Webflow local dev loop

Webflow Local Dev Loop

Overview

Set up a fast, reproducible local development workflow for Webflow Data API v2 integrations with TypeScript, hot reload, vitest mocking, and ngrok webhook tunneling.

Prerequisites

• Completed webflow-install-auth setup
• Node.js 18+ with npm/pnpm
• API token with required scopes
• ngrok (optional, for webhook testing)

Instructions

Step 1: Project Structure

my-webflow-project/
├── src/
│   ├── webflow/
│   │   ├── client.ts          # WebflowClient singleton
│   │   ├── collections.ts    # CMS collection operations
│   │   ├── sites.ts           # Site operations
│   │   └── types.ts           # Shared types
│   ├── webhooks/
│   │   └── handler.ts         # Webhook endpoint
│   └── index.ts
├── tests/
│   ├── collections.test.ts
│   └── fixtures/
│       └── mock-items.json
├── .env.local                 # Local secrets (git-ignored)
├── .env.example               # Template for team
├── tsconfig.json
├── vitest.config.ts
└── package.json

Step 2: Package Configuration

{
  "name": "my-webflow-project",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "tsx watch src/index.ts",
    "build": "tsc",
    "test": "vitest run",
    "test:watch": "vitest --watch",
    "tunnel": "ngrok http 3000"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "webflow-api": "^3.3.0",
    "express": "^4.21.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "tsx": "^4.19.0",
    "typescript": "^5.6.0",
    "vitest": "^2.1.0",
    "@types/express": "^5.0.0",
    "@types/node": "^22.0.0"
  }
}

Step 3: Environment Setup

# .env.example
WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN=your-token-here
WEBFLOW_SITE_ID=your-site-id
WEBFLOW_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-webhook-secret
NODE_ENV=development

cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local with real values

Load environment in your app:

// src/webflow/client.ts
import { WebflowClient } from "webflow-api";
import { config } from "dotenv";

config({ path: ".env.local" });

let client: WebflowClient | null = null;

export function getWebflowClient(): WebflowClient {
  if (!client) {
    const token = process.env.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN;
    if (!token) throw new Error("WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN not set in .env.local");

    client = new WebflowClient({
      accessToken: token,
    });
  }
  return client;
}

export function getSiteId(): string {
  const siteId = process.env.WEBFLOW_SITE_ID;
  if (!siteId) throw new Error("WEBFLOW_SITE_ID not set in .env.local");
  return siteId;
}

Step 4: Hot Reload Development

# Start with hot reload — restarts on file changes
npm run dev

The tsx watch command re-executes your entry file on every save. For an Express webhook server:

// src/index.ts
import express from "express";
import { getWebflowClient, getSiteId } from "./webflow/client.js";

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

app.get("/health", async (req, res) => {
  const webflow = getWebflowClient();
  try {
    const { sites } = await webflow.sites.list();
    res.json({ status: "healthy", sites: sites?.length });
  } catch (error) {
    res.status(503).json({ status: "unhealthy", error: String(error) });
  }
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log("Dev server: http://localhost:3000"));

Step 5: Testing with Vitest

// vitest.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "vitest/config";

export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    environment: "node",
    globals: true,
    setupFiles: ["./tests/setup.ts"],
  },
});

// tests/setup.ts
import { config } from "dotenv";
config({ path: ".env.local" });

// tests/collections.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach } from "vitest";
import { WebflowClient } from "webflow-api";

// Mock the SDK to avoid real API calls in tests
vi.mock("webflow-api", () => ({
  WebflowClient: vi.fn().mockImplementation(() => ({
    sites: {
      list: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
        sites: [
          { id: "site-123", displayName: "Test Site", shortName: "test" },
        ],
      }),
    },
    collections: {
      list: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
        collections: [
          {
            id: "col-456",
            displayName: "Blog Posts",
            slug: "blog-posts",
            itemCount: 12,
            fields: [
              { displayName: "Name", slug: "name", type: "PlainText", isRequired: true },
              { displayName: "Slug", slug: "slug", type: "PlainText", isRequired: true },
              { displayName: "Post Body", slug: "post-body", type: "RichText", isRequired: false },
            ],
          },
        ],
      }),
      items: {
        listItems: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
          items: [
            { id: "item-789", isDraft: false, fieldData: { name: "Test Post", slug: "test-post" } },
          ],
          pagination: { limit: 100, offset: 0, total: 1 },
        }),
        createItem: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
          id: "item-new",
          isDraft: true,
          fieldData: { name: "New Post", slug: "new-post" },
        }),
      },
    },
  })),
}));

describe("Webflow Collections", () => {
  let webflow: WebflowClient;

  beforeEach(() => {
    webflow = new WebflowClient({ accessToken: "test-token" });
  });

  it("should list collections for a site", async () => {
    const { collections } = await webflow.collections.list("site-123");
    expect(collections).toHaveLength(1);
    expect(collections![0].displayName).toBe("Blog Posts");
  });

  it("should list items in a collection", async () => {
    const { items } = await webflow.collections.items.listItems("col-456");
    expect(items).toHaveLength(1);
    expect(items![0].fieldData?.name).toBe("Test Post");
  });

  it("should create a CMS item", async () => {
    const item = await webflow.collections.items.createItem("col-456", {
      fieldData: { name: "New Post", slug: "new-post" },
    });
    expect(item.id).toBe("item-new");
    expect(item.isDraft).toBe(true);
  });
});

Step 6: Webhook Testing with ngrok

# Terminal 1: Start dev server
npm run dev

# Terminal 2: Expose local server
ngrok http 3000

# Copy the https:// URL from ngrok, then register webhook:
curl -X POST https://api.webflow.com/v2/sites/{site_id}/webhooks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "triggerType": "form_submission",
    "url": "https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok.io/webhooks/webflow"
  }'

Output

• Working dev environment with hot reload (tsx watch)
• Mocked test suite (no API calls in CI)
• ngrok tunnel for webhook testing
• Environment variable management via .env.local

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN not set	Missing .env.local	cp .env.example .env.local and fill in values
Port 3000 in use	Another process	lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill or change port
Test mock type error	SDK version mismatch	Update mock to match current SDK types
ngrok tunnel expired	Free tier limit	Restart ngrok or use paid plan

Resources

• Webflow API Quick Start
• Vitest Documentation
• tsx Documentation
• ngrok Documentation

Next Steps

See webflow-sdk-patterns for production-ready code patterns.