Strapi ➕ CKEditor

Integrates CKEditor 5 into your Strapi project as a fully customizable custom field. (Community edition)

👋 Get Started

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Contributing
• Migration
• Requirements

✨ Features

• Extensive configuration
• Media Library integration
• Dark theme support
• Fullscreen expansion
• Responsive images support
• Automatic UI translations
• i18n support
• Self-Hosted

🔧 Installation

Strapi v5:

Add the package to your Strapi application:

yarn add @_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor

Then, build the app:

yarn build

Strapi v4:

Version 3 of the plugin will remain available for Strapi v4 until March 2026. Refer to the v3 installation guide for setup instructions.

Note: Version 3 receives only essential bug fixes. The configuration process and available features in version 3 differ significantly from the latest plugin versions.

✍️ Usage

The field can be fould in the Content-Type Builder under the CUSTOM tab:

Presets

A preset is a set of settings that define the editor's features and appearence. You can specify a dedicated preset for each field. The available presets can be customized through the configuration.

The plugin provides two presets out of the box: Default HTML editor and Default Markdown editor, each has different output format: HTML and Markdown, respectively. Both presets include an extensive set of non-premium CKEditor plugins.

Default HTML editor:

Default Markdown editor:

Responsive images

The plugin generates srcset attribute for inserted images if the image has any formats other than thumbnail.

UI language: If you don't specify the UI language in the editor configuration, the plugin will default to the Strapi admin's preferred language. If no preference is set, English will be used as a fallback.

Content language: i18n for the editor's content language can be enabled by checking the Enable localization for this field option in the Advanced Settings tab.

⚙️ Configuration

The plugin configuration must be defined on the front-end. The plugin provides a setPluginConfig function, which accepts a plugin configuration (PluginConfig) that can include an array of presets and a theme object:

import { setPluginConfig } from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

function setPluginConfig(pluginConfig: {
  presets: Preset[] | undefined;
  theme: Theme | undefined;
}): void;

Key points:

• The function must be invoked before the admin panel's bootstrap lifecycle function. The general recommendation is to call it inside the admin panel's register lifecycle function.
• Provided properties will overwrite the default configuration values.
• The configuration becomes immutable after the first invocation, preventing further modifications.

Plugin configuration object includes optional presets and theme properties:

type PluginConfig = {
  /**
   * Presets are sets of settings that define the editor's features and appearance.
   */
  presets?: Preset[];
  /**
   * Styles applied globally to every editor instance.
   */
  theme?: Theme;
};

presets is an array of objects of type Preset. Each preset includes the following properties:

type Preset = {
  /**
   * Preset name, displayed in the schema.
   */
  name: string;
  /**
   * Preset description, displayed in the Content-Type Builder.
   */
  description: string;
  /**
   * CKEditor configuration object.
   *
   * @see {@link https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/getting-started/setup/configuration.html | CKEditor documentation}
   */
  editorConfig: EditorConfig;
  /**
   * Additional styles applied to the editor instance after the theme styles.
   */
  styles?: EditorStyles;
};

theme object defines a plugin CSS styles applied to every editor instance. It includes the following properties:

/**
 * The `common` styles are applied first, followed by `light` or `dark` styles
 * according to the preferences, and finally `additional` styles.
 */
type Theme = {
  /**
   * Core styles.
   */
  common?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * Styles apllied in light mode.
   */
  light?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * Styles apllied in dark mode.
   */
  dark?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * Additional styles that complement the theme.
   */
  additional?: EditorStyles;
};

/**
 * Represents styles that can be applied to an editor instance.
 * Can be a plain CSS string or an array of interpolations for dynamic styling.
 */
export type EditorStyles = string | Interpolation<object>[];

Default presets and theme

To simplify the process of defining a new preset, the plugin exports default presets and a default theme, which can be used as a base in custom configurations:

import {
  defaultTheme,
  defaultHtmlPreset,
  defaultMarkdownPreset,
} from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

Integration with Strapi's Media Library

To integrate CKEditor with the Strapi's Media Library, the plugin provides two CKEditor plugins that can be included in your presets without additional configuration:

import { StrapiMediaLib, StrapiUploadAdapter } from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

Available type definitions

The following type definitions are available for use:

import type {
  PluginConfig,
  Preset,
  EditorConfig,
  Theme,
  EditorStyles,
} from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

Type definitions

/**
 * Plugin configuration object.
 */
export type PluginConfig = {
  /**
   * Presets are sets of settings that define the editor's features and appearance.
   */
  presets?: Preset[];
  /**
   * Styles applied globally to every editor instance.
   */
  theme?: Theme;
};

/**
 * Preset is a set of settings that define the editor's features and appearance.
 */
export type Preset = {
  /**
   * Preset name, displayed in the schema.
   */
  name: string;
  /**
   * Preset description, displayed in the Content-Type Builder.
   */
  description: string;
  /**
   * Additional styles applied to the editor instance after the theme styles.
   */
  styles?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * CKEditor configuration object.
   *
   * @see {@link https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/getting-started/setup/configuration.html | CKEditor documentation}
   */
  editorConfig: EditorConfig;
};

/**
 * CKEditor configuration object.
 *
 * @see {@link https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/getting-started/setup/configuration.html | CKEditor documentation}
 */
export type EditorConfig = CKE5EditorConfig;

/**
 * Styles applied globally to every editor instance.
 *
 * @remarks
 *
 * The `common` styles are applied first, followed by `light` or `dark` styles
 * according to the preferences, and finally `additional` styles.
 */
export type Theme = {
  /**
   * Core styles.
   */
  common?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * Styles apllied in light mode.
   */
  light?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * Styles apllied in dark mode.
   */
  dark?: EditorStyles;
  /**
   * Additional styles that complement the theme.
   */
  additional?: EditorStyles;
};

/**
 * Represents styles that can be applied to an editor instance.
 * Can be a plain CSS string or an array of interpolations for dynamic styling.
 */
export type EditorStyles = string | Interpolation<object>[];

Configuration examples:

Adding a new preset [JS]

// src/admin/app.js

import {
  Bold,
  Italic,
  Essentials,
  Heading,
  Image,
  ImageCaption,
  ImageStyle,
  ImageToolbar,
  ImageUpload,
  Link,
  List,
  Paragraph,
} from 'ckeditor5';

import { setPluginConfig, StrapiMediaLib, StrapiUploadAdapter } from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

const myCustomPreset = {
  name: 'myCustomPreset',
  description: 'myCustomPreset description',
  editorConfig: {
    licenseKey: 'GPL',
    plugins: [
      Bold,
      Italic,
      Essentials,
      Heading,
      Image,
      ImageCaption,
      ImageStyle,
      ImageToolbar,
      ImageUpload,
      Link,
      List,
      Paragraph,
      StrapiMediaLib,
      StrapiUploadAdapter,
    ],
    toolbar: [
      'heading',
      '|',
      'bold',
      'italic',
      'link',
      'bulletedList',
      'numberedList',
      '|',
      'strapiMediaLib',
      '|',
      'undo',
      'redo',
    ],
  },
};

const myConfig = {
  /**
   * Note: Since the provided `presets` include only `myCustomPreset`
   * this configuration will overwrite default presets.
   */
  presets: [myCustomPreset],
};

export default {
  register() {
    setPluginConfig(myConfig);
  },
};

Adding a new preset [TS]

// src/admin/app.tsx

import {
  Bold,
  Italic,
  Essentials,
  Heading,
  Image,
  ImageCaption,
  ImageStyle,
  ImageToolbar,
  ImageUpload,
  Link,
  List,
  Paragraph,
} from 'ckeditor5';

import {
  type PluginConfig,
  type Preset,
  setPluginConfig,
  StrapiMediaLib,
  StrapiUploadAdapter,
} from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

const myCustomPreset: Preset = {
  name: 'myCustomPreset',
  description: 'myCustomPreset description',
  editorConfig: {
    licenseKey: 'GPL',
    plugins: [
      Bold,
      Italic,
      Essentials,
      Heading,
      Image,
      ImageCaption,
      ImageStyle,
      ImageToolbar,
      ImageUpload,
      Link,
      List,
      Paragraph,
      StrapiMediaLib,
      StrapiUploadAdapter,
    ],
    toolbar: [
      'heading',
      '|',
      'bold',
      'italic',
      'link',
      'bulletedList',
      'numberedList',
      '|',
      'strapiMediaLib',
      '|',
      'undo',
      'redo',
    ],
  },
};

const myConfig: PluginConfig = {
  /**
   * Note that since provided `presets` includes only `myCustomPreset`
   * this configuration will overwrite default presets.
   */
  presets: [myCustomPreset],
};

export default {
  register() {
    setPluginConfig(myConfig);
  },
};

Default presets modification [TS]

// src/admin/app.tsx

import { css } from 'styled-components';

import {
  type PluginConfig,
  type Preset,
  setPluginConfig,
  defaultHtmlPreset,
  defaultMarkdownPreset,
} from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

const defaultHtml: Preset = {
  ...defaultHtmlPreset,
  description: 'Modified default HTML editor',
  styles: `
    .ck { 
      color: red; 
    }
  `,
  editorConfig: {
    ...defaultHtmlPreset.editorConfig,
    placeholder: 'Modified default HTML editor',
    toolbar: [
      'heading',
      '|',
      'bold',
      'italic',
      'link',
      'bulletedList',
      'numberedList',
      '|',
      'strapiMediaLib',
      'insertTable',
      '|',
      'undo',
      'redo',
    ],
  },
};

const defaultMarkdown: Preset = {
  ...defaultMarkdownPreset,
  description: 'Modified default Markdown editor',
  styles: `
    .ck {
      --ck-editor-max-width: 1500px;
      --ck-editor-min-height: 700px;
      --ck-editor-max-height: 700px;
    }

    .ck.ck-editor__main {
      border: 3px dashed ${({ theme }) => theme.colors.warning500};
    }
  `,
};

const myConfig: PluginConfig = {
  presets: [defaultHtml, defaultMarkdown],
};

export default {
  register() {
    setPluginConfig(myConfig);
  },
};

Modifying theme [TS]

// src/admin/app.tsx

import { css } from 'styled-components';

import { type PluginConfig, setPluginConfig, defaultTheme } from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

const myConfig: PluginConfig = {
  theme: {
    ...defaultTheme,
    additional: css`
      .ck {
        --ck-editor-max-width: 1500px;
        --ck-editor-min-height: 700px;
        --ck-editor-max-height: 700px;
      }

      .ck.ck-editor__main {
        border: 3px dashed ${({ theme }) => theme.colors.warning500};
      }
    `,
  },
};

export default {
  register() {
    setPluginConfig(myConfig);
  },
};

Adding Timestamp plugin [JS]

// src/admin/app.js

import { Plugin, ButtonView } from 'ckeditor5';

import { setPluginConfig, defaultHtmlPreset } from '@_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor';

class Timestamp extends Plugin {
  init() {
    const editor = this.editor;
    editor.ui.componentFactory.add('timestamp', () => {
      const button = new ButtonView();
      button.set({
        label: 'timestamp',
        withText: true,
      });
      button.on('execute', () => {
        const now = new Date();
        editor.model.change(writer => {
          editor.model.insertContent(writer.createText(now.toString()));
        });
      });
      return button;
    });
  }
}

export default {
  register() {
    defaultHtmlPreset.editorConfig.plugins.push(Timestamp);
    defaultHtmlPreset.editorConfig.toolbar.unshift('timestamp');
    setPluginConfig({ presets: [defaultHtmlPreset] });
  },
};

📂 Default HTML preset: admin/src/config/htmlPreset.ts

📂 Default Markdown preset: admin/src/config/markdownPreset.ts

📂 Default theme: admin/src/theme

📌 It is highly recommended to explore the official CKEditor5 documentation.

💡 To display content from external sources, such as images or videos, in your admin panel, you need to configure your middlewares.js file. Check the documentation for details.

🛠 Contributing

Feel free to fork the repository and open a pull request, any help is appreciated.

Follow these steps to set up a plugin development environment:

1. Clone the repository.

2. Read the Strapi Plugin SDK documentation.

3. Navigate to the cloned plugin folder and install dependencies, run:

yarn install

4. Link the plugin to your project:

   • In the plugin folder, run:

   yarn watch:link

   • Open a new terminal, navigate to your Strapi project directory, and run:

   yarn dlx yalc add --link @_sh/strapi-plugin-ckeditor && yarn install

5. Rebuild the project and start the server:

yarn build
yarn develop

✈️ Migration

To upgrade to the latest version, follow the dedicated migration guide for detailed instructions.

⚠️ Requirements

v5.x.x

Strapi >= 5.0.0

Node >= 18.0.0 <= 22.x.x

---

v3.x.x

Strapi >= 4.13.0 < 5.0.0

Node >= 18.0.0 <= 20.x.x