The Jamstack is a web development architecture that has gained popularity in recent years due to its speed, security, and scalability. It refers to Javascript, APIs, and Markup as the three main components of the stack. While the techniques used in the Jamstack are not necessarily new, they have been combined in innovative ways to create a modern and efficient web development architecture.
Where it all started
The Jamstack is a relatively new web development architecture that emerged in the early 2010s to address the increasing complexity of modern web applications and the need for speed, security, and scalability. One of the key features of the Jamstack is the use of static content. In web development, static files are resources that are generated once at build time and served to each client without change. These files can include assets like images, HTML, and Javascript, but in the JAM Stack, the term 'static' also refers to content generated by the server and consumed by the client.
Dynamic vs client side vs static approach
Traditionally, web pages have been served using two main approaches:
- Server side where the server generates a web page and sends it back to the client.
- Client side (Single Page Applications): where the server basically sends an empty page with Javascript assets to the client, which then queries a remote API and generates the page directly in the browser.
Server-side rendering is the more common approach and has been used for many years, but it can have limitations in terms of performance, as the server has to generate a new page for each request. Client-side rendering, on the other hand, can be more performant in terms of user experience after the first page load, as the browser only has to download and render the Javascript assets once. However, it can have slower initial load times and can be less effective for SEO, as the content is not served from the server.
The static approach, used in the Jamstack, allows a server or CDN to serve a pre-built page that can be immediately shown to the user, improving performance. The Jamstack aims to maximize the use of static assets and content, while also allowing for the use of other techniques in specific sections of the application.
Benefit of using the Jamstack
Here are some benefit of using this architecture.
Performance
As said before, one of the key features of the Jamstack is that it relies on static markup, which can be served from a CDN (Content Delivery Network). This means that the server does not have to dynamically generate HTML, making the website or web application faster to load and more performant.
Interoperability
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are used to connect the frontend of a Jamstack applications to any necessary back-end services or databases. This decoupling of the frontend and the backend makes it easier to evolve and maintain the web applications.
You can also rely on a single content API for a mobile app and a web app using a centralized source of content.
Decoupling
Javascript is used to create dynamic and interactive features on the frontend. This can include anything from simple form validation to more complex features like real-time updates or offline support.
Some framework allows developers to create static content at build time that will be re-hydrated client side by Javascript. This allow to have fast load time and all the features that a SPA can have.
Deployment
Faster deployment and easier scaling are another benefit of using this architecture. Because the HTML is pre-built and served from a CDN, there is no need for a server to handle requests, making it easy to deploy and scale the application especially with specialized services that we will see in the next section.
Security
Not having a server and a database to maintain means also reduce the risk of attacks.
Costs
Serving mainly static content decrease the computational cost of your service.
Is a matter of tooling
The techniques used in Jamstack have been around for many years but they have been revised with the development of toolchain that helps developers to create their applications.
Static site generators, headless CMS, serverless functions and one click deployment services (such as Netlify or Vercel) are pieces of this new pattern in web development.
Static site generators
Static site generators allows developers to generate a static website from templates and content stored in flat files or APIs.
Key benefit of these tools are
- Performance and speed: Static sites are typically faster and more performant than dynamic sites, as they do not require server-side rendering and can be served from CDN closer to the user location.
- Security: Static sites are also more secure than dynamic sites, as they do not have the vulnerabilities that are associated with server-side rendering. This makes them attractive to developers who are building secure websites and web applications.
- Ease of development: if you can store your content in flat files than you don’t need to maintain a complex backend.
- Scalability: Static sites are also easier to scale than dynamic sites, as they do not require the same level of server infrastructure and can be easily deployed on CDNs.
Tools and Frameworks such as Gatsby, Nextjs, Hugo are great choices for creating static sites.
They have a great developer experience and can be used to build hybrid application with section that are completely static and parts that can be feature rich like single page applications.
Headless CMS
A headless CMS is a backend-only content management system that exposes its content via APIs. This allows developers to use the content stored in the CMS to power their Jamstack web application.
You can host your CMS using solution like Strapi or use hosted CMS like Contentful, DatoCMS or others.
The decoupled nature of the Jamstack allow you to chose the right tool for the job and evolve your infrastructure without changing the all stack.
Serverless architecture
Sometimes you don’t even need a full backend, you just need to run some backend logic and serverless functions are great choice in this particular case.
You can reduce the complexity of your infrastructure and scale it in response to the traffic of your website without maintain any server.
Deployment
In the last few years many organizations are creating SaaS products that helps developers to deploy and manage their applications.
Netlify and Vercel are two of them.
You can link your github repo and configure those services to build and deploy your website every time you commit on a particular branch or you can procedurally trigger a build by calling a webhook, maybe from your headless CMS.
I’ll cover some of this tools in future posts, make sure to follow my profile to stay updated 🚀🚀🚀
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Jamstack is a modern and efficient web development architecture that offers a number of benefits, including performance, security, and ease of development. If you're looking to build fast, secure, and scalable websites or web applications, the Jamstack is definitely worth considering.
To learn more about the Jamstack, check out the website https://jamstack.org/ and don't forget to give it a try for your own projects!
Thanks for reading! If you found this post helpful, please share it with your colleagues or friends who might also be interested in the Jamstack.
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