Make emdash work for an application that already exist

[eerison]

Hello guys ,

Are there any article/doc that explains how make emdash work for a application that already exist?

What I'm trying to achieve. I have a astro blog, that uses markdown. And generate static files on build.

And I want to to integrate it with emdash.

For the first step I would like to know.

What changes, do I need to make, just to have EmDash and my blog running. I'm not asking how to make it full compatible. Just to have it running.

After that I will try to make integration based on blog template from emdash.

Edit: just to add more context, it's the blog: https://github.com/satnaing/astro-paper

[ahliweb]

Hi @eerison,

It depends on the integration model you want.

If your immediate goal is just to have EmDash and your existing Astro blog running side by side, that is the easiest path. You do not need to make the whole site fully EmDash-native on day one. In practice, the first milestone is usually:

1. add the EmDash integration to the Astro app,
2. configure its database and storage,
3. let EmDash run its admin at /_emdash/admin,
4. keep the current markdown-based blog working as it already does.

That gets you to a working "both systems run in the same app" state without forcing a full migration.

After that, the right approach depends on the longer-term goal:

• If you want EmDash to gradually replace parts of the blog, you can migrate content and templates incrementally.
• If you want to connect EmDash to an already-existing application architecture, a plugin-based approach is often the cleanest option.
• If you want EmDash to enhance parts of the existing app without rewriting everything, an adapter/plugin layer is usually more realistic than trying to force a full conversion up front.

I have taken that kind of approach myself in ahliweb/awcms-micro, where the existing application shape was preserved and EmDash-related behavior was added around it as a temporary solution rather than requiring an immediate full rewrite.

So I would frame it this way:

• "Run alongside first" is a realistic first milestone.
• "Full compatibility" is a separate second phase.
• Whether it should be a plugin, adapter, or direct migration depends on how much of the existing app you want to preserve as-is.

I do not think there is one single guide that covers every "existing Astro app -> EmDash" scenario yet, because the right answer depends heavily on whether EmDash is being introduced as:

• a parallel CMS,
• a plugin/extension layer,
• or the eventual primary content system.

If it helps, a good next step for this discussion might be to document those integration paths separately, because each one implies a different amount of change.

[eerison]

Hi @ahliweb

add the EmDash integration to the Astro app,
configure its database and storage,
let EmDash run its admin at /_emdash/admin,
keep the current markdown-based blog working as it already does.

Thanks for "your" answer, but it's really an abstract answer.

It doesn't help what part I should change to have this running side by side.

[ascorbic]

At minimum, all that is needed is to install emdash and add it to the Astro config like this: https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash/blob/main/templates/blank/astro.config.mjs and then add a live.config.ts like this: https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash/blob/main/templates/blank/src/live.config.ts

That enables the admin and collections.

[eerison]

Thanks for the hint. I saw this live.config.ts, but I wasn't sure if I needed to add it or not.

I will tryout 😃

[ascorbic]

Also make sure you're using the latest version of Astro