How it works

The manifest, when it is applied, and why your build is never involved.

On a normal page load the connector fetches one JSON file for that path and applies it. That file is the manifest, and it is the whole mechanism.

What happens on a page load#

  1. 1

    The connector loads

    A few kilobytes from the CDN. It reads your site key from its own script tag.

  2. 2

    It fetches the manifest for this path

    One cacheable request to the data plane, keyed by site and path. A page with no edits has no manifest and nothing happens.

  3. 3

    It applies the overrides before paint

    Elements you have tagged with data-webnak are held invisible until the manifest resolves, so the original text is never shown and then swapped. There is a six second failsafe: content is never stuck hidden because a request hung.

What a visitor downloads#

The connector and one JSON file. The editor bundle is never fetched without an edit token, so it is not part of anyone else’s page weight.