What Are LWR Sites for Experience Cloud?

Powered by the Lightning Web Runtime (LWR), LWR sites deliver unparalleled site performance and improve developer productivity. The Build Your Own (LWR) and the Microsite (LWR) templates for Experience Cloud let you develop blazing fast digital experiences, such as websites, portals, and microsites, using the Lightning Web Components programming model.

Lightning Web Components uses core Web Components standards and provides only what’s necessary to perform well in browsers supported by Salesforce. Because it’s built on code that runs natively in browsers, Lightning Web Components is lightweight, efficient, and easy to learn.

Lightning Web Components also includes Apex and User Interface API support, so you can access Salesforce records, SOSL, and more to provide data-rich experiences for your customers. And performance features of LWR templates, such as publish-time freezing and HTTP caching, help you build richer experiences to target B2B and B2C markets.

At a high level, LWR templates:

Provide custom URL paths, meaning no more /s cluttering up your site’s URL—for example, https://mycustomdomain.com/mypage.
Enhance developer productivity. Use Salesforce DX and your preferred editor or development tools to create custom components and themes. Build what you want, your way.
Support the development of reusable Lightning web components and themes that follow modern web standards. Most of the code you write is standard JavaScript and HTML, making the model easy to learn.

Example

Let’s say you specialize in building highly customized solutions with your own design system and component library. With the Build Your Own (LWR) template, you can now remove Salesforce Lightning Design System (SLDS) and include your own components and design system to achieve the pixel-perfect site you require.

Alternatively, let’s say your company is hosting an event, and you need a place to keep all your event information that doesn’t necessarily live with your other content. Enter microsites. Publish your page with all the event information, pull in logos and other content that you created in CMS, and archive the page when the event is over.

Enhanced LWR Sites

The enhanced sites and content platform is a flexible new system that brings together Salesforce CMS and LWR sites. From Winter ’23, this platform is automatically enabled, so all new LWR sites that you create are hosted on the platform. Similarly, any enhanced CMS workspaces that you create also run on the redesigned system.

To clarify which features apply where, we use the terms enhanced LWR sites and enhanced CMS workspaces to refer to LWR sites and CMS workspaces on the new platform.

Tip

The new platform offers a range of additional features that are available only to enhanced LWR sites and enhanced CMS workspaces. For example, enhanced LWR sites can employ partial deployment so you can choose which site elements are ready to go live. Expression-based visibility controls when and to whom components in your enhanced LWR sites appear. With site content search, your users can find content contained in Rich Content Editor and HTML Editor components. And because everything runs together on our consolidated platform, site search results can include content that you share from an enhanced CMS workspace.

See What Is the Enhanced Sites and Content Platform in Salesforce Help.