types, a workflow engine, hosted servers you can spin up in minutes.

FrontendSupport.PartialTextString

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Basically a TextString, but you can specify prefix and/or postfix strings to show, which can make it much easier to understand exactly what's supposed to go into the field.

Lait.Umbraco.Analytics.Plausible

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Surfaces Plausible Analytics tracking data inside the Umbraco backoffice: a Content dashboard and a per-page block on each document's Info tab.

Lait.Umbraco.UI.ScrollToField

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

A table of contents navigation helper for the Umbraco backoffice. Adds a dockable outline panel to the document editor that lists the page's tabs, property groups and Block List / Block Grid items — so editors keep their overview and can jump straight to any section on long content pages. Click an entry to scroll it into view and highlight it.

Spin up Umbraco websites quickly with Umbeasy

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 04:51:47 Z

Need to spin up an #Umbraco website for a quick test of something?Try the friction-free #Umbreasy ⚡🏃‍♂️‍➡️It's in beta right now: https://umbreasy.com

Esatto.Umbraco.Backoffice.Redirects

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Dead-URL → new-URL redirects for Umbraco 17. Provides a SQL-backed Redirects table, a Settings-section dashboard for editors to manage 301 rules, and an IContentFinder that resolves redirects at request time. A single flat list of redirects: exact case-insensitive matching with query-string preservation, draft rows, and idempotent migrations.

Codegarden 2026 and the next chapter for Umbraco | Shout Digital

Lait.Umbraco.Search.Typesense

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

An extension for Umbraco CMS providing a custom search engine integration with Typesense.

OC.Automate.Bluesky

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Bluesky connection type and action for Umbraco Automate. Post to Bluesky as part of an automation workflow.

Codegarden 2026 recap

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Codegarden 26 : a review

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 17:42:48 Z

Codegarden 26 : a review

TipTap is not broken. Your expectations are.

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:47:24 Z

Since the Umbraco 16 release, Umbraco ships only with the TipTap Rich Text Editor. This was unfortunately something that Umbraco was forced to do. TinyMce 7 has a license that is incompatible with the open source license of Umbraco and TinyMce 6 was going out of support. So an alternative had to be found.

Umbraco did a pretty good job at abstracting the rich text data. In Umbraco 15 both TinyMCE and TipTap were still present and exchangeable because of this abstraction. And arguably, the way you can set up your toolbars for the TipTap editor is superior to TinyMCE. But still, a new Rich Text Editor is a big change that presents real challenges.

These challenges are most obvious when looking at the Umbraco forum's tip-tap tag. Topics vary, but a few come up again and again:

Additional HTML tags getting added to the markup, like a <p> tag inside a <li>
The inability to add certain tags to TipTap, like <script> tags
The inability to add styling to an element, for instance to create a link that looks like a button

These are valid challenges, especially if you're upgrading from an existing TinyMCE setup. But this is also a good moment to ask two questions:

Why do I want the same behaviour?
And was the old behaviour actually any good to begin with?

You don't have to migrate everything at once

Before getting into that, it's worth knowing that TinyMCE is still available as a community package for Umbraco 16+. If you're in the middle of a project, dealing with a large codebase, or just not ready to rethink your Rich Text Editor setup right now, that's a valid escape hatch. Swap in the package, keep things running, and give yourself time to migrate properly.

But "later" should still be on the roadmap. The package is community maintained, not an official Umbraco product, so there are no guarantees around long-term support or compatibility with future Umbraco versions. Relying on it indefinitely carries the same risk as the situation Umbraco just came out of with TinyMCE 6.

So use it if you need to. Just don't treat it as a permanent solution.

The RTE is not a page builder

I'm not a big fan of giving editors too much freedom in a Rich Text Editor. Don't get me wrong, RTEs are great and help editors a lot. But give too much rope and things go wrong fast. My preference is for RTEs to handle the basics: adding a link, making text bold or italic, maybe a table if the frontend deals with it gracefully on mobile.

What I don't like is image placement and scaling inside an RTE. Without proper processing this is a problem for performance and mobile layouts. I also don't like HTML snippets or trying to add CSS classes to elements from within an editor. It's error prone, and if something breaks, you need HTML knowledge to fix it. That's not a realistic expectation for most editors.

So when people ask how to replicate that kind of behaviour in TipTap, I'd rather ask why they need it at all.

Stop fighting the editor, start working with Umbraco

Instead of trying to make TipTap behave like TinyMCE did, consider using the tools Umbraco already gives you.

Need a link that looks like a button? Use a block inside the Rich Text Editor. TipTap has solid block support, and Umbraco exposes this well. You get a structured piece of content with its own view, its own properties, fully typed, fully renderable. An editor picks a "Button" block, fills in the label and the link and that's it. No CSS classes, no raw HTML, no risk of someone pasting style="color:red" into a script tag three months later.

Need a pull quote, a callout, a code snippet with syntax highlighting? Same answer. Model it as a block. Render it properly. Keep the RTE itself lean.

The argument I keep hearing is that recreating all of this takes more time than just making the old thing work again. That's sometimes true in the short term. But you're building something more maintainable, more predictable and more editor-friendly.

There's another reason to think twice before pouring effort into recreating editor-specific behaviour: Umbraco has already switched its default Rich Text Editor once. It could happen again. If your implementation leans heavily on workarounds and editor-specific quirks, you're setting yourself up for the same migration pain all over again. If instead your RTE is kept lean and the complex bits live in blocks with their own models and views, a future editor switch becomes much less of an event. The RTE just renders text. Everything interesting is already abstracted away.

What about the extra markup?

The <p> inside <li> is worth addressing separately, because it looks like a bug but it isn't. TipTap is built on ProseMirror, which uses a strict document schema where every node needs to contain the right type of child node. For list items, that child is a block node and a paragraph is that block node. This is what makes editing reliable: without it, you can end up in situations where the cursor can't be placed inside a list item at all, or where deleting an item breaks unexpectedly.

This behaviour is not unique to TipTap. Any editor built on ProseMirror does the same thing, and that includes quite a few well-known ones. TinyMCE handled lists differently, but that doesn't make TinyMCE's approach the correct one.

If your frontend CSS breaks because of this, that's a one-time fix, typically just adjusting margin or display rules on li p. Once it's done, you're working with markup that is actually more structurally consistent than what TinyMCE produced.

Closing thought

A new editor is disruptive. But disruption is also a chance to reconsider decisions that were made years ago under different constraints, maybe with less knowledge of what Umbraco could do, or just because TinyMCE made it easy and easy felt like good enough.

TipTap is not TinyMCE. It's not trying to be. And once you stop expecting it to be, you might find it pushes you toward solutions that are cleaner, better structured and easier to hand off to an editor who has no idea what a DOM is.

Work with the grain of the tool, not against it.

How I Hacked the Sticker Printers at Codegarden 2026

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:29:21 Z

Discover how constraints sparked innovation at Codegarden 2026. I bypassed printer limitations using only my phone and creative problem-solving techniques.

New release for umbPublisher 1.5.1

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 08:43:36 Z

New release for umbPublisher 1.5.1Tags that are set in #obsidian can now be mapped to #umbraco property editor. Available on https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/umbpublisher

I attended Umbraco Codegarden 2026!

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:00:00 Z

Codegarden was last week in Copenhagen! I was there this time and here are my thoughts about the event. Previous time I attended was in 2023, so I will draw some comparisons to that year. It was a great experience and I left feeling generally excited and inspired.

Organization

Just like previous time, the event was very well-organized. At Codegarden, you're always well taken care of with lunch and dinner, great instructions, a little kick-off at the start of every day and a lot of spatial diversity. You always know what to expect.

I was very happy to see that the quiet area was easy to find and it was mentioned at the beginning of the event. The previous time I didn't know that such a quiet area existed and I spoke out about that. It gave me comfort that I knew where to retreat to when I needed to. Additionally, there were many places to stand or sit outside and inside. The event was also a little shorter, which made it more manageable for me.

The location was absolutely ideal for the amount of people that attended. There were many attendees (about 700 they said, if I remember correctly), but at no point did the venue feel crowded. I could always easily get to where I wanted to go, there were no long queues and there was always enough seats for all the talks at every stage.

Talks

I'll admit that, on the previous Codegarden, I had the wrong expectations for the talks. Talks are obviously aimed at specific target audiences and I don't belong to all of them. Some talks aim to inform, while others aim to inspire. Stories are not tutorials. Also, sometimes a talk doesn't teach you something new, but simply validates what you were already doing.

So it was this time too. My focus is currently shifting slightly away from coding and more towards collaboration and I am looking for inspiration on how to deliver better software faster. I specifically wanted to attend Debugging Teams: What High-Performing Developer Teams Do Differently, because it seemed relevant to me. Although I was hoping for a deep analysis in development process and teamwork strategies, I ended up learning about the importance of trust and of sharing the "what", "how" and "why" of what we do. It surely gave me something to think about.

I listened to Building Resilient Umbraco Integrations. A more tutorial-style demonstration with insightful information about what you need to think about when integrating with external services. The presentation included concrete code examples that gave concrete solutions to the presented problems. I personally already knew all of it, but it was nice to see anyway, because it confirms that I'm already doing it right.

OC.Automate.Mastodon

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Mastodon connection type and action for Umbraco Automate. Post statuses to any Mastodon instance as part of an automation workflow.

OC.Automate.Mastodon released

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Across the Himalayas and Into the Heart of Umbraco

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Meet Rashmita and Jasper, the founders of One Tech Nepal. Discover how they use their 100% Umbraco agency to fund IT education and libraries in remote Himalayan schools.

Codegarden 2026: A Week in Copenhagen I Won't Forget

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 23:00:00 Z

Justin reflects on an unforgettable week at Codegarden 2026 in Copenhagen, where he was recognised as an Umbraco MVP, invited on stage during the keynote to demo his AI Log Analyser package, and won the AI Package Award.

Introducing Larsingerlogue CV-5000

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 21:24:09 Z

Or how I gave Behringer FCV100 the reference power supply it deserves to use for CV-modulation with Korg Minilogue XD

If you're here to solve the problem and don't care for a story, keep scrolling, you'll get to schematics, breadboard pictures and an ingredient list.

There's also a short video montage for the even more impatient.

This is quite a different post than I usually make, if I'm allowed to call it usually anymore at all. In any case, I've been playing the keys in a band for a couple of years and have yearned for a proper synth to supplement my (6) master keyboards. Recently I acquired my first ever analogue synthesizer. It only took 40 years for the dream to come through. I found a 15% cheaper second hand "unused" Korg Minilogue XD. But I only had damper pedals to use with it. Half the fun of synthesizers for me is varying the low pass filter cutoff. It's what gives that cool swiping, buzzing or muffled sound depending on how you "turn" it. For that I needed another type of pedal, and not just a regular one.

The Minilogue has a ton of hand-controlled potentiometer knobs we can use for a multitude of parameters, amongst others the filter cutoff. However it does not have a regular 1/4" jack slot for expression pedals like keyboards usually have. It has a damper slot, but only for CC64 on/off (sustain on and off). What we want is a full, preferably analogue, range from 0 to 100%. Expression pedals are excellent for this since they're basically pot meters you turn with your foot.

What the Minilogue comes with are two 1/8" jack "CV in" ports. So I browsed the interwebz for "CV pedal" and found a bunch of alternatives. Since I'm eyeing a Behringer Poly D come fall I thought the Behringer FCV100 V2 pedal seemed a good deal. It's advertised as a volume pedal with a CV option, including reversing polarity. So I ordered one and excitedly unpacked it while the band leader ran out to buy the last 1/8" to 1/8" cable and a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter. I'd dutifully inserted a 9V battery and optimistically hooked everything up...

Nothing!

I tried both CV inputs, both polarities, tons of options on the minilogue, but still nothing.
When I got home - I plugged a 1/8" into the input port which according to the interwebs should "power it on". Still nothing from the CV output. And yes, I had measured the voltage on the 9V battery.

Note: I have had no ambition doing electronics "right" with this project, nor writing a proper tutorial with a "right" way of doing it. This is a story about fiddling around and getting things to work. It is not a tutorial in proper electronics, in fact almost the opposite. I have not bothered to look up facts or calculated things. This means people who know their way around electronics might find this article revolting. I'm sorry. It was a way for me to brush up on how things work and get something working quickly. DIY by fiddling around until it works. Again, sorry, but hopefully other learners might be inspired to both fiddle around and learn to do the calculations. There's even a gem of an insight in the end that only hit me while writing this post. 😇

The research

According to the interwebz, someone claimed to have gotten CV output when they had plugged an unconnected 1/8" jack into input 2, but showed no proof or measurements. The next answer was someone who had done some due dilligence and measured the output. Apparently it only works with instruments that feed a reference voltage from its control voltage (CV) input in order for the pedal to vary it.

So I dug out my trusty old multimeter and started the process of dusting off the parts of my brain still remembering reading "There are no Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings" ten plus years ago. I learned about what tip, ring and sleeve (TRS) for jack plugs are, and all the other variants. Measuring DC between the tip and sleeve of the unconnected side of the cable when pressing the pedal did absolutely nothing. Measuring resistance though showed a varying impedance of 0 through 50kΩ. If I flipped between TRS and RTS mode on the pedal it seemingly reversed the resistance on the ring, but the tip stayed fixed on 50kΩ in TRS mode. In any case, after some brain clearing with ChatGPT, I could conclude that the pedal in CV mode is only a 50kΩ potmeter and does not provide any of the sweet power from the (now useless) 9V battery I had inserted.

Note: I've left the pedal in RTS mode. In order to use both and reverse polarity there's more research and a V2 to be built. See closer to the end for a short rant about the factory presets in Minilogue XD.

I figured there has to be a way to provide that power even if the synth doesn't. So after a little more chatting with ChatGPT I figured I could dig through all my old cables and adapters to find an USB cable and adapter we're not using. I should be able to "inject" it's 5V DC voltage into the jack cable instead of relying on the synth to provide it. I dug through all my treasure drawers and found an USB mini-B 4-pin (?) to USB A cable and cut off the mini-B plug to reveal the two VCC/GND cables and two data cables. I found a couple of horribly old AC USB adapters and measured the DC from both via the cable's red (VCC) and black (GND) wires. One gave 3.3V and the other gave 5V. I happily threw the overdue 3.3V one in the "to recycling" bin and rubbed my hands together over the other. (Throwing out one old device should score me at least one plus in the wife's accounting system.)

Specifications

Of course it's prudent to actually check the specs of the hardware you're trying to shove a current into. So I dug up the details in the manuals, which to be honest are both quite a tad more than averagely vague about how to connect control voltage hardware.

The Minilogue XD manual has the following gem of a CV mention:

CV IN 1 and 2 jacks (3.5 mm monaural mini-phone jack; input voltage: –5V to 5V in modulation mode, –3V to 5V in CV/gate mode)

So I figured I'm safe proceeding with my 0-5V endeavour. We are going to use it for modulation.

The FCV100 manual has a similarly brief description of it's "CV" output:

1/4" TS - unbalanced Tip: Supply volt. from unit/instr. to be controlled: Impedance: 50kOhm Ring: Slider pick-up (CV dependend on ped. position, impedance: 0-50kOhm)

There's some more specs around 2V and output impedance, but as far as I've understood that's all about the volume control feature of the pedal. I have a hard time interpreting whether that sentence says "bring your own power" or "we'll use the battery you inserted".

Having this information and some support from the [un]trusty LLM though, I pressed on to simulating the imagined setup.

Tinkering

Tinkercad is an awesome tool for budding DYIers wanting to learn or experiment with electronics. Especially if starting to experiment with arduinos or other consumer grade microcontrollers. I could safely experiment with placement of the resistors and different resistance values and until I got the desired voltage output on the simulator's multimeter.

In place of the pedal I added a regular pot meter. It has three pins which is basically a 1:1 representation of the tip, ring and sleeve on a jack plug. The middle pin is the "wiper", which I'd measured on the pedal to output a varying resistance between the ring and sleeve on the opposite end of the jack cable.
Back and forth with GPT and the multimeter for a while made me understand that the CV input on the Minilogue likely has an internal 1MΩ or larger resistor, just like a multimeter has. That's how it's able to read the voltage loss between the sides and thereby also receive the varying "control voltage" input from the pedal.

Tinkercad also sports a USB connector and all the resistors you can dream of. And that's the whole recipe for this "CV adapter". It took some time to remember my URIs (Ohm's law) and how things affect the dance of the electrons (or little green men if you prefer). To be honest I still don't really know, but fiddling and discussing with GPT got me to something that works with a fair understanding. Mr. GPT had suggested a 50 kΩ resistor between the pedal and synth, but the simulations led me to choose a 10 kΩ. Again, the learned and/or dilligent would bother to calculate why.

The ingredients for the simulation ended up as follows:

Name	Value	Description
USB Standard A	-	USB connector. It gives 5V in the simulator as expected.
Resistor A	150 Ω (several tries)	A resistor to limit the circuit current slightly from the USB output. Just to be precaucious.
Resistor B	10 kΩ	A resistor to protect and limit the current going into the synth. (We'd rather not blow it up...)
Fake CV in port	1 MΩ	A resistor representing the internal impedance of the synth's CV sensor and the tip (VCC) and sleeve (GND) of the jack plug.
Multimeter	-	A multimeter in resistance mode measuring the loss over the "fake CV in port" resistor.
Fake pedal	50 kΩ	A potentiometer representing the pedal and the tip (VCC), ring (CV out), and sleeve (GND) of the jack plug.

Here's the breadboard layout:

I'm extremely discontent with how Tinkercad figured to lay out the schematic, but in any case I suppose it is correct. Why couldn't the pot go straight to the 10k resistor? Oh well, here's it is in all it's jumbled glory:

Prototyping and building in real life

Having the simulation show thumbs up I figured I should try it in real life and do some measurements before hooking anything up to my brand new synth. For some reason Tinkercad shows a tiny explosion on the USB connector when the simulation starts, but my adapter stood the test and I suspect there might be a bug with the implementation on Tinkercad. 😇

I have both breadboards and a plethora of resistors lying around from my Arduino adventures last decade. Finding a breadboard and some resistors didn't bide much problem. They're all within arms length to my left. But this is where I started going back and forth between the breadboard and Tinkercad. Turns out real life didn't give the same measurements as the simulation. Even if I used a PSU of 5.5V instead of a USB connector. My adapter gives 5.5V, remember?

Here's a little montage of all the crocodiles holding things together.

After a while I had the right resistors to see 0-5V on the multimeter having hooked up the pedal to my shortest mangled jack-cable. I excitedly hooked up some crocodiles to the other half-jack and the breadboard, wearily shoved the plug into my synth and tried the pedal. Sucess! The LCD-display on the synth showed 0 to ... 97%??? So even if the simulator and my multimeter showed I output 5V from the pedal when 100% down the Minilogue expects more. Anyone knowledgeable with electronics will likely know why, but I merely suspect that it somehow "feels" the max input from the source is 5.5V. So it was out with the jack, out with the GND crocodile and in and out with misc initial resistors until I saw 0-100% CV input on the synth. A 150 Ω resistor turned out to be the sweet spot.

I now had proof I could build this "CV-adapter", so it was time for V1.

Assembling V1

Again from my Arduino-days I found a few circuit boards in my drawers. The smallest ones were 24x18 holes (7x3cm) - a little big. But incidentally I could spot in the corner of my eye something resembling an Arduino-case. The 7x3 board fits perfectly within, and it's a slim one just 1.5cm tall. Perfect!

On to the soldering. Not that I lacked any space, but it's always nice not having to cross wires. Enter a slightly unorthodox tool, my favorite program in the whole world: Excel. Who needs technical drawing software when you have colorable cells? I first drew up the layout on the left, but inspecting the casing I'd found I figured I'd rather flip it around. So I ended up going for the layout on the right.

I'm extremely shaky, so soldering took its time. It's somewhat of a Zen excercise I've never quite mastered. I also realized way too late (of course) that I'd been better off stretching a few more wires, but hey - it's 10 years since last time I did anything like this.

In any case, the first test with the multimeter and pedal showed a semi-constant 5.4V so I had to go back to the soldering board. A few connection tests with the trusty meter showed a lacking connection to ground from the pedal. Even with my new "computer glasses" and a magnifyer on my little helper I couldn't see that the amputated resistor leg I'd connected to ground wasn't connected. But I could find the spot where the connection ended, so I added kind of a highway of tin all the way. Success!

Here's how the circuitboard ended up.

The final stretch was to have the board rest well within the box. I was lucky to find some double sided tape in the kitchen, and since one side of the board already rested slighly on the USB and jack cables I chuckled as I cut off another 2.5cm piece of the now 4cm long USB mini cord. It fit perfectly. Tape on the case, tape on the board, and a short piece of USB mini cord as a pillow.

Here's the final box.

Final fun

Of course my box needed a name and a logo. It didn't take many brain-iterations until I landed on Larsingerlogue CV-5000. It's my [Behr]inger [FCV100 to Mini]logue[ XD] CV-5[V * 1]000[mA adapter]. I turned to my age old friend "Impact" and quickly found a fitting gradient in Photoshop.

Video montage

I'd also shot a couple of videos and pictures during the process, so I amused myself by throwing together a short video of the whole process. It features the first built in patch of Minilogue XD and it's sample sequence with me "playing" the filter cutoff on the now functioning pedal, and the "riser" delay time and depth using my free hand. Farily cool. And then a quite off-beat attempt at the Stranger Things theme as an RL demo of the final product. Check it out.

I hope you've anjoyed following my little story of dipping my toes in electronics for music. There's high potential for a V2 with better polarity support, and who knows what other ideas one might come up with for 100% "DIY" effects to shove into those CV inputs. There's still one unused. 😁

Grief

My only grief, and that's kind of connected to the single polarity of my adapter, is that all of the built-in patches in the Minilogue XD are set to having CV 1 modulating the shape of VCO 1 from 0 to 100%, and CV 2 is set to filter cutoff from 0 to -100%. That means I open the filter by "closing" the pedal and close the filter by "opening" the pedal. Pedal to the floor means almost no audible sound.

Learning while blogging

In hindsight I think I just realized with writing this that 5V on the multimeter means (almost) no power moves through the resistor, which is measured as 0V - while I've been reading 5V (loss) on the multimeter. That would explain the "weird" direction of the pot meter in the simulation that'd been bugging me. 🤣

But hey - adds to a fun story about learning and just jumping into the water.

If you got this far I hope you had a chuckle, nodded or otherwise found this interesting.
Thanks a lot for reading, and have fun whatever endeavor led you to this post.

Esatto.Umbraco.Backoffice.DictionaryFilterValues

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Extends the Umbraco 17 backoffice Dictionary section filter to also match translation VALUES, not just dictionary-item names. Useful for editors who remember a translated string but not the dictionary key. Adds one authenticated Management API endpoint and a backoffice entry point that re-points the built-in Dictionary collection's data source at it — no window.fetch patching, no anonymous endpoints.

Esatto.Umbraco.Backoffice.CustomEditors

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

A library of reusable property editor UIs for the Umbraco backoffice. Ships an Encrypted Textbox editor (encrypts sensitive values at rest via ASP.NET Core Data Protection, masked on screen) and a Date Range editor (two inline calendars with start/end constraint, optional time and min/max bounds).

My First Umbraco Codegarden: More Than Stickers and T-Shirts

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:00:00 Z

After my blog was recently featured on umb.fyi — thanks to Matt Brailsford for that — I felt like I also owed the community a proper write-up about my very first Codegarden experience.Because honestly, after finally attending for the first time, I completely understand why people keep talking about it long after the event is over.I’ve been building with Umbraco since version 4—that takes me back to 2012 or maybe 2013. After all those years, I finally made the pilgrimage: my first Codegarden. And wow, I get it now. I see why people talk about this thing like it’s some annual family reunion you can’t miss, not just a conference. All the stories you hear—about the talks, the people, those late nights that blur into early mornings—they're all real. Still, the heart of it isn’t just scavenging for stickers or filling your suitcase with t-shirts. It’s something deeper.What really struck me—and it hit pretty much as soon as I walked through the doors—is that sense of belonging. Suddenly you realize you’re a piece of something much bigger than just a CMS, a project, or a logo. You’re dropped right into the Umbraco community, and it’s almost impossible not to get swept up in that feeling.

The Umbraco OpenID Connect example has been updated to Umbraco 17.4.2 with support for lightweight external members . This stores members from an external provider as a minimal record instead of a full content entity.

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

SplatDev.Umbraco.Plugins.DictionaryManager

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Dictionary import/export/CRUD manager for Umbraco — full rewrite of the Umbraco 8 plugin using ILocalizationService. Supports Umbraco 13 (net8.0) and Umbraco 17 (net10.0).

Skrift Issue #128

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Featuring guest posts by Pasang Tamang on "From Umbraco 8 to Umbraco 17 in One Leap: uSync, Cursor, and the Umbraco MCP" and Aaron Sawyer on "Using Local LLMs wth Umbraco MCP"

SplatDev.Umbraco.Plugins.HiddenContent

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco Hidden Content plugin: hide nodes from navigation and sitemaps while keeping them accessible by URL via the umbracoNaviHide property. Supports Umbraco 13 (net8.0) and Umbraco 17 (net10.0).

SplatDev.Umbraco.Plugins.Mailer

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

Umbraco mailer plugin supporting Umbraco 13 (net8.0) and Umbraco 17 (net10.0)

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 Z

How to run Umbraco Search purely in-memory.

SSO in Umbraco 17: Azure AD Back Office Login with OpenID Connect

Fri, 29 May 2026 18:47:06 Z

A step-by-step guide to wiring up Azure Active Directory as an external login provider for the Umbraco back office — with auto-linking…

Continue reading on Medium »

SSO in Umbraco 17: Azure AD Back Office Login with OpenID Connect

Fri, 29 May 2026 18:47:06 Z

Integrating Amazon S3 Media Storage & HashiCorp Vault Secrets into Umbraco v17

Fri, 29 May 2026 13:45:02 Z

Umbraco MVP 2026!

Fri, 29 May 2026 11:41:10 Z

Woohoo! Proud to receive my seventh Umbraco MVP award in 2026, marking another year of sharing, building, and community-driven progress.

Contentment 7.0.0-alpha001 for Umbraco 18 RC out now

Fri, 29 May 2026 06:23:49 Z

#umbraco #Contentment 7.0.0-alpha001https://github.com/leekelleher/umbraco-contentment/releases/tag/7.0.0-alpha001TL;DR, want to try out Umbraco 18 with Contentment this weekend?Is it stable? Probably!Does it have bugs? Nah!How can you help? Test it out and feedback!

CodeGarden26 : a guide

Thu, 28 May 2026 16:53:23 Z

Umbraco Forums #h5yr now display on HFYR.com

Thu, 28 May 2026 13:00:42 Z

Pleased to announce that now, if you give a #h5yr on the Umbraco Forum, that post will be displayed on H5YR.com Thanks @sebastiaan for helping get this setup. #umbraco

UmbHost launches automated Umbraco upgrades

Thu, 28 May 2026 09:35:45 Z

Automated Umbraco upgrades, sorted. GitHub Dependabot handles the dependency PRs, GreenStack handles the deploy. Here's how you can do it 👇https://umbhost.net/blog/2026/05/building-your-own-umbraco-cloud-style-auto-upgrades-with-github-dependabot#Umbraco #dotnet #DevOps #GreenStack

Umbraco 18 Release Candidate

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Discover and test the Umbraco 18 Release Candidate, featuring Elements for reusable content, typed OpenAPI schemas,

Noisy ImageSharp Logs in Umbraco

Wed, 27 May 2026 23:00:00 Z

ImageSharp logs every image request at INFO level, quietly filling your Umbraco logs until the backoffice viewer hits its 100 MB limit and refuses to open them. Here's the one line Serilog fix, plus why a CDN helps.

How I let Cursor build an Azure Search provider for Umbraco Search

Wed, 27 May 2026 09:21:27 Z

I wanted to build an Azure Search provider for Umbraco and let Cursor do the heavy lifting. This is what that looked like from the first prompt to the final commit.

Codegarden 2026 - not long now!

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Codegarden 2026 - not long now!

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Codegarden 2026 - not long now!

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Lantern.Umbraco

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Add the Lantern bug-tracking widget to every page of your Umbraco site in seconds. Configure your embed key from the backoffice — no template changes needed.

Umbraco vs WordPress

Tue, 26 May 2026 10:17:32 Z

Die Wahl des richtigen Web-Content-Management-Systems gleicht heute einer strategischen Richtungsentscheidung, die maßgeblichen Einfluss…

Continue reading on Medium »

Browsing Umbraco Logs in Kudu

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

A new userscript that brings a proper Serilog log viewer into the Kudu interface: file picker, expression search, saved queries, and a momentum graph, all with no build step required.

uPreviewShare

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Securely share unpublished draft content with external stakeholders via time-limited, view-capped, and PIN-protected preview links. Renders through actual Umbraco templates.

Skybrud.Umbraco.Redirects.Automate 17.0.0-alpha001

Mon, 25 May 2026 20:37:50 Z

Automate addon for Skybrud Redirects.

Skybrud.Umbraco.Redirects 17.0.5

Mon, 25 May 2026 20:08:42 Z

Award winning redirects manager for Umbraco.

Azure Key Vault Configuration Using RBAC in Azure App Service

Mon, 25 May 2026 11:51:18 Z

Managing secrets securely is one of the most important aspects of modern cloud applications. Instead of storing sensitive values like connection strings, API keys, or passwords directly inside applica

Umbraco Search Explained | Kenn Jacobsen | Umbraco India Meetup

Thu, 21 May 2026 09:52:54 Z

Featuring Kenn Jacobsen Kenn is a 4x Umbraco MVP and a long-time contributor to the Umbraco community, with more than 10 years of experience building solutions with Umbraco and .NET. 📺 Watch the full session recording and learn what’s coming next for search in the Umbraco ecosystem. 🌍 Join us for upcoming Umbraco India User Group events and community updates. 🔗https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-india-user-group 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14558029

Smarter redirects when editors trash content in Umbraco

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

A new Umbraco package that replaces the default trash action. It captures the URLs of doomed content first, then suggests redirect targets using Umbraco.AI.Search, with a non-AI fallback for bulk trashes.

M1sterPl0w.Umbraco.AccessRestriction

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

An Umbraco package that restricts access to your site (or specific paths) by IP address whitelist. Manage whitelisted IPs and restricted paths from a dashboard in the Umbraco backoffice, with optional hardcoded entries via appsettings.json.

UmbHost.Tables for Umbraco has had an update

Wed, 20 May 2026 10:56:20 Z

UmbHost.Tables for #Umbraco has had an update courtesy of Mike Masey!This replaces the custom RTE with the fully featured tiptap RTE with all the configuration options you would expect.View source now opens in a modal windowThere is also a range of accessibility and UX improvementsMany thanks and a huge #h5yr for this PR!Grab it here:https://www.nuget.org/packages/UmbHost.Tables/17.1.0

Start With Markdown

Wed, 20 May 2026 06:00:00 Z

Clean starter kit for Umbraco 18 out in Beta

Wed, 20 May 2026 06:00:00 Z

PragmaticIT.Umbraco.VirtualMembers

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Passwordless, database-free member authentication for Umbraco CMS. Protect content nodes with email-only, OTP, or MFA login — members loaded from plain CSV files, no Umbraco Members database records required.

UmbracoTees day May 29th

Tue, 19 May 2026 15:13:52 Z

Can you believe we haven't had an #UmbracoTees day this year yet? Well, let's change that!! Get your Umbraco Swag on, share your photos with #umbracoTees and let's see you all celebrate all things #umbraco May 29th 2026!https://isitumbracoteesday.today/

Start With Markdown

Tue, 19 May 2026 14:17:30 Z

Learn about my new open source content publishing workflow called Start With Markdown It's a simple workflow which triggers when you create or modify a markdown file in the posts folder of your github repo. When it triggers it calls some endpoints on your CMS to create the content and it returns the edit, preview and publish URLs for you. Here is the link to the main project that you fork and setup to call your CMS endpoints https://github.com/prjseal/Start-With-Markdown/ And here is the link to the demo Umbraco project and supporting libraries with the custom resolvers for unsplash and things like that to get it working with the Clean starter kit https://github.com/prjseal/Start-With-Markdown-Umbraco-Libraries

Umbraco 18 and OpenAPI: a heads-up for extension developers

Tue, 19 May 2026 13:37:37 Z

Time to upgrade your extension to Umbraco 18?
A friendly heads up, the OpenAPI generation got an overhaul.

Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi is Umbraco's new library of choice for OpenAPI document generation, replacing Swashbuckle.AspNetCore. It ships with ASP.NET Core and is maintained by Microsoft alongside the framework, which means one fewer third-party dependency to worry about.

The trade-off: if your extension wired up its own OpenAPI document on v17, it won't compile against v18. The Swashbuckle types it relied on are gone.

Two paths forward:

Migrate to Microsoft OpenAPI. Two options:
- Use the AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument extension method: Umbraco's new helper. What the v18 template uses. Covers most extensions.
- Use Microsoft's AddOpenApi method directly: call Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi yourself. For full control.
Keep using Swashbuckle (not recommended). Install Swashbuckle.AspNetCore in your own extension, wire it up, then plug your document into Umbraco's Swagger UI via AddOpenApiDocumentToUi(...). When rewriting isn't an option right now.

ℹ️ Note: the OpenAPI spec URL also changed from /umbraco/swagger/{documentName}/swagger.json to /umbraco/openapi/{documentName}.json. If you generate a client from the spec (e.g. via the v17 extension template's package.json generate-client script), update the URL before regenerating.

Use the AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument extension method

We added AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument() in v18 to take the boilerplate out of registering an OpenAPI document. It's an extension method on IUmbracoBuilder that wires up Umbraco's sensible defaults so you don't have to.

Out of the box, the helper registers your document, scopes it to endpoints decorated with [MapToApi(documentName)], applies Umbraco's naming conventions for schemas and operation IDs, and adds the document to the Swagger UI dropdown at /umbraco/openapi/.

⚠️ Watch out: the first time you call AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument (or AddOpenApi directly) and build, you'll hit error CS9137: The 'interceptors' feature is not enabled in this namespace. The Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi source generator (which surfaces your XML doc comments as descriptions in the OpenAPI document, among other compile-time enrichments) propagates through Umbraco's project reference, but the property that enables it ships only with the Web SDK. Class-library projects don't get it automatically, so add it to your .csproj:
<PropertyGroup>
  <InterceptorsNamespaces>$(InterceptorsNamespaces);Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi.Generated</InterceptorsNamespaces>
</PropertyGroup>

Minimal usage

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument("my-api");
    }
}

This will add and configure a "my-api" OpenAPI document that will display the controllers/endpoints that have the attribute [MapToApi("my-api")].

Typical usage

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument("my-api", document => document
            .WithTitle("My API")
            .WithBackOfficeAuthentication());
    }
}

Besides adding a "my-api" OpenAPI document, this will set the document title to "My API" and declare that the document's operations require backoffice authentication (which is what enables the "Authorize" flow in the Swagger UI).

Builder method reference

Method	What it does
`WithTitle(string)`	Sets the document's `Info.Title`. Also used as the UI dropdown label unless `WithUiTitle` is set.
`WithUiTitle(string)`	Overrides only the UI dropdown label, leaving `Info.Title` untouched.
`ExcludeFromUi()`	Suppresses registration in the Swagger UI document dropdown. Document is still reachable at its JSON URL.
`WithBackOfficeAuthentication()`	Registers the backoffice OAuth2 security scheme on the document and marks operations as requiring authentication. Swagger UI uses this to prompt for login; generated clients use it to send the token.
`ConfigureOpenApiOptions(Action<OpenApiOptions>)`	Adds a configuration callback for the underlying `OpenApiOptions`. Multiple calls will run in order after Umbraco's defaults.
`WithJsonOptions(...)`	Sets the `JsonOptions` used when generating the document's schema. See Aligning schema serialization below.

Aligning schema serialization

Schema generation needs to use the same JsonOptions your API uses at runtime, otherwise the generated SDKs and the actual payloads will not match. By default, Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi generates schemas using the global HTTP JsonOptions, which means whoever hosts your extension can change them and that affects your schema.

For most backoffice extensions you want the BackOffice named JsonOptions (the same ones Umbraco's Management API uses). Point the document at them with WithJsonOptions:

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument("my-api", document => document
            .WithJsonOptions(Constants.JsonOptionsNames.BackOffice));
    }
}

For this to be meaningful at runtime, your controllers also need to serialize with those same options. The v17 extension template inherits from a plain ControllerBase, which uses the default options instead. Fix that by adding [JsonOptionsName(Constants.JsonOptionsNames.BackOffice)] to your own base controller or to each controller directly.

Without it, the schema reflects backoffice serialization but the actual responses are serialized with the default options, and you're back to the schema-vs-runtime mismatch.

Going beyond the defaults

The helper is not a closed box. Anything you'd normally do on OpenApiOptions (custom operation/schema/document transformers, your own CreateSchemaReferenceId, a replacement operation ID transformer, etc.) is still available through ConfigureOpenApiOptions. It just runs after Umbraco's defaults, so you compose on top of them rather than starting from scratch.

For example, registering your own schema transformer:

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument("my-api", document => document
            .WithTitle("My API")
            .ConfigureOpenApiOptions(options =>
                options.AddSchemaTransformer<MyExtensionSchemaTransformer>()));
    }
}

Migrating an existing composer

If your extension followed the shape of the v17 dotnet template, the migration is: delete the old composer body and write the AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument(...) call. Below is the same extension's composer before and after.

v17 (Swashbuckle)

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.Services.AddSingleton<IOperationIdHandler, CustomOperationHandler>();

        builder.Services.Configure<SwaggerGenOptions>(opt =>
        {
            opt.SwaggerDoc(Constants.ApiName, new OpenApiInfo
            {
                Title = "My Test Extension Backoffice API",
            });

            opt.OperationFilter<UmbracoExtensionOperationSecurityFilter>();
        });
    }

    public class UmbracoExtensionOperationSecurityFilter : BackOfficeSecurityRequirementsOperationFilterBase
    {
        protected override string ApiName => Constants.ApiName;
    }

    public class CustomOperationHandler : OperationIdHandler
    {
        // ...
    }
}

v18 (Microsoft OpenAPI + new builder)

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder) =>
        builder.AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument(
            Constants.ApiName,
            document => document
                .WithTitle("My Test Extension Backoffice API")
                .WithBackOfficeAuthentication());
}

The helper registers UmbracoOperationIdTransformer by default, so the old IOperationIdHandler is no longer needed. If you want custom operation ID logic, register your own through ConfigureOpenApiOptions:

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument("my-api", document => document
            .ConfigureOpenApiOptions(options =>
                options.AddOperationTransformer((operation, context, _) =>
                {
                    operation.OperationId = $"{context.Description.ActionDescriptor.RouteValues["action"]}";
                    return Task.CompletedTask;
                })));
    }
}

Use Microsoft's AddOpenApi method directly

If you want to register a document that isn't a backoffice document, or you want to start from a clean slate without Umbraco's defaults, call AddOpenApi yourself. The helper is just a thin wrapper around that method. Umbraco already wires the OpenAPI routing and Swagger UI hosting, so you don't need to call MapOpenApi or configure endpoints. You only need to register your documents.

For the transformer model itself (how operation/schema/document transformers work), see Microsoft's Customize OpenAPI documents docs.

For Umbraco's specifics ([MapToApi] filtering via options.ShouldInclude, schema/operation ID conventions, the public UmbracoSchemaIdGenerator.Generate(type) helper), see the API versioning and OpenAPI docs.

A few things worth remembering:

Backoffice authentication: call options.AddBackofficeSecurityRequirements() (from Umbraco.Cms.Api.Management.OpenApi) instead of subclassing BackOfficeSecurityRequirementsOperationFilterBase.
Swagger UI registration: documents are no longer auto-listed. Call services.AddOpenApiDocumentToUi(documentName, uiTitle) to surface yours in the dropdown.
InterceptorsNamespaces opt-in: same as the helper path. See the Watch out callout at the top of the helper section.

Keep using Swashbuckle

Not recommended. Consider this only if rewriting a complex Swashbuckle setup isn't feasible right now. Trade-offs:

Extra dependency on Swashbuckle.AspNetCore.
OpenAPI 3.0 output, whereas the rest of Umbraco's documents emit 3.1.
Extra wiring you maintain yourself.
Both libraries depend on Microsoft.OpenApi. A breaking change there that Swashbuckle doesn't follow leaves your extension incompatible with the rest of the stack.

If you still want to go this route, see the Swashbuckle.AspNetCore README for general setup. The rest of this section is the Umbraco-specific wiring.

1. Install the NuGet package

Add a PackageReference to Swashbuckle.AspNetCore in your extension's .csproj (or dotnet add package Swashbuckle.AspNetCore).

2. Register Swashbuckle and your document in a composer

In v17, Umbraco called AddSwaggerGen for you and your extension only configured SwaggerGenOptions. In v18 you have to call it yourself:

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.Services.AddSwaggerGen(opt =>
        {
            opt.SwaggerDoc(Constants.ApiName, new OpenApiInfo
            {
                Title = "My Test Extension Backoffice API",
                Version = "1.0",
            });

            var previousDocInclusion = opt.SwaggerGeneratorOptions.DocInclusionPredicate;
            opt.DocInclusionPredicate((docName, apiDesc) =>
                docName == Constants.ApiName
                    ? apiDesc.ActionDescriptor.HasMapToApiAttribute(docName)
                    : previousDocInclusion?.Invoke(docName, apiDesc) ?? true);

            // any operation filters, schema filters, or other v17 setup you had...
        });
    }
}

3. Host the Swagger JSON middleware via an IUmbracoPipelineFilter

Umbraco no longer calls app.UseSwagger(), so the middleware that serves the Swagger JSON isn't running. Add it through Umbraco's pipeline filter, and set the RouteTemplate to match UmbracoOpenApiOptions.RouteTemplate (default umbraco/openapi/{documentName}.json) so the dropdown link resolves.

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.Services.Configure<UmbracoPipelineOptions>(options =>
        {
            options.AddFilter(new UmbracoPipelineFilter("Swashbuckle")
            {
                PostPipeline = app =>
                {
                    var openApiOptions = app.ApplicationServices.GetRequiredService<IOptions<UmbracoOpenApiOptions>>().Value;
                    if (!openApiOptions.Enabled)
                    {
                        return;
                    }

                    var routeTemplate = openApiOptions.RouteTemplate;
                    app.UseWhen(
                        ctx => ctx.Request.Path == routeTemplate.Replace("{documentName}", Constants.ApiName).EnsureStartsWith('/'),
                        branch => branch.UseSwagger(c => c.RouteTemplate = routeTemplate));
                },
            });
        });
    }
}

Scope the middleware to your own document's URL. Otherwise Swashbuckle intercepts requests for Umbraco's own documents (Management, Delivery) and returns 404 because they aren't registered with AddSwaggerGen.

4. Register the document in the Swagger UI dropdown

public class UmbracoExtensionApiComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.Services.AddOpenApiDocumentToUi(Constants.ApiName, "My API");
    }
}

TL;DR

The helper is the simplest option for most extensions. AddBackOfficeOpenApiDocument() is what the v18 template uses, gives you Umbraco's sensible defaults out of the box (naming conventions, Swagger UI registration, JsonOptions alignment), and lets you register an OpenAPI document in a single call.

Calling AddOpenApi yourself is the standard ASP.NET Core approach and works fine. It means more wiring and code to maintain, so reach for it when you need full control (non-backoffice documents, or skipping the Umbraco defaults).

If rewriting really isn't an option right now, keeping Swashbuckle as your own dependency and plugging into the dropdown via AddOpenApiDocumentToUi(...) will get you through, but plan to revisit when you can.

Building a Passwordless Authentication Library for Umbraco - Part 1: Why?

Tue, 19 May 2026 12:36:58 Z

Limbo.Umbraco.FilterList 13.0.0-alpha004

Tue, 19 May 2026 10:55:08 Z

Fri, 15 May 2026 14:03:31 Z

📣 Introducing 🥁 uSkinned Site Builder for Umbraco 17 🤩 Full support for Umbraco 17 is now available for uSkinned Site Builder. Install or upgrade today.

From zero to working product in two hours

Fri, 15 May 2026 07:58:10 Z

Umbraco.AI.Agent.UI

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Shared chat UI components for Umbraco AI Agent surfaces

Umbraco.AI.Agent.Copilot

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Copilot chat UI for Umbraco AI Agent

Modgift.Umbraco.Breakable

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

A Breakable property editor for Umbraco CMS that lets editors mark soft-hyphen break points inside text values using | as a delimiter.

Our.Umbraco.PropertyToolTip

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Property ToolTip keeps Umbraco property descriptions available, but shows them as small tooltip help text beside each property label.

SwiftUI is a Disaster

Thu, 14 May 2026 17:24:48 Z

I’ll admit it. I’m still programming for Apple platforms using Objective-C, AppKit and UIKit.

Continue reading on Medium »

The Umbicosaurus De-Extinction: The Community Effort that Brought a Better Icon Picker to Umbraco 17.4

Thu, 14 May 2026 09:58:00 Z

In 2021, I dreamed of improving the icon picker in the Umbraco backoffice and today, in Umbraco 17.4, the package I started is making a splash as part of Core! This is the story of Umbicosaurus.

Fri, 08 May 2026 08:28:41 Z

Diplo Translator | Umbraco Marketplace

Umbraco.Community.AI.Chatbot

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 Z

Drops a public-facing, AI-powered chat widget on a website's frontend. End users on the public site type a question; the package runs a semantic search over the site's Umbraco content (Umbraco.AI.Search), feeds the matched pages into an Umbraco.AI.Agent, and streams a grounded answer back with cited source pages and follow-up suggestions. The official Umbraco.AI.* packages expose chat only inside the backoffice. There is no path for an anonymous site visitor to ask questions of the site's content. This community package fills that gap. Key features: - Public-facing widget (drop in one

UMB.FYI Firehose - News

uProfile November 2026 - Mitchell Nortje

DBestChatBot.Umbraco

Q&A Session with Emmanuel Tissera and Tony Meyn | Umbraco India Festival 2026

uSkinned Visual Editor, reimagined in Site Builder 7.3

Umbraco Kent Meetup - Online - Monday 16th November 2026 @ 7pm

Umbraco.Community.ContentFreeze

Umbraco.Community.ContentFreeze.Hangfire

Umbraco.Community.ContentFreeze.Forms

Umbraco.Community.ArchivedUsers

Umbraco.Community.ContentFreeze.AI

Umbraco.Community.ContentFreeze.Commerce

Limbo.Umbraco.Emply 17.0.0-alpha002

Limbo.Umbraco.DreamBroker 17.0.0-alpha003

Limbo.Umbraco.Tables 17.0.0-alpha003

UmbracoVisualEditor for v17 and v18

Umbraco.AI.Cloudflare

Lait.Umbraco.LLMS.Generator

Hazelchat.Umbraco

A Big Supertak to the Umbraco Community 🙌

7 Reasons Umbraco Is the Friendliest CMS #Shorts

UmbCheckout 17 is out for Umbraco 17

DotSee.ErrorRadar

One year in Melbourne

Limbo.Umbraco.Spa 17.0.0-alpha003

Skrift Issue #133

Skybrud.Umbraco.Redirects 18.0.0

New Package - Crumpled.AgentSpecs

Crumpled.AgentSpecs

AltTextGeneratorAI.Umbraco

BaryoDev.Umbraco.AiAssistant

Built to Scale: The Evolution of Load Balancing in Umbraco | UIF26

Agentic Umbraco: When Automate Meets MCP | UIF26

The Future of Search: SEO, AEO & GEO in Umbraco | UIF26

I, AI, and Umbraco: A Developer Perspective | UIF26

Enterprise Replatforming: Consolidating Three CMSs into a Unified Umbraco Cloud Platform | UIF26

Umbraco India Fest 2026

From Audience to MVP: An Umbraco Story from Nepal | Bishal Tim | UIF26

Mindfulness: The Present is Perfect | UIF26

Transfr: content export package

Lait.Monitor.UmbracoClient

umbraCoffee - Elephant In The Room

New package: Aivie Content

What is Aivie Content?

Give it a try

Content Isn’t Context Why Your AI Needs a Brief

Umbricians.LiveView

Limbo.Umbraco.Migrations 13.0.1

Limbo.Umbraco.Migrations 13.0.0

Limbo.Umbraco.MediaPicker 13.0.2

Limbo.Umbraco.Fetch 17.0.0

Limbo.Umbraco.Fetch 13.0.1

Umbraco Features with Claude Worktrees

One database per git worktree: building Umbraco features in parallel with Claude Code

Contents

The problem

Why not just spin up a fresh database?

Hooking into Claude Code

What happens on SessionStart

What happens on WorktreeRemove

Things that bit me

What it doesn't do

Would it work on your project?

How to install it

Limbo.Umbraco.Spa 17.0.0-alpha002

Umbraco CMS 18.3.0

Umbraco CMS 17.8.0

Chudders22.Umbraco.SiteBuilder

SA.Umbraco.MediaPreview

Umbraco Features with Claude Worktrees

Umbraco.Community.SchemeWeaver.Seo

🚀 Umbraco 19 beta is out today!

Aivie.Content

DynamicDave.Umbraco.MapToRedirect

Cascading Country and Location Dropdowns in Umbraco Forms, with Email Routing per Location

Umbraco PR Preview: see uSync and Deploy files in Azure DevOps PRs

Limbo.Umbraco.Video 17.0.0

New package: FoundWell.Umbraco (AEO audit, automatic JSON-LD and llms.txt)

Headless Umbraco Multi-Site: Pros and Cons of Running Multiple Websites in a Single Instance

Umbraco 13 End of Life: Why You Should Migrate from Umbraco 13 to 17 Now