Is it possible to design and develop a website in Webflow and then connect a third-party headless CMS, such as Hygraph or Sanity, by using custom JavaScript code with API calls? Does Webflow support GraphQL integration for this purpose?

Yes, it is possible to use a third-party headless CMS like Hygraph or Sanity with a Webflow front-end by using custom JavaScript and API calls, but Webflow does not have native support for GraphQL. You’ll need to handle content fetching client-side or via middleware.

1. Fetching Content from a Headless CMS via JavaScript

• You can write custom JavaScript in Webflow using the Embed Code component or in the Project Settings → Custom Code section.
• Use fetch() or a client library (like Apollo Client) to call your CMS's GraphQL or REST API endpoints.
• For example, Hygraph supports GraphQL queries over HTTP, so you can POST JSON to their endpoint from within your Webflow site to retrieve data.
• Be aware that GraphQL calls from the browser may expose API keys—use public or read-only tokens, or set up a proxy server to protect sensitive credentials.

2. Limitations of Webflow's Native Support

• Webflow does not natively support external CMS integration or GraphQL—it only connects to its own CMS internally.
• You cannot use third-party CMS content inside Webflow's native CMS Collections, CMS-driven templates, or dynamic list elements.
• All third-party content has to be rendered manually using custom HTML + JavaScript.

3. How to Use Headless CMS Content in Webflow

You have two main implementation options:

• Client-side Rendering (CSR): Embed JavaScript in Webflow pages that makes API calls directly from the browser. This works for public APIs but may impact performance and SEO.
• Server-side or Middleware Rendering: Use a third-party tool (e.g., Netlify, Vercel, or a serverless function) to pre-fetch content and inject it into Webflow via custom endpoints or JavaScript.

4. Alternative: Use Webflow Only as Design Layer

• Another approach is to use Webflow for layout export (via clean HTML/CSS export) and build the actual site in a developer framework like Next.js or Gatsby that consumes the headless CMS.
• This allows full GraphQL usage and server-side rendering or static generation, but removes you from the Webflow hosting/CMS environment altogether.

Summary

You can use custom JavaScript and API calls in Webflow to load content from a third-party headless CMS like Hygraph or Sanity—even using GraphQL. However, this is not natively supported inside Webflow CMS collections or bindings, so all content must be manually rendered, and there are security and performance considerations with client-side APIs.