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netlify-forms
Guide for using Netlify Forms for HTML form handling. Use when adding contact forms, feedback forms, file upload forms, or any form that should be collected by Netlify. Covers the data-netlify attribute, spam filtering, AJAX submissions, file uploads, notifications, and the submissions API.

Netlify Forms

Netlify Forms collects HTML form submissions without server-side code. Form detection must be enabled in the Netlify UI (Forms section).

Basic Setup

Add data-netlify="true" and a unique name to the form:

<form name="contact" method="POST" data-netlify="true">
  <label>Name: <input type="text" name="name" /></label>
  <label>Email: <input type="email" name="email" /></label>
  <label>Message: <textarea name="message"></textarea></label>
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Netlify's build system detects the form and injects a hidden form-name input automatically. For a custom success page, add action="/thank-you" to the form tag. Use paths without .html extension — Netlify serves thank-you.html at /thank-you by default, and the .html path returns 404.

JavaScript-Rendered Forms (React, Vue, SSR Frameworks)

For forms rendered by JavaScript frameworks (React, Vue, TanStack Start, Next.js, SvelteKit, Remix, Nuxt), Netlify's build parser cannot detect the form in static HTML. You MUST create a static HTML skeleton file for build-time form detection:

Create a static HTML file in public/ (e.g. public/__forms.html) containing a hidden copy of each form:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <body>
    <form name="contact" data-netlify="true" netlify-honeypot="bot-field" hidden>
      <input type="hidden" name="form-name" value="contact" />
      <input type="text" name="name" />
      <input type="email" name="email" />
      <textarea name="message"></textarea>
      <input name="bot-field" />
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

Rules:

  • The form name must exactly match the form-name value used in your component's fetch call
  • Include every field your component submits — Netlify validates field names against the registered form
  • Without this file, Netlify cannot detect the form and submissions will silently fail

Your component must also include a hidden form-name input:

<form name="contact" method="POST" data-netlify="true">
  <input type="hidden" name="form-name" value="contact" />
  {/* ... fields ... */}
</form>

AJAX Submissions

Vanilla JavaScript

const form = document.querySelector("form");
form.addEventListener("submit", async (e) => {
  e.preventDefault();
  const formData = new FormData(form);
  await fetch("/", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
    body: new URLSearchParams(formData).toString(),
  });
});

SSR frameworks (TanStack Start, Next.js, SvelteKit, Remix, Nuxt): The fetch URL must target the static skeleton file path (e.g. "/__forms.html"), not "/". In SSR apps, fetch("/") is intercepted by the SSR catch-all function and never reaches Netlify's form processing middleware. See the React example and troubleshooting section below.

React Example

function ContactForm() {
  const handleSubmit = async (e: React.FormEvent<HTMLFormElement>) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    const formData = new FormData(e.currentTarget);
    // For SSR apps, use the skeleton file path instead of "/" (e.g. "/__forms.html")
    const response = await fetch("/__forms.html", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
      body: new URLSearchParams(formData as any).toString(),
    });
    if (response.ok) {
      // Show success feedback
    }
  };

  return (
    <form name="contact" method="POST" data-netlify="true" onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
      <input type="hidden" name="form-name" value="contact" />
      <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="Name" />
      <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" />
      <textarea name="message" placeholder="Message" />
      <button type="submit">Send</button>
    </form>
  );
}

SSR troubleshooting: If form submissions appear to succeed (200 response) but nothing shows in the Netlify Forms UI, the POST is likely being intercepted by the SSR function. Ensure fetch targets the skeleton file path (e.g. "/__forms.html"), not "/". The skeleton file path routes through the CDN origin where Netlify's form handler runs.

Spam Filtering

Netlify uses Akismet automatically. Add a honeypot field for extra protection:

<form name="contact" method="POST" netlify-honeypot="bot-field" data-netlify="true">
  <p style="display:none">
    <label>Don't fill this out: <input name="bot-field" /></label>
  </p>
  <!-- visible fields -->
</form>

For reCAPTCHA, add data-netlify-recaptcha="true" to the form and include <div data-netlify-recaptcha="true"></div> where the widget should appear.

File Uploads

<form name="upload" enctype="multipart/form-data" data-netlify="true">
  <input type="text" name="name" />
  <input type="file" name="attachment" />
  <button type="submit">Upload</button>
</form>

For AJAX file uploads, use FormData directly — do not set Content-Type (the browser sets it with the correct boundary):

await fetch("/", { method: "POST", body: new FormData(form) });

Limits: 8 MB max request size, 30-second timeout, one file per input field.

Notifications

Configure in the Netlify UI under Project configuration > Notifications:

  • Email: Auto-sends on submission. Add <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="Contact form" /> for custom subject lines.
  • Slack: Via Netlify App for Slack.
  • Webhooks: Trigger external services on submission.

Submissions API

Access submissions programmatically:

GET /api/v1/forms/{form_id}/submissions
Authorization: Bearer <PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN>

Key endpoints:

Action Method Path
List forms GET /api/v1/sites/{site_id}/forms
Get submissions GET /api/v1/forms/{form_id}/submissions
Get spam GET /api/v1/forms/{form_id}/submissions?state=spam
Delete submission DELETE /api/v1/submissions/{id}