How to Create a Design and Deploy with React and Strapi Headless CMS

Using Strapi CMS with React allows you to build a complete content-driven design. Strapi is capable of all the initial setup and configuration, advanced customization, and the management of the admin panel as well as the operation of the content- which allows you to take full control of your backend and be able to fit smoothly into your frontend, developed in React. If you’re planning to scale this setup for production, partnering with a reliable strapi cms development company can ensure smoother deployment and long-term success.

Prerequisites:

Before setting up Strapi, ensure that your computer has all the required software and configurations in place for a smooth installation.
Node.js Only Active LTS or conservation LTS performances are supported( presently v20 and v22). Odd-number releases of Node, known as” current” performances of Node.js, aren’t supported( e.g. v21, v23).

Your preferred Node.js package director

• npm( v6 and over)
• yarn
• pnpm

Before installing dependencies, be sure to check the version of the Node again to avoid compatibility problems. A local development environment with version managers such as nvm or n is highly recommended, too, particularly in case of alternating between several projects. Teams offering strapi development services often follow such best practices to ensure consistent performance across environments.

Create a new project with Strapi:

Step 1: Start by running the installation command, then create your Strapi admin account to begin setting up your project.

npx create-strapi@latest my-strapi-project

After running the command, a prompt will appear with options to either log in, sign up, or skip. Use the arrow keys to choose the option that suits you—select login or sign up to continue with an account, or choose skip to proceed without one. 

Step 2: Select the login/Signup option or the Skip option: 

After selecting login/signup, you will be redirected to the web browser to confirm your device. Click on ‘Confirm’, then you will see another pop-up with options to continue with GitHub, Google, or GitLab. 

 After successfully logging you’ll see another popup like this. 

Step 3: Choose options as per your project requirement:

After successful login, you will see this option to enter yes/no as per your project dependency. 

Step 4: Set up the first local administrator account by entering your name, email address, and a secure password. This account will have full access to the Strapi admin dashboard. 

cd my-strapi-project
npm run develop / yarn develop

Step 5: After successfully running the project, you will be redirected to the browser and see the screen below.  

After successfully registering, you will see the admin dashboard. 

Leverage the Content-Type Builder to efficiently design and structure your data models. This tool allows you to create custom content types—such as articles, products, or user profiles—by adding a variety of fields, including text, numbers, media, and relational links.. 

Step 1: Create a “Cafe” collection type

After creating a collection, you will see the given screen. 

Click on “Add New Field”, then choose the type of field you want to include—such as text, number, date, media, or relational fields—based on the data your content type needs. 

Once you select the Text field, a settings panel will appear. Enter “Name” in the field label. Then, navigate to the Advanced Settings tab and enable the Required and Unique options to ensure that each entry has a name and that no duplicates are allowed. 

Click on “Add Another Field”, then select Rich Text (Blocks) from the list of available field types. This option allows you to add formatted content like headings, paragraphs, and links to your entries.  

Step 2: Open the Content-Type Builder and select “Create new collection type.” Enter “Category” as the name to define your new data structure. 

Next, click “Add Another Field” and select “Relation” as the field type. This enables you to link this collection type with other content types in your project. 

Deploy to Strapi Cloud

Step 1: Open a new terminal window in your project’s root folder, then run the following command to start the process.

npm run strapi deploy :

1. How would you like to name your project?
2. Choose your NodeJS version.
3. Choose a region for your project.

 Once the project has been successfully built, you can view it by opening your browser and navigating to the local development URL.