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Netlify Opens Build Layer to Powerful Community Plugins that Automate Developer Workflows and Optimize Site Performance

In one click, developers can customize and extend their CI workflow with Netlify Build Plugins for popular tools and best practices

SAN FRANCISCO and JAMSTACK CONF VIRTUAL – May 27, 2020 – Netlify, pioneer of the modern Jamstack web architecture, today announced the general availability of Netlify Build Plugins — tools to easily customize and automate CI/CD workflows for Jamstack websites and web applications. Development teams can choose from a rich catalog of dozens of integrations at launch created by developers at Netlify and in the community that can be installed directly from the Netlify UI. They also have the flexibility to build their own plugins using a straightforward API. New capabilities enabled by Build Plugins include the ability to run an end-to-end Cypress test, audit for accessibility with Pa11y, and more.

Previously, developers had to set up changes or integrations to the build process from scratch, configuring every command to run at build, downloading and validating every dependency, and writing the code to make it all work. Now any developer can simply choose an available Build Plugin, click “install” from the Netlify UI, and then select sites where the plugin should be enabled.

If a Build Plugin is not currently available, any developer can follow a simple, well-documented process to create a new one and share it with the community of over 900,000 Netlify developers. The result is that developers no longer have to spend time on one-off CI integrations and can focus on building new web experiences.

Netlify Build Plugins make developers more productive in a few key areas.

  • A CI/CD workflow designed for frontend developers: Simply connect Netlify to a git repo and every time a developer pushes a commit it will automatically build the site, run installed Build Plugins, and then deploy globally.
  • Plugins reviewed by Netlify team: Every Build Plugin available through the Netlify UI is reviewed by the Netlify team so developers can be confident using it in their environment.
  • Use an existing Plugin or bring your own: Developers can bring their favorite tools by adding custom plugins to the catalog and make them shareable within their teams or with the open source community.
  • One-click install from the Netlify UI: With a single click in the Netlify console, developers and other team members can customize CI/CD and add new capabilities that speed up build time, reduce manual development work, and improve site performance.

Plugins to Power up Websites and Developer Workflows

A wide range of build plugins are available today. Some examples of plugins that can automate at every build include the following.

  • Run an end-to-end test with Cypress to validate code before it’s deployed.
  • Enable Ghost, an open source headless Node.js CMS, on any framework. Ghost can work with any SSG framework by automatically generating markdown files.
  • Identify site accessibility issues with A11y. Check web pages through a Pa11y audit, which will fail the build if accessibility failures are found.
  • At every build, use Sentry with Netlify to automate release management and surface critical errors before they hit production.
  • Enable Gatsby incremental builds on Netlify. That way changes from the CMS will only rebuild the parts of the site affected by the changed data.

Build Plugins are available for free to use with every Netlify plan. To get started with Netlify see plans for enterprises and small teams at www.netlify.com/pricing. Learn about Build Plugins at Jamstack Conf Virtual, May 27-28.

Supporting Quotes

Mathias Biilmann, CEO, Netlify

“Making the web easier for developers is paramount to bringing information to anyone faster. Removing friction and obstacles in the development cycle is one major way to make this happen. Netlify Build Plugins are our way of extending our build infrastructure to more developers. They can take advantage of building on Netlify’s trusted, framework-agnostic Jamstack platform, meanwhile get the benefits of using a growing ecosystem of partner-led tooling as well as have the flexibility to bring in their favorite tools and frameworks.”

Gleb Bahmutov, vice president of engineering, Cypress.io

“Developers love how simple and powerful Netlify is for Continuous Delivery (CD) and hosting. Netlify Build Plugins make that workflow even more powerful. We created a plugin that runs an end-to-end Cypress test at every build. Now anyone can enable this plugin with a click in Netlify’s UI, ensuring quality and confidence with each deploy.”

Dave Hayes, head of product, Sentry

“Netlify’s new Build Plugins feature is a great way to automate tedious and manual tasks. With Sentry for Netlify, developers can automate release management and deliver a reliable customer experience. We’re excited to work with Netlify in helping developers deploy even faster.”

Sean Homer, frontend development lead, Therefore Interactive

“With performance being one important driver for our use of Jamstack on client projects, Build Plugins has made it easy for my team to tune our build workflows to specific technologies we’re using on a project. The Gatsby cache plugin is an example of that. We’re able to gain performance benefits from Gatsby’s cache features and also add our own build scripts on the Netlify Build.”

Additional Resources

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About Netlify

Netlify is the fastest way to build the fastest sites. Used by more than 900,000 web developers and businesses, the Netlify platform provides modern build workflows, serverless functions and a global multi-cloud Edge network to deliver the most performant, secure and scalable websites and applications. Netlify pioneered the Jamstack category, a modern web architecture that marries the best practices of static sites with the API economy and serverless functions, to deliver the faster load times and dynamic content, without worrying about web servers. Founded in 2014, Netlify is a venture-backed software company headquartered in San Francisco with a global team. For more information, visit www.netlify.com and follow @Netlify on Twitter.

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