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Usage Without React (Vanilla JS) ​

BlockNote is mainly designed as a quick and easy drop-in block-based editor for React apps. It comes with built-in UI elements that are designed for React.

It is also possible to use BlockNote without using React; for example in "Vanilla JS" applications or if you prefer to use a different framework. However, this does involve writing your own UI elements.

WARNING

We recommend using BlockNote with React so you can use the built-in UI components. This document will explain how you can use BlockNote without React, and write your own components, but this is not recommended as you'll lose the easy-to-use built-in components. The API for non-React applications is also likely to change.

Installing ​

Instead of @blocknote/react, you'll need to install and use @blocknote/core.

Creating an editor ​

This is how to create a new BlockNote editor:

import { BlockNoteEditor } from "@blocknote/core";
const editor = new BlockNoteEditor({
  element: document.getElementById("root")!, // element to append the editor to
  onUpdate: ({ editor }) => {
    console.log(editor.getJSON());
  }
});

Now, you'll have a plain BlockNote instance on your page. However, it's missing some menu's and other UI elements.

Creating your own UI elements ​

Because we can't use the built-in React elements, you'll need to create and register your own UI elements for the following BlockNote components:

  • Slash menu
  • Formatting toolbar
  • Side menu (block handle)
  • Hyperlink menu

You can do this by passing custom component factories as uiFactories, e.g.:

const editor = new BlockNoteEditor({
  element: document.getElementById("root")!,
  uiFactories: {
    formattingToolbarFactory: customFormattingToolbarFactory,
    hyperlinkToolbarFactory: customHyperlinkToolbarFactory,
    slashMenuFactory: customSlashMenuFactory,
    blockSideMenuFactory: customBlockSideMenuFactory,
  }
});

Example ​

For an example of a how to set up your custom UI factories, see the Vanilla JS example in the repository.