Follow the steps below to get started with Cosmic to power content for your Express application.

Create folder and install Express

mkdir cosmic-express
cd cosmic-express
npm init
npm i express

Install the Cosmic JavaScript SDK

Install the Cosmic JavaScript SDK in the location of the codebase.

npm i @cosmicjs/sdk

Add an Object type in the Cosmic dashboard

Log in to the Cosmic dashboard and create a new Blog Posts Object type in a new or existing Project with the following metafields:

  1. Image: Image type with key image
  2. Content: Rich text with key content

Blog model

Add content

Add a few blog posts to get some content ready to be delivered.

Create a new file app.js and add the following:

// app.js
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const port = 3000;
import { createBucketClient } from '@cosmicjs/sdk';
const cosmic = createBucketClient({
  bucketSlug: process.env.BUCKET_SLUG || '',
  readKey: process.env.BUCKET_READ_KEY || '',
});

app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  const { objects: posts } = await cosmic.objects
    .find({
      type: 'blog-posts',
    })
    .props('title,metadata.image,metadata.content');
  let html = '';
  posts?.map((post) => {
    html += `<div>
            <div>${post.title}</div>
            <div>
              <img
                src="${post.metadata.image.imgix_url}?w=500&auto=format,compression"
                alt="${post.title}"
              />
            </div>
            <div>${post.metadata.content}</div>
          </div>`;
  });
  res.set('Content-Type', 'text/html');
  res.send(html);
});

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Example app listening on port ${port}`);
});

Add your Cosmic API keys

In a new file titled .env.local add the following environment variables and make sure to switch out the values with your Cosmic API keys found in Project / API keys.

# .env.local
BUCKET_SLUG=add_your_bucket_slug_here
BUCKET_READ_KEY=add_your_bucket_read_key_here

Start the app

Start your app with the following command, go to http://localhost:3000, and see your blog posts. Note: we are using bun which enables environment variable reading without a separate package and the ability to use ES6 imports.

bun app.js

FAQ

How much does Cosmic cost?

Project plans are Free ($0), Builder ($99/mo), Team ($299/mo), Business ($499/mo), Enterprise (custom pricing). Yearly billing saves 10%. Workspace plans are Small Workspace ($999/mo) and Large Workspace ($2,999/mo), and they start with a 30-day free trial. Allowances, add-on rates, and the rest of the pricing FAQ are plain text at https://www.cosmicjs.com/pricing.md.

Are API keys required, and is content private?

Each Bucket has a read key and a write key in Bucket Settings > API Access. GET requests use the read key. POST, PATCH, and DELETE use the write key as Authorization: Bearer. Do not put the write key in a browser bundle, a mobile app, or a NEXT_PUBLIC_ variable. SAML single sign-on is on Large Workspace and Enterprise. The audit log is append-only. Text versions: https://www.cosmicjs.com/security.md and https://www.cosmicjs.com/docs/dashboard/audit-log.md.

Can an agent create a Cosmic project without an existing account?

Yes. POST https://dapi.cosmicjs.com/v3/agents/sign-up provisions a free-tier project and bucket tied to a human email, with no existing Cosmic account. The human claims it with the emailed one-time code. The playbook is https://www.cosmicjs.com/docs/ai-onboarding.md.