Implement BigCommerce Stencil theme customization with custom widgets and regional content blocks via the Widget Builder API
domain: bigcommerce.dev · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Use the BigCommerce Widget API to create a widget template by posting a widget template definition with a schema defining configurable fields and a Handlebars template body
Create a widget instance from the template by calling the widgets endpoint with configuration values that match the schema fields defined in the template
Place the widget on a page by creating a placement via the placements endpoint, specifying the page type, template file, region name, and the widget ID
In the Stencil theme, verify that the target template file (for example, pages/product.html) declares the region using the {{region}} Handlebars helper so the widget renders at runtime
Test the widget rendering on the storefront and confirm that changes to the widget configuration via the API are reflected without a theme re-upload
Use the content management tools in the BigCommerce admin to adjust widget placement order within a region if multiple widgets share the same region
Known gotchas
Widget regions must be declared in the Stencil theme template files; placing a widget via the API into a region that is not declared in the theme results in the widget being silently ignored
Widget template Handlebars context is limited; access to product or category data within a widget template requires using the storefront's GraphQL API client-side rather than server-side Handlebars context
Widget placements are channel-scoped but widget templates are store-wide; a template change affects all widgets instantiated from it across all channels
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