# A statically generated blog example using Next.js and ButterCMS
This example showcases Next.js's [Static Generation](https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/pages) feature using [ButterCMS](https://buttercms.com/) as the data source.
Once you have access to [the environment variables you'll need](#step-2-set-up-environment-variables), deploy the example using [Vercel](https://vercel.com?utm_source=github&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=next-example):
[![Deploy with Vercel](https://vercel.com/button)](https://vercel.com/new/git/external?repository-url=https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/cms-buttercms&project-name=cms-buttercms&repository-name=cms-buttercms&env=BUTTERCMS_API_KEY,BUTTERCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET&envDescription=Required%20to%20connect%20the%20app%20with%20ButterCMS&envLink=https://vercel.link/buttercms-env)
Execute [`create-next-app`](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/packages/create-next-app) with [npm](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/init) or [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/lang/en/docs/cli/create/) to bootstrap the example:
-`BUTTERCMS_API_KEY` should be set as the API key.
-`BUTTERCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET` can be any random string (but avoid spaces), like `MY_SECRET` - this is used for [Preview Mode](https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/preview-mode).
When you sign up to ButterCMS, it creates an example blog post automatically. You can run Next.js in development mode to view a blog containing this example post.
```bash
npm install
npm run dev
# or
yarn install
yarn dev
```
Your blog should be up and running on [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000)! If it doesn't work, post on [GitHub discussions](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/discussions).
### Step 4. Try preview mode
To try preview mode, [create a blog post](https://buttercms.com/post/):
- Set the **Title** as `Draft Post Test`.
- Fill the content and summary with dummy text.
- Set the **Featured Image** by downloading some image from [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/).
Most importantly, **do not publish** the blog post. Instead, click **Save Draft**.
Now, if you go to the post page on localhost, you won't see this post because it’s not published. However, if you use the **Preview Mode**, you'll be able to see the change ([Documentation](https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/preview-mode)).
You can deploy this app to the cloud with [Vercel](https://vercel.com?utm_source=github&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=next-example) ([Documentation](https://nextjs.org/docs/deployment)).
To deploy your local project to Vercel, push it to GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket and [import to Vercel](https://vercel.com/new?utm_source=github&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=next-example).
[![Deploy with Vercel](https://vercel.com/button)](https://vercel.com/new/git/external?repository-url=https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/cms-buttercms&project-name=cms-buttercms&repository-name=cms-buttercms&env=BUTTERCMS_API_KEY,BUTTERCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET&envDescription=Required%20to%20connect%20the%20app%20with%20ButterCMS&envLink=https://vercel.link/buttercms-env)