Using Content Driven Development

Content-driven development coordinates your AEM Edge Delivery workflow by starting with real content or test drafts before coding. Identify or create test content that represents real usage, then invoke content-modeling to design your model, proceed with block development using building-blocks, and validate with testing-blocks before submitting your PR.

Content-driven development ensures blocks are built against actual content needs rather than assumptions, leading to consistent author experiences and fewer feedback cycles. It integrates content-modeling, block creation, and validation as coordinated steps instead of sequential isolated tasks.

Yes, content-driven development requires test content availability—either from your CMS or as local HTML drafts. This content guides your content-modeling decisions and ensures your blocks work reliably with real-world data before PR validation.

After building blocks with real content guidance, use the testing-blocks skill to perform quality checks. This ensures your implementation meets author and content requirements, catching issues before you submit your pull request.

Content modeling occurs after you've identified or created test content that represents your use case. The workflow defines when to invoke content-modeling based on your test content structure, ensuring your blocks align with content requirements from the start.

Yes, content-driven development applies across discovery, design, implementation, and validation tasks for any AEM Edge Delivery project. It integrates with related patterns and skills to improve consistency and author experience regardless of project stage.