What should I watch out for when switching to a headless CMS?

Based on my experience, there are several challenges you'll face. For instance, you need to think about live previews when editing content, and ensure that updates trigger the rebuilding of your static pages. Plus, many tasks that were simple plugins in a monolith now require custom solutions. SEO management, redirects, and even analytics integrations will take more planning. It’s really easy to overlook all the convenience that a traditional CMS provides!

I've found that using a CMS with both traditional and headless options, like Drupal, can ease the transition. Just a heads up though: managing authentication can get tricky since cookies and session handling won’t work the same way. Using JWT for client-side validation has worked for me!

Switching to a headless CMS is definitely a big shift! One thing to keep in mind is that if you don’t actually need to federate content across multiple applications, going headless might complicate things unnecessarily. It can make everything feel a bit over-engineered without the right need for it.

Before making the switch, really ask yourself why you're choosing a headless setup. It's a big commitment and if you're not clear on your needs, it might complicate things more than necessary.

With a headless CMS, you'll have a lot more responsibility for things that a traditional CMS handles for you. For example, routes and redirects aren't automatically managed anymore—they need to be set up on the frontend or your hosting service. Additionally, tracking internal links can become a hassle since the CMS isn't tracking them. You'll want to consider investing in some tools or scripts to help with this.