Using Content Driven Development
Using Content Driven Development (CDD)
Content Driven Development is a mandatory process for AEM Edge Delivery Services development that prioritizes content and author needs over developer convenience. This skill orchestrates the development workflow to ensure code is built against real content with author-friendly content models.
Why Content-First Matters
Author needs come before developer needs. When building for AEM Edge Delivery, authors are the primary users of the structures we create. Content models must be intuitive and easy to work with, even if that means more complex decoration code.
Efficiency through preparation. Creating or identifying test content before coding provides:
- Immediate testing capability: No need to stop development to create test content
- Better PR workflows: Test content doubles as PR validation links for PSI checks
- Living documentation: Test content often serves as author documentation and examples
- Fewer assumptions: Real content reveals edge cases code-first approaches miss
NEVER start writing or modifying code without first identifying or creating the content you will use to test your changes.
When to Apply This Skill
Apply Content Driven Development principles to ALL AEM development tasks: