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Solomon Antoine
Solomon Antoine

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Build a blog powered by NextJS & Notion API

#nextjs #tailwindcss #react #notion

Introduction

Notion has been a game changer when it comes to my personal life. It allows me to manage everything from documenting goals, to journaling my thoughts. Because of this, I figured I’d use Notion to power my personal blog over a tool like WordPress for the convenience of not having to ever leave Notion. In this tutorial, I will demonstrate how you can use the NotionAPI in conjunction with NextJS & TailwindCSS to power your blog.

Setup Notion

Make sure you have a Notion account, note you can use their free tier for this tutorial.

Create a Notion Integration

Go to https://www.notion.so/my-integrations and create a new internal integration

Create a Notion Database Page

Screen Shot 2022-01-23 at 16.41.42.png

You can duplicate the template here.

Grant Integration access to Blog

Click the share button and give your integration access.

Screen Shot 2022-01-20 at 21.48.19.png

Create Project

Create NextJS Application 

$ npx create-next-app mysite --typescript
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Install TailwindCSS 

npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer @tailwindcss/typography
npx tailwindcss init -p
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Setup Project

Edit Tailwind Config

Go to your tailwind.config.js file and add the following:

module.exports = {
    content: [
        "./pages/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}",
        "./components/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}",
    ],
    theme: {
        extend: {},
        fontFamily: {
            sans: ["'Montserrat'"],
            mono: ["'Inconsolata'"]
        }
    },
    plugins: [
        require('@tailwindcss/typography')
    ],
}
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Add Tailwind CSS to Global.css file 

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;
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Add Document.tsx

In order to make use of our custom fonts, we need to create a new file called pages/_document.tsx with the following information

import Document, {Html, Head, Main, NextScript, DocumentContext} from 'next/document'

class MyDocument extends Document {
    static async getInitialProps(ctx: DocumentContext) {
        const initialProps = await Document.getInitialProps(ctx)
        return {...initialProps}
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <Html>
                <Head>
                    <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com"/>
                    <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossOrigin={'true'}/>
                    <link
                        href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inconsolata:wght@200;300;400;500;600;700;800;900&family=Montserrat:ital,wght@0,100;0,200;0,300;0,400;0,500;0,600;0,700;0,800;0,900;1,100;1,200;1,300;1,400;1,500;1,600;1,700;1,800;1,900&display=swap"
                        rel="stylesheet"/>
                </Head>
                <body>
                <Main/>
                <NextScript/>
                </body>
            </Html>
        )
    }
}

export default MyDocument
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Add .env file

Create a new file called .env.local with the following info:

NOTION_ACCESS_TOKEN=
NOTION_BLOG_DATABASE_ID=
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For the NOTION_ACCESS_TOKEN we can go to our integrate and copy the secret key

Screen Shot 2022-01-20 at 22.20.08.png

For the NOTION_BLOG_DATABASE_ID we can copy the uuid within the url

Screen Shot 2022-01-20 at 22.21.28.png

Add Types File

Create a new file called @types/schema.d.ts and add the following:

export type Tag = {
    color: string
    id: string
    name: string
}

export type BlogPost = {
    id: string;
    slug: string;
    cover: string;
    title: string;
    tags: Tag[];
    description: string;
    date: string
}
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Build the project

Install Notion Client & Markdown

We need to install the Notion Javascript client in order to get the blog data and a couple other packages for display purposes

npm install @notionhq/client notion-to-md react-markdown
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Create Custom Notion Service 

import {Client} from "@notionhq/client";
import {BlogPost, PostPage} from "../@types/schema";
import {NotionToMarkdown} from "notion-to-md";

export default class NotionService {
    client: Client
    n2m: NotionToMarkdown;

    constructor() {
        this.client = new Client({ auth: process.env.NOTION_ACCESS_TOKEN });
        this.n2m = new NotionToMarkdown({ notionClient: this.client });
    }

    async getPublishedBlogPosts(): Promise<BlogPost[]> {
        const database = process.env.NOTION_BLOG_DATABASE_ID ?? '';
        // list blog posts
        const response = await this.client.databases.query({
            database_id: database,
            filter: {
                property: 'Published',
                checkbox: {
                    equals: true
                }
            },
            sorts: [
                {
                    property: 'Updated',
                    direction: 'descending'
                }
            ]
        });

        return response.results.map(res => {
            return NotionService.pageToPostTransformer(res);
        })
    }

    async getSingleBlogPost(slug: string): Promise<PostPage> {
        let post, markdown

        const database = process.env.NOTION_BLOG_DATABASE_ID ?? '';
        // list of blog posts
        const response = await this.client.databases.query({
            database_id: database,
            filter: {
                property: 'Slug',
                formula: {
                    text: {
                        equals: slug // slug
                    }
                },
                // add option for tags in the future
            },
            sorts: [
                {
                    property: 'Updated',
                    direction: 'descending'
                }
            ]
        });

        if (!response.results[0]) {
            throw 'No results available'
        }

        // grab page from notion
        const page = response.results[0];

        const mdBlocks = await this.n2m.pageToMarkdown(page.id)
        markdown = this.n2m.toMarkdownString(mdBlocks);
        post = NotionService.pageToPostTransformer(page);

        return {
            post,
            markdown
        }
    }

    private static pageToPostTransformer(page: any): BlogPost {
        let cover = page.cover;
        switch (cover) {
            case 'file':
                cover = page.cover.file
                break;
            case 'external':
                cover = page.cover.external.url;
                break;
            default:
                // Add default cover image if you want...
                cover = ''
        }

        return {
            id: page.id,
            cover: cover,
            title: page.properties.Name.title[0].plain_text,
            tags: page.properties.Tags.multi_select,
            description: page.properties.Description.rich_text[0].plain_text,
            date: page.properties.Updated.last_edited_time,
            slug: page.properties.Slug.formula.string
        }
    }
}
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Edit Index file

First we want to make use of the staticProps method like so:

import {GetStaticProps, InferGetStaticPropsType} from "next";
import Head from "next/head";
import {BlogPost} from "../@types/schema";
import NotionService from "../services/notion-service";

export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async (context) => {
    const notionService = new NotionService();
    const posts = await notionService.getPublishedBlogPosts()

    return {
        props: {
            posts
        },
    }
}

const Home = ({posts}: InferGetStaticPropsType<typeof getStaticProps>) => {
    const title = 'Test Blog';
    const description = 'Welcome to my Notion Blog.'

    return (
        <>
            <Head>
                <title>{title}</title>
                <meta name={"description"} title={"description"} content={description}/>
                <meta name={"og:title"} title={"og:title"} content={title}/>
                <meta name={"og:description"} title={"og:description"} content={title}/>
            </Head>

            <div className="min-h-screen">
                <main className="max-w-5xl mx-auto relative">
                    <div className="h-full pt-4 pb-16 px-4 md:px-0 mx-auto">
                        <div className="flex items-center justify-center">
                            <h1 className="font-extrabold text-xl md:text-4xl text-black text-center">Notion + NextJS Sample Blog</h1>
                        </div>
                        <div className="mt-12 max-w-lg mx-auto grid gap-5 lg:grid-cols-2 lg:max-w-none">
                            {posts.map((post: BlogPost) => (
                                <p key={post.id}>Blog Post Component Here: {post.title}</p>
                            ))}
                        </div>
                    </div>
                </main>
            </div>
        </>
    )
};

export default Home;
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Blog Card Component

Next, we want to create a component for a Blog card

First install dayjs for morphing dates

$ npm install dayjs
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the create a file components/BlogCard.tsx

import {FunctionComponent} from "react";
import Link from "next/link";
import {BlogPost} from "../@types/schema";
import dayjs from 'dayjs'

type BlogCardProps = {
    post: BlogPost
}
const localizedFormat = require('dayjs/plugin/localizedFormat');
dayjs.extend(localizedFormat)

const BlogCard: FunctionComponent<BlogCardProps> = ({post}) => {

    return (
        <Link href={`/post/${post.slug}`}>
            <a className="transition duration-300 hover:scale-105">
                <div key={post.title} className="flex flex-col rounded-xl shadow-lg overflow-hidden">
                    <div className="flex-shrink-0">
                        <img className="h-64 w-full object-fit" src={post.cover} alt="" />
                    </div>
                    <div className="flex-1 bg-gray-50 pt-2 pb-6 px-4 flex flex-col justify-between">
                        <div className="flex-1">
                            <span className="block mt-2">
                                <h4 className="text-xs font-medium text-gray-600">{dayjs(post.date).format('LL')}</h4>
                            </span>
                            <span className="block mt-2">
                                <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-gray-900">{post.title}</h3>
                            </span>

                            <span className="block mt-2">
                                <p className="text-sm text-gray-600">{post.description}</p>
                            </span>

                            <span className="block mt-2 space-x-4">
                                {
                                    post.tags.map(tag => (
                                        <span key={tag.id} className='bg-green-300 text-green-800 px-2 py-1 text-xs rounded-lg'>
                                                                        #{tag.name}
                                                                    </span>
                                    ))
                                }
                            </span>
                        </div>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </a>
        </Link>
    );
};

export default BlogCard;
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Then replace

<p>Blog Post Component Here: {post.title}</p>
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with

import BlogCard from "../components/BlogCard";

<BlogCard key={post.id} post={post}/>
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in the index file.

Create Post File

Next, we want to create the page for displaying single blog posts, by making a file called post/[slug].tsx where we will make us of dynamic parameters.

💡 We will be making use of both getStaticPaths and getStaticProps which means you will have to redeploy your site whenever you make a change in Notion since we are generating static paths.

import {GetStaticProps, InferGetStaticPropsType} from "next";
import ReactMarkdown from "react-markdown";
import Head from "next/head";
import NotionService from "../../services/notion-service";

const Post = ({markdown, post}: InferGetStaticPropsType<typeof getStaticProps>) => {
    return (
        <>
            <Head>
                <title>{post.title}</title>
                <meta name={"description"} title={"description"} content={post.description}/>
                <meta name={"og:title"} title={"og:title"} content={post.title}/>
                <meta name={"og:description"} title={"og:description"} content={post.description}/>
                <meta name={"og:image"} title={"og:image"} content={post.cover}/>
            </Head>

            <div className="min-h-screen">
                <main className="max-w-5xl mx-auto relative">
                    <div className="flex items-center justify-center">
                        <article className="prose">
                            <ReactMarkdown>{markdown}</ReactMarkdown>
                        </article>
                    </div>
                </main>
            </div>

        </>
    )
}

export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async (context) => {
    const notionService = new NotionService()

    // @ts-ignore
    const p = await notionService.getSingleBlogPost(context.params?.slug)

    if (!p) {
        throw ''
    }

    return {
        props: {
            markdown: p.markdown,
            post: p.post
        },
    }
}

export async function getStaticPaths() {
    const notionService = new NotionService()

    const posts = await notionService.getPublishedBlogPosts()

    // Because we are generating static paths, you will have to redeploy your site whenever
    // you make a change in Notion.
    const paths = posts.map(post => {
        return `/post/${post.slug}`
    })

    return {
        paths,
        fallback: false,
    }
}

export default Post;
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Recap

In conclusion, Notion is powerful tool that you can use for replacing your CMS applications. If you found this tutorial useful, considering subscribing to my YouTube channel where I record
programming content on the regular or follow me on Twitter.

Social

Twitter

Github

YouTube

Patreon

Top comments (3)

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digital_hub profile image
hub •

Hi there i love this thread.

btw - a new tool is here.

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milkshakegum profile image
Milk •

Hi! The notion page doesn't have permissions to be accessed. :(
Image description

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solomon04 profile image
Solomon Antoine •

fixed !

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