About Velo by Wix

Velo is an open development platform that accelerates the way you build web applications.

Work in Wix's visual builder, add custom functionality and interactions using Velo's APIs, use your own tools, and enjoy serverless coding in both the front-end and backend, all in an open, extendable platform.

Velo backend supports Node 14.

Velo Features

The following Velo features make your web app development hassle free:

  • Coding. Add your own JavaScript code to a Wix site and work with our APIs to add custom functionality and interactions to your site.

    Velo also provides a full server-side runtime system based on Node.js. You can export functions from the backend to the client-side using ES2016 modules and Velo's web modules. Velo serves all your files for you.

    You can work with front-end and backend events created by many of Wix’s Apps and their elements. You can also work with your site’s contacts, enhance your site’s SEO, work with APIs that interact with your visitors’ browsers, and schedule jobs to run code at specified intervals.

    Velo includes a Functional Testing tool for testing backend code without having to trigger it from the frontend. You can define custom parameters to use in testing backend functions.

  • Databases. When you enable Velo you also automatically add Wix Data to your site, which lets you work with our built-in databases. Wix Apps are powerful services and amazing features that can enhance your site and grow your business. As you add many Wix Apps to your site, their data is also automatically added as new collections on your site.

    Once you've got databases enabled on your site, you can use Wix's visual builder to connect your data to elements on your site, capture user input, and create dynamic pages. You can also define your own dynamic pages with our custom routers.

    Velo also lets you connect your site to any external database using our External Database API, and then work with that database in your site just as you would with our built-in collections.

  • Serverless, secure & maintained.  All the work you do is hosted on Wix's cloud services. That means you never have to worry about your server’s initial setup or long term maintenance. Wix automatically scales your site's resources as needed, and you benefit from our lock-tight security.

  • Open platform. Velo lets you extend your site’s functionality to other services. You can install npm packages, use our fetch to call external APIs, and expose your site's functionality as an API with our http functions.

  • Code Editor IDE. Velo adds a built-in IDE to your Wix site so you can code directly in the Wix platform.

    Our IDE:

    • Minifies your CSS
    • Minifies your JavaScript
    • Bundles your JavaScript files
    • Transpiles your modern JavaScript code to ES2015 so it can run on legacy browsers
    • Lets you manage your databases

  • Git Integration & Wix CLI. As an alternative, you can use Git Integration & Wix CLI to write, test, and publish code.

  • Wix IDE (only supported in Wix Studio). The Wix IDE is a VS Code-based IDE that allows you to edit your site's code in your browser. The Wix IDE also provides access to the Wix AI Assistant, an intelligent coding companion that provides real-time assistance. Read more about the Wix IDE.

  • Git Integration & Wix CLI. You can connect your site to GitHub to develop in that IDE, test your code in real time, and publish your site from the command line. You can also use the Wix CLI to work with your Wix site from your computer's terminal.

  • Test sites. As you develop your site's functionality, you may want to test a version of your site on a percentage of your visitors. You can do this by creating a test site. Then you can use our logging tool to track how it's working before opening it to more site visitors.

  • Velo Packages. As you develop your site, you may want to add specific functionalities. With Velo’s code reuse feature you can easily choose a Velo Package with the functionality you want, and add it to your site(s). Built using the Velo APIs, Velo packages are created specifically for Wix websites and work seamlessly with Wix elements and apps. There are 2 types of Velo Packages:    

    • Built by Wix: With Velo Packages built by Wix, you can easily add popular functionality to your site without spending hours writing complex code.
    • Custom Apps: You can create your own Velo packages using Wix Blocks. Write some code, build it into a package, and reuse it across multiple sites.

  • Developer Tools. Velo provides developer tools to help you monitor, test, and work with the code on your Wix site:

    Logs. Wix Logs lets you gather information about Wix site activities, such as console logs, HTTP functions, and web module functions. You can examine live logs in real time, easily integrate logs with Google Cloud Logs, or connect Wix Logs to an external monitoring tool to generate metrics and perform error log analysis.

    Secrets Manager. Velo's Secrets Manager lets you securely store secrets such as API keys. The value of each secret is safely stored and encrypted in the Secrets Manager in your site's dashboard so that only you can access it. You choose a name for each secret, which is used in your site's code.

    Triggered Emails. With Triggered Emails you can send your visitors emails when they trigger specific events. You can personalize the emails by adding variables to the text and replacing them with values that you define using code. 

Wix Studio and Wix Editor Platforms

You can use Velo with either the Wix Studio or the Wix Editor platform. While most features are available in both, the new Wix Studio offers additional features, including full CSS customization capabilities, the Wix IDE, and the Wix AI Assistant.

Velo Learning Resources

In addition to all the articles in our support site, we have the following resources to help you onboard and continue learning:

Velo by Wix opens up endless possibilities for how you can customize your application. To get the most out of Velo you should familiarize yourself with all of its features. You can then decide how to "mix-and-match" the different functionalities to make them work for you.

To Enable Velo on Your Site

  • Wix Studio: In the Code panel, click Start Coding.

  • Wix Editor: In the top bar of the Wix Editor, click Dev Mode > Turn on Dev Mode.

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