NOTE: Prior to developing locally, you'll need a website set up with developer mode enabled. (See Getting Started)

Installing the Dev Server

To begin working locally, you first must download and install the Squarespace Local Development Server. This tool is available via Node Package Manager (NPM). Here are the steps required:

  1. Install NPM: If you don't have NPM installed you'll need to set that up first, by following the NPM installation guide. You'll also need to ensure you have the appropriate permissions configured for NPM.

  2. Install squarespace-server: You can do this with the following NPM command:

npm install -g @squarespace/squarespace-server

Using the Dev Server

First you need to have your template in Developer Mode, and have cloned your site into a folder using Git. (See Getting Started):

git clone https://site-name.squarespace.com/template.git
cd template

Then, to start Dev Server, run the following command:

squarespace-server https://site-name.squarespace.com

After starting squarespace-server, you will see the following screen:

Starting Development Server

           _
       /  /      _
      /  /  /  /   \
     /  /  /  /  /  |    Squarespace Inc.
    |  /  /  /  /  /     Local Development Environment
     \ _ /  /  /  /
              /  /
            -

Version 0.1.00
Listening on port 9000

The start-up message displays both the version of squarespace-server, and the port on which the server is running.

Now you can open your browser to your site by typing in the url http://localhost:9000. Any changes you make to your local template files will be visible when you refresh your browser.

Advanced Use

You can view all the options with the command:

squarespace-server --help

If you have a site password, or your site is in trial mode, you'll need to log into your site via the dev server. You can do that with the following command:

squarespace-server https://site-name.squarespace.com --run-authenticated

Here's a list of some of the more useful options:

-h --help                      Show this screen.
-d --template-directory=PATH   Path to template source.
-p --port=PORT                 Port that server listens on.
--run-authenticated            Login when starting server.
--verbose                      Verbose logging.
 

Help and Feedback

If you have questions about working locally, or would like to provide feedback on Dev Server, please contact support and be sure to let them know you're using the Squarespace Local Development Server.