Skip to content

Content-Type Builder production notice tells users to run strapi develop on their server, contradicting the docs #27286

Description

@wtw

Node Version

v22.18.0

Package Manager

npm

Package Manager Version

10.9.3

Strapi Version

5.51.2

Operating System

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

Database

MariaDB

Javascript or Typescript

Javascript

Reproduction URL

No response

Bug Description

This is just about the clarity and helpfulness of the message, not about the dev/prod workflow itself.

The Content-Type Builder is read-only on production. When it is opened, this is a guidance notice shown to every user:

Strapi is in production mode, editing content types is disabled. Please switch to development mode by starting your server with strapi develop.

Message key (including typo): notification.info.autoreaload-disable

Although the word „develop“ should have been a warning sign, when I started using Strapi, I immediately jumped to the console and did just what the message said: started it in development mode and left it running in development mode. This now came back to me in form of an empty database (I do have backups), when I started an old prod build on the server that did not know about my custom content-types, removed the tables and recreated them after a re-build.

The strapi develop CLI docs is pretty clear on this:

You should never use this command to run a Strapi application in production.

I think the message can and should be more helpful in regards to pointing to the intended workflow. See „Expected Behavior“ for a draft.

Related issues, but distinct: #19039, #8109, #4798.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Run with NODE_ENV=production and strapi start
  2. Open the Content-Type Builder

Expected Behavior

The message could say:

Editing content types is disabled in production, Content-Type Builder is read-only. Make schema changes locally with strapi develop, then commit and deploy them. Learn more about the intended workflow.

Logs

Code Snippets

No response

Media

No response

Additional information

No response

Confirmation Checklist

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    issue: bugIssue reporting a bugseverity: lowIf the issue only affects a very niche base of users and an easily implemented workaround can solvesource: core:content-type-builderSource is core/content-type-builder packageversion: 5Issue is present in Strapi 5

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions