February 2022 Summaries

Netlify has released several notable updates in February 2022, including enhancements to its Graph feature, which enables teams to develop web apps with APIs more efficiently. The company also introduced a new integration with New Relic for improved observability and added support for Log Drains on S3. Additionally, Netlify has expanded its Command Palette, made Scheduled Functions available in beta, and increased log retention for Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. These updates aim to make it easier for developers to build and manage their web applications with Netlify.

The Template team at Netlify has created a template to simplify the integration of key features such as Netlify Functions, Forms, and Redirects into Nuxt projects, aiming to reduce the effort required for developers. The template provides scaffolding with pre-built code to help users hit the ground running with fun features like these. It is available in the Template repository for previewing and exploring further.

Netlify is integrating with New Relic, a platform that offers real-user monitoring and Core Web Vitals insights, to help teams monitor their site's performance and release cycle. The integration allows Netlify users to automatically install the New Relic Browser agent for seamless setup and sends deploy markers back to the New Relic platform. A Quickstart tool is also available, which creates a New Relic dashboard and three types of alerts for build failures, page load degradation, and JavaScript errors, eliminating configuration time in New Relic. The integration requires only a few clicks and some account details to get up-and-running, even for users who don't already have a New Relic account. With this combination, teams can gain better visibility on key metrics like First Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift, as well as sync Netlify build events with New Relic for granular view of the build release cycle.

Netlify has announced that its Log Drains can now connect to Amazon S3, allowing customers on Enterprise plans to export site traffic logs and functions logs to an S3 bucket. This addition provides developers with valuable insights into their site's performance and functionality, enabling them to troubleshoot, monitor, and fine-tune their sites more effectively. With this update, Netlify customers can now access functions log data for longer periods of time compared to the limited time-frame available in the Netlify user interface, as well as traffic log data that was previously not available for reference in the UI. This expansion is part of Netlify's efforts to make its Log Drains more versatile and compatible with various engineering teams' existing configurations.

This article describes how to preview draft content on a static site powered by data from a Content Management System (CMS), specifically using Netlify and Contentful. The process involves creating a new branch deploy in Netlify, setting up a build hook URL to deploy the preview branch to a live URL, creating a custom Contentful app that triggers the build hook, deploying the new Contentful app to Netlify, and automating the deployment of the preview branch using a GitHub Action. This allows developers to preview their draft content without publishing it to production, giving them peace of mind and confidence to hit the publish button.

The new Next.js blog template from Bejamas and Netlify aims to simplify the process of creating a blog by providing a pre-built template with customizable settings and deployment options using Tailwind, MDX, and Netlify. The template features a light and dark theme, as well as a "wizard" tool that automates the deployment process. Users can find the code and project information in the repository, and can even use a button to clone and deploy the project directly to Netlify. To further support open-source projects, the collaboration has introduced a voting system for users to choose their favorite OSS project, with donations from the swag money being allocated to this initiative.

The Netlify UI has been updated with a new Command Palette, a powerful tool that makes it easy to navigate across the interface, search for specific sites, logs, settings, functions, and more. The Command Palette can be accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top navigation or setting up a custom keyboard shortcut. It features an optimized search bar that understands synonyms and context, allowing users to quickly find answers without leaving the palette. The Command Palette also provides shortcuts specific to the site being viewed, making it easier to perform tasks like viewing latest deploys or changing environmental variables. This update aims to make the Netlify experience faster and more fun for users.

Netlify has introduced a new Agency Directory that allows customers to easily find and connect with skilled digital and web agencies. The directory highlights partners who have worked with Netlify on delivering differentiated experiences for shared customers, emphasizing expertise in the Jamstack architecture. Customers can filter the directory based on their needs, such as services offered, budget, location, or specific stack expertise. The agencies listed have a wealth of knowledge in the Jamstack and Netlify, enabling them to help customers get to market faster with improved performance, productivity, and security.

In this episode of Remotely Interesting, Thuy Doan returns as a special guest to discuss company values and personal values, exploring their alignment and importance. The hosts share their experience with company values and reflect on how individual values relate to those of the organization. They also consider whether these values ultimately matter in one's work life. The episode is now available for listening on the Remotely Interesting website or popular podcast apps.

Netlify has announced Netlify Graph, a GraphQL-powered experience designed to help developers build interactive and connected web applications faster. This feature is now in public beta and available globally, providing a catalog of frequently requested APIs such as GitHub, Stripe, and Salesforce. With Netlify Graph, developers can connect APIs without writing glue code, and have complete control over the data exposed to their app. The platform also allows for seamless syncing of changes between local repositories and the Netlify environment.

The author of the text is a fan of their Elgato Stream Deck and wants to use it to trigger a site build on Netlify at the press of a button. To achieve this, they create a serverless function that checks for a specific query parameter in the URL, and if it matches, makes a POST request to the Netlify build hook URL, triggering a site build. The author sets up two environment variables - DEPLOY_ME_URL and DEPLOY_ME_SECRET - to secure the deployment mechanism and adds them to their Netlify project. They then create a new serverless function in JavaScript that uses node-fetch to make the POST request to the build hook URL if the secret parameter matches, or returns an error response otherwise. The author sets up a Stream Deck button with the function's URL and secret parameter, allowing them to trigger a site build by clicking the button.

Netlify has introduced a new AI feature designed to troubleshoot failed deploys on its Composable Web Platform. This enhancement aims to detect and highlight solutions for deployment failures with unprecedented speed, reflecting the company's investment in advancing developer workflow through world-class tooling and AI features. The new AI feature significantly reduces the time developers spend troubleshooting failed builds by identifying the cause of deploy failures and providing solutions to fix them. This not only saves hours of productivity but also alleviates frustration associated with diagnosing and solving build failures. Key benefits include saving time, providing a clear starting point for troubleshooting, and allowing developers to focus on innovation without restriction. The feature is available immediately to members of Pro and Enterprise plans.

Why do developers contribute to open source projects, and how can these contributions be sustainable? The author of the text, Claire Knight, a senior software engineering manager at Netlify, shares her perspective on this topic. She believes that open source is essential for enabling web developers and advancing what's possible on the web. However, she also acknowledges the challenge of making open source sustainable when there are competing demands of time or investment. To address this issue, Claire and her team at Netlify are working to build an engineering group focused on ecosystem integrations and upstream contributions. Their goal is to foster innovation and collaboration across the Jamstack ecosystem, ensuring that frameworks have first-class support on Netlify, and providing a great developer experience. The team invites developers to join them in this journey by coming to work with Netlify's Ecosystem team.

** Hrishikesh Kokate, a Senior Support Engineer at Netlify, has a unique journey that started with his participation in the company's community hub, Netlify Forums. He realized he was enjoying helping others and eventually joined the team, finding it to be a perfect balance of tinkering with tech stacks and collaborating with a globally distributed team. Hrishikesh values patience, technical skills growth, and effective time management as key habits for success in his role. His day-to-day involves a mix of answering customer questions, working on projects, and attending meetings with engineering teams. To maintain work-life balance, he prioritizes breaks, including dinner and short walks outside. Hrishikesh sets himself up for success by setting reminders for the next day and sharing private notes with his team. He advises others to be open to learning, stay open to feedback, and collaborate for improvement in their Support roles.

In this episode of Remotely Interesting, Zahid Mahmood, the founder of Buskana, an app designed to simplify mobile ordering at events, shares his journey and insights on building the app in just two months. The technical architecture behind Buskana is discussed, as well as the motivations behind creating such an innovative solution. The episode can be listened to directly on its website or downloaded from popular podcast apps.

To overcome international growth challenges, MANSCAPED migrated from a monolithic architecture to the Jamstack in 2019, allowing them to operate all internationalized sites out of a single codebase and reducing errors. This transition enabled faster site speed, resilience to large traffic spikes, increased development team productivity, and more customization options. By using Netlify for their web development workflow, MANSCAPED achieved these benefits and improved the scalability and efficiency of their e-commerce platform.

We have released a new feature in the Netlify CLI that allows users to create a site from a template, making it easier to get started with our platform or explore a new framework quickly. To use this feature, users need to install the CLI and run the `netlify sites:create-template` command, which will prompt them to select a template and configure their site settings. The templates currently available include Gatsby, Hugo, and Next.js starters, and more are coming soon. Users can also use custom templates by providing a URL, and the command will automatically fork the repository and create a site on Netlify. We hope users try out this new feature and provide feedback, as we continuously release new templates and improve the CLI experience.

Netlify Labs is an in-app beta testing feature that allows companies to rollout experimental and beta features to users via an opt-in model. The feature is available for developers on Netlify, offering extended functionalities such as scheduled functions, the Command palette, and more. To access Netlify Labs, users simply log into their account, select the Labs option from the dropdown menu, and enable the desired features. Users can provide feedback to help improve the Labs experience, and share their projects built with these features on Twitter.

We’re delighted to announce that Simon Knott, creator of Quirrel and maintainer of Blitz.js, is joining the Netlify family. Quirrel is an open source solution for managing and scheduling serverless functions and jobs. Simon is also a maintainer for Blitz.js, a fullstack JavaScript framework that brings "Zero API" backend functionality to Next.js. The company has introduced Scheduled Functions as part of Netlify Functions, enabling users to run functions on a regular schedule. Scheduled Functions can be used for tasks such as backing up data or building and deploying static content regularly. Users can provide feedback through the Netlify forums or in the Netlify Functions repo Issues. Simon's expertise is expected to support the team at Netlify in continuing innovations around serverless functions.