Apostrophe 4.24.0: Native Windows Development Support, Area Defaults, Layout Widget Marked Stable

[BoDonkey]

Hello Apostrophe Community!

Apostrophe 4.24.0 brings targeted improvements that streamline content management workflows and expand development environment options. This release graduates the layout widget from beta to stable, introduces default widget configurations for faster content creation, removes barriers for Windows developers, and adds new tools for API integration.

Watch the release video

Native Windows Development Support

We've improved support for Node.js development on Windows without requiring WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). While WSL remains a solid option that closely mirrors production environments, developers can now work directly with native Windows Node.js using tools like NVM for Windows and Git Bash.

This change removes a setup barrier for Windows developers and gives teams more flexibility in choosing their local development environment. The Vite integration has also been updated to provide clearer error messages when host validation issues occur.

Default Widgets for Area Fields

Area fields now support a def option that specifies which default widgets to include when the area is first created. This feature allows developers to provide content teams with helpful starting points based on document type rather than empty areas.

When combined with the layout widget, this becomes particularly powerful. You can configure pages to start with a multi-column layout already in place, allowing editors to immediately add content rather than building structure from scratch. While this doesn't match the full templating capabilities of the Section Template Library or Document Template Library available to Pro customers, it provides a solid foundation for streamlining content creation in any project.

Clearer Localization Workflow

When switching locales from the document editor, you're now prompted to choose whether to localize the current document in the target locale or start with a blank document. This simple prompt clarifies intent and reduces content duplications.

Layout Widget Graduates from Beta

The layout widget, introduced in version 4.23.0, has graduated from beta to stable. This visual, drag-and-drop CSS grid-based gives editors direct control over responsive column layouts, allowing them to add, remove, resize, and reposition columns directly on the page.

Key capabilities include:

• Multi-column layouts with configurable grids
• In-context column resizing through dragging
• Intelligent repositioning with nudging and swapping
• Breakpoint-specific visibility controls (desktop, tablet, mobile)
• Content alignment configuration within each column

The layout widget is available as an optional core widget that can be added to any project. Pro customers can extend these capabilities further with the Section Template Library, which allows teams to save complex multi-column layouts as reusable templates.

Additional Improvements

OpenAPI Specification: The new apostrophecms-openapi repository provides the official OpenAPI 3.1 specification for the ApostropheCMS REST API. Developers can explore endpoints interactively, mock the API for rapid prototyping, or generate type-safe SDKs in their preferred language. This makes it easier to build integrations and understand the full API surface area.

Box Schema Field Type: A new box field type lays groundwork for upcoming styling features, allowing structured input for properties like padding and margin with top, right, bottom, and left values or shorthand notation.

Batch Operation Feedback: Batch operations now provide failure notifications, making it easier to identify and address issues when working with multiple documents or media files at once.

URL Accent Handling: The new stripUrlAccents option in the @apostrophecms/i18n module provides global control over whether accents are stripped from URLs. A corresponding task allows updating existing document slugs when needed.

AI Helper Updates: The optional @apostrophecms/ai-helper module has been updated for compatibility with current OpenAI API standards, now using the newer gpt-5.1 and gpt-image-1-mini models. Because these newer models produce significantly better images but take longer to generate, the image generator now creates one image at a time rather than multiple variants simultaneously.

Localization Utilities: New tasks @apostrophecms/doc:get-apos-doc-id and @apostrophecms/doc:set-apos-doc-id help resolve localization mismatches when documents need manual intervention.

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We're excited to announce the launch of our official ApostropheCMS subreddit! Join the community to share projects, ask questions, and connect with other Apostrophe developers. We're looking forward to building this space together.

These improvements are ready for you to explore! Update your projects with npm update and let us know what you think on our roadmap.

🚀 Happy coding!

Apostrophe 4.24.0

Adds

• Adds stripUrlAccents option in @apostrophecms/i18n module to globally control whether accents are stripped from URLs. When set to true, all URLs (slugs) will have accents from Latin characters removed on document creation and updates. No existing documents are modified automatically; this only affects new or updated documents. A new task node app @apostrophecms/i18n:strip-slug-accents is provided to update existing document slugs in the database when needed.
• Add @apostrophecms/migration:add-missing-schema-fields task. This operation is automatic at database migration time, so most will not need it. However, those who would prefer this sometimes time-consuming operation happen at a separate time now have that option.
• Translation strings added for the layout- and layout-column-widgets.
• Adds @apostrophecms/doc:get-apos-doc-id and @apostrophecms/doc:set-apos-doc-id tasks.
• New box schema field type
• When switching locale from the doc editor, ask if the user wants to localize the current document in the target locale or want to start a blank document.
• Adds batch failure notifications.
• Introduced a new longPolling: false option for the @apostrophecms/notification module. This eliminates long-pending requests when logged in, but also slows down the delivery of notifications. The behavior can be tuned further via the pollingInterval option, which defaults to 5000 milliseconds.
• Add support for def in area fields - array of widget names to use as defaults when the area is created.

Changes

• @apostrophecms/migration:requirements handler now runs the migration requirements like insertIfMissing, implementParkAllInDefaultLocale, replicate and implementParkAllInOtherLocales.
• Bump nodemailer to v7.x.
• Improves client error log when unable to render a widget.
• Rich text styles are once again available to insert menu items, such as our optional @apostrophecms/ai-helper module.

Fixes

• Specify the content type when calling back to Astro with JSON to render an area. This is required starting in Astro 4.9.0 and up, otherwise the request is blocked by CSRF protection.
• Improved support for Node.js on "plain vanilla" Windows, e.g. without WSL. We suggest working with NVM for Windows and Git Bash.
• Fixes AposBreadcrumbSwitch tooltip prop that is supposed to be an object, not a string. Object returned from the shared method getOperationTooltip.
• Empty text nodes are output properly without a warning.
• Uses modalData.locale in AposI18nLocalize component. Fixes watcher on relatedDocTypes not being properly triggered (uses data and methods for more control instead).
• Layout area fix when no columns are present.

Pro Modules

@apostrophecms-pro/automatic-translation 1.4.4

This bundle allows automatic translation of documents (pages and pieces) when localizing content. It comes with two translation providers: Google Cloud Translation and DeepL, but it is also possible to configure your own providers. Explore our documentation to learn how this extension can enhance your project. Once you're ready, obtain a license and install it through Apostrophe Workspaces. For further details or inquiries, feel free to contact us or visit our pricing page.

Changes

• Preserve accents when slugifying text for sending to translation providers.

@apostrophecms-pro/palette 4.11.0

A beautiful visual interface for styling your website without writing any code. @apostrophecms-pro/palette allows content creators and designers to adjust colors, fonts, spacing, and other design elements directly from the frontend, with changes appearing instantly. Developers configure which CSS properties can be modified, and the module automatically injects the updated styles into every page. Explore our documentation to learn how this extension can enhance your project. Once you're ready, obtain a license and install it through Apostrophe Workspaces. For further details or inquiries, feel free to contact us or visit our pricing page.

Adds

• Adds a provision for custom render functions per field type.

Free modules

@apostrophecms/ai-helper 1.0.0-beta.11 (2025-11-18)

This module enhances Apostrophe with AI-driven helpers. Currently this module offers:

• A button to generate an image from a text prompt via OpenAI.
• An insert menu option to generate rich text from a prompt via OpenAI.

See the extension page for more info.

Changes

• Text generation is fully compatible with the latest versions of Apostrophe 4.x.
• Default models modernized to gpt-5.1 and gpt-image-1-mini.
• Compatible with current OpenAI API.
• Because newer models take much longer to generate each image and also generate much better images, the image generator now generates one image or variant image at a time.
• Bumps eslint-config-apostrophe to 5, fixes linter errors, removes unused dependencies and modernizes dependencies.

@apostrophecms/import-export 3.5.0

This module enables import and export of pages and pieces, with or without related documents such as files, images and other related types.

Adds

• Adds failed export batch notifications.

@apostrophecms/redirect 1.5.0

Manages site redirects for Apostrophe.

Adds

• Support for wildcards. See the README for more information.

@apostrophecms/vite 1.1.1

This extension provides Vite integration for ApostropheCMS projects, enabling module bundling and hot module replacement (HMR) during development.

Changes

• Intercept 403 Vite middleware responses to provide helpful error messages for host validation issues.

Fixes

• Fixes for native Windows Node.js without WSL.

Utilities

@apostrophecms/apostrophe-astro 1.7.1

This module integrates ApostropheCMS into your Astro application.

Adds

• Add support for sluggo options in the slugify util helper and stripAccents option to remove accents from characters.

`@apostrophecms/apostrophecms-openapi 1.0.0

The official OpenAPI 3.1 specification for the ApostropheCMS REST API. This specification allows developers to explore endpoints interactively, mock the API for rapid prototyping, or generate type-safe SDKs in their preferred language.

Adds

• initial release

postcss-viewport-to-container-toggle 2.1.0

A plugin for PostCSS that allows to toggle between viewport and container units based on the presence of a container data attribute.

Adds

• Refactors the AtRule to handle Tailwind 4.x nesting of media queries

Fixed

• Changes the wrapping of the :where() pseudoclass so that it doesn't set specificity of some elements to 0, resulting in a broken cascade.