Wix Site Widget Builder

Creates custom element widget extensions for Wix CLI applications. Site widgets are React components converted to web components that appear in the Wix Editor, allowing site owners to add interactive, configurable widgets to their pages with a built-in settings panel.

Quick Start Checklist

Follow these steps in order when creating a site widget:

1. [ ] Create widget folder: src/site/widgets/custom-elements/<widget-name>/
2. [ ] Create widget.tsx with React component and reactToWebComponent conversion
3. [ ] Create panel.tsx with WDS components and widget.getProp/setProp
4. [ ] Create extensions.ts with extensions.customElement() and unique UUID
5. [ ] Update src/extensions.ts to import and use the new extension

Architecture

Site widgets consist of two required files:

1. Widget Component (widget.tsx)

React component converted to a web component using react-to-webcomponent:

• Define Props interface with configurable properties (camelCase)
• Create a React functional component that renders the widget UI
• Convert to web component with props mapping
• Use inline styles (no CSS imports)
• Handle Wix Editor environment when using Wix Data API

2. Settings Panel (panel.tsx)

Settings panel shown in the Wix Editor sidebar:

• Uses Wix Design System components (see references/SETTINGS_PANEL.md)
• Manages widget properties via @wix/editor widget API
• Loads initial values with widget.getProp('kebab-case-name')
• Updates properties with widget.setProp('kebab-case-name', value)
• Wrapped in WixDesignSystemProvider > SidePanel > SidePanel.Content

Widget Component Pattern

import React, { type FC, useState, useEffect } from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import reactToWebComponent from "react-to-webcomponent";

interface WidgetProps {
  title?: string;
  targetDate?: string;
  bgColor?: string;
  textColor?: string;
  font?: string;
}

const CustomElement: FC<WidgetProps> = ({
  title = "Default Title",
  targetDate = "",
  bgColor = "#ffffff",
  textColor = "#333333",
  font = "{}",
}) => {
  // Parse font if needed
  const { font: textFont, textDecoration } = JSON.parse(font);

  // Component logic and state
  const [data, setData] = useState(null);

  // Use inline styles
  const styles = {
    wrapper: {
      display: "flex",
      flexDirection: "column",
      padding: "20px",
      backgroundColor: bgColor,
      color: textColor,
      fontFamily: textFont || "inherit",
    },
  };

  return (
    <div style={styles.wrapper}>
      {title && <h2 style={{ margin: 0 }}>{title}</h2>}
      {/* Widget content */}
    </div>
  );
};

// Convert to web component
const customElement = reactToWebComponent(CustomElement, React, ReactDOM, {
  props: {
    title: "string",
    targetDate: "string",
    bgColor: "string",
    textColor: "string",
    font: "string",
  },
});

export default customElement;

Key Points:

• Props interface uses camelCase (e.g., targetDate, bgColor)
• reactToWebComponent config uses camelCase keys with 'string' type
• All props are passed as strings from the web component
• Use inline styles, not CSS imports
• Parse complex props (like font) from JSON strings if needed

Settings Panel Pattern

import React, { type FC, useState, useEffect, useCallback } from "react";
import { widget } from "@wix/editor";
import {
  SidePanel,
  WixDesignSystemProvider,
  Input,
  FormField,
  Box,
} from "@wix/design-system";
import "@wix/design-system/styles.global.css";

const Panel: FC = () => {
  const [title, setTitle] = useState<string>("");
  const [targetDate, setTargetDate] = useState<string>("");
  const [bgColor, setBgColor] = useState<string>("#ffffff");

  // Load initial values (kebab-case prop names)
  useEffect(() => {
    Promise.all([
      widget.getProp("title"),
      widget.getProp("target-date"),
      widget.getProp("bg-color"),
    ])
      .then(([titleVal, dateVal, bgColorVal]) => {
        setTitle(titleVal || "");
        setTargetDate(dateVal || "");
        setBgColor(bgColorVal || "#ffffff");
      })
      .catch((error) =>
        console.error("Failed to fetch widget properties:", error)
      );
  }, []);

  // Update both local state and widget prop (kebab-case)
  const handleTitleChange = useCallback(
    (event: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
      const newTitle = event.target.value;
      setTitle(newTitle);
      widget.setProp("title", newTitle);
    },
    []
  );

  const handleDateChange = useCallback(
    (event: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
      const newDate = event.target.value;
      setTargetDate(newDate);
      widget.setProp("target-date", newDate);
    },
    []
  );

  return (
    <WixDesignSystemProvider>
      <SidePanel width="300" height="100vh">
        <SidePanel.Header title="Widget Settings" />
        <SidePanel.Content noPadding stretchVertically>
          <Box direction="vertical" gap="24px">
            <SidePanel.Field>
              <FormField label="Title">
                <Input
                  type="text"
                  value={title}
                  onChange={handleTitleChange}
                  placeholder="Enter title"
                />
              </FormField>
            </SidePanel.Field>

            <SidePanel.Field>
              <FormField label="Target Date">
                <Input
                  type="date"
                  value={targetDate}
                  onChange={handleDateChange}
                />
              </FormField>
            </SidePanel.Field>
          </Box>
        </SidePanel.Content>
      </SidePanel>
    </WixDesignSystemProvider>
  );
};

export default Panel;

Key Points:

• Prop names in widget.getProp() and widget.setProp() use kebab-case (e.g., "target-date", "bg-color")
• Always update both local state AND widget prop in onChange handlers
• Wrap content in WixDesignSystemProvider > SidePanel > SidePanel.Content
• Use WDS components from @wix/design-system (see references/SETTINGS_PANEL.md)
• Import @wix/design-system/styles.global.css for styles

Props Naming Convention

Critical: Props use different naming conventions in each file:

File	Convention	Example
widget.tsx (Props interface)	camelCase	targetDate, bgColor, textColor
panel.tsx (widget API)	kebab-case	"target-date", "bg-color", "text-color"
reactToWebComponent config	camelCase	targetDate: 'string'

The web component automatically converts between camelCase (React props) and kebab-case (HTML attributes).

Wix Data API Integration

When using Wix Data API in widgets, you must handle the Wix Editor environment gracefully:

import { items } from "@wix/data";
import { window as wixWindow } from "@wix/site-window";

const CustomElement: FC<WidgetProps> = ({ collectionId }) => {
  const [data, setData] = useState(null);
  const [isEditor, setIsEditor] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    const loadData = async () => {
      const currentViewMode = await wixWindow.viewMode();

      if (currentViewMode === "Editor") {
        // Don't fetch data in editor - show placeholder
        setIsEditor(true);
        return;
      }

      // Fetch real data only on live site
      try {
        const results = await items.query(collectionId).limit(10).find();
        setData(results.items);
      } catch (error) {
        console.error("Failed to load data:", error);
      }
    };

    loadData();
  }, [collectionId]);

  if (isEditor) {
    return (
      <div style={{ padding: "20px", border: "2px dashed #ccc" }}>
        <p>Widget will display data on the live site</p>
        <p>Collection: {collectionId}</p>
      </div>
    );
  }

  // Render widget with real data
  return (
    <div>
      {data?.map((item) => (
        <div key={item._id}>{item.title}</div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
};

Requirements:

• Import { window as wixWindow } from "@wix/site-window"
• Check await wixWindow.viewMode() before fetching data
• If viewMode === 'Editor', show a placeholder UI instead
• Only fetch and render real data when NOT in editor mode

Font Selection

For font selection in settings panels, use FontPickerField component with inputs.selectFont():

import { inputs } from "@wix/editor";
import { FontPickerField } from "./components/FontPickerField";

const Panel: FC = () => {
  const [font, setFont] = useState({ font: "", textDecoration: "" });

  const handleFontChange = async () => {
    const selectedFont = await inputs.selectFont();
    if (selectedFont) {
      const fontValue = {
        font: selectedFont.fontFamily || "",
        textDecoration: selectedFont.textDecoration || "",
      };
      setFont(fontValue);
      widget.setProp("font", JSON.stringify(fontValue));
    }
  };

  return (
    <FontPickerField
      label="Text Font"
      value={font}
      onChange={handleFontChange}
    />
  );
};

Important: Use inputs.selectFont() from @wix/editor, NOT a text Input. This provides a rich font picker dialog with bold, italic, size, and typography features.

Output Structure

src/site/widgets/custom-elements/
└── {widget-name}/
    ├── widget.tsx           # Main widget component
    ├── panel.tsx            # Settings panel component
    ├── extensions.ts         # Extension registration
    ├── components/          # Optional sub-components
    │   ├── ColorPickerField.tsx
    │   └── FontPickerField.tsx
    └── utils/               # Optional helper functions
        └── formatters.ts

Examples

Countdown Timer Widget

Request: "Create a countdown timer widget"

Output:

• Widget with configurable title, target date/time, colors, and font
• Settings panel with date picker, time input, color pickers, font picker
• Real-time countdown display with days, hours, minutes, seconds

Product Showcase Widget

Request: "Create a widget that displays products from a collection"

Output:

• Widget that queries Wix Data collection
• Editor environment handling (shows placeholder in editor)
• Settings panel for collection selection, display options, styling
• Responsive grid layout with product cards

Interactive Calculator Widget

Request: "Create a calculator widget with customizable colors"

Output:

• Functional calculator component
• Settings panel for color customization (background, buttons, text)
• Inline styles for all styling
• No external dependencies

Frontend Aesthetics

Avoid generic aesthetics. Create distinctive designs with unique fonts (avoid Inter, Roboto, Arial), cohesive color palettes, CSS animations for micro-interactions, and context-specific choices. Don't use clichéd color schemes or predictable layouts.

Extension Registration

Extension registration is MANDATORY and has TWO required steps.

Step 1: Create Widget-Specific Extension File

Each site widget requires an extensions.ts file in its folder:

import { extensions } from "@wix/astro/builders";

export const sitewidgetMyWidget = extensions.customElement({
  id: "{{GENERATE_UUID}}",
  name: "My Widget",
  tagName: "my-widget",
  element: "./site/widgets/custom-elements/my-widget/widget.tsx",
  settings: "./site/widgets/custom-elements/my-widget/panel.tsx",
  installation: {
    autoAdd: true,
  },
  width: {
    defaultWidth: 500,
    allowStretch: true,
  },
  height: {
    defaultHeight: 500,
  },
});

CRITICAL: UUID Generation

The id must be a unique, static UUID v4 string. Generate a fresh UUID for each extension - do NOT use randomUUID() or copy UUIDs from examples. Replace {{GENERATE_UUID}} with a freshly generated UUID like "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890".

Property	Type	Description
id	string	Unique static UUID v4 (generate fresh)
name	string	Display name in editor
tagName	string	HTML custom element tag (kebab-case)
element	string	Path to widget React component
settings	string	Path to settings panel component
installation	object	Auto-add behavior
width	object	Default width and stretch settings
height	object	Default height settings

Step 2: Register in Main Extensions File

CRITICAL: After creating the widget-specific extension file, you MUST read wix-cli-extension-registration and follow the "App Registration" section to update src/extensions.ts.

Without completing Step 2, the site widget will not be available in the Wix Editor.

Code Quality Requirements

• Strict TypeScript (no any, explicit return types)
• Functional React components with hooks
• Proper error handling and loading states
• No @ts-ignore comments
• Inline styles only (no CSS imports)
• Handle Wix Editor environment when using Wix Data API
• Consistent prop naming (camelCase in widget, kebab-case in panel)

Verification

After implementation completes, the wix-cli-orchestrator will run validation using wix-cli-app-validation.