Sidcraft document format

Every page you build is saved as one JSON document, not as shortcodes. This page describes that format field by field, publishes it as a JSON Schema, and explains what stays in WordPress if Sidcraft is ever switched off.

Updated October 5, 2026. Covers Sidcraft 0.15.0 and later, document format version 2.8.

The JSON Schema

The format is published as a JSON Schema (draft 2020-12). Use it to validate documents, generate types, or write an importer or exporter.

Where	What you get
`schema/sidcraft-document-2.8.schema.json`	The schema for the free plugin's 62 units, format 2.8.
`GET /wp-json/sidcraft-page-builder/v1/schema`	The schema for your own site, generated from the units installed there, so Sidcraft Pro and other add-on units are included. Public, cached for an hour.
`wp sidcraft-page-builder schema`	The same, printed by WP-CLI.

Each unit type has its own settings definition in $defs, named settings_<type>, for example settings_heading. Settings every unit shares (spacing, background, border, position, motion, visibility) are described once in $defs/shared_settings. Fields starting with x- are Sidcraft notes: x-control is the editor control type, x-options the choices of a select, x-units the CSS units a slider accepts.

Where a page is stored

Post meta key	Holds
`_sidsyn_document_data`	The document, as JSON. This is the source of truth.
`_sidsyn_template_data`	The same format, for saved templates.
`_sidsyn_document_hash`	Hash of the document's normalized form. A save with an identical layout is detected with it and writes nothing.
`_sidsyn_document_version`, `_sidsyn_document_updated`	Plugin version and time of the last save.
`_sidsyn_css_cache`	Compiled CSS for the page. Rebuilt from the document when missing.
`_sidsyn_autosave_data`	An unsaved editor draft, deleted on save.
`_sidsyn_original_content`	The post content the page had before Sidcraft first wrote its readable copy (see below). Kept once.

Revisions are ordinary WordPress revisions. Each one carries a copy of the document meta, so restoring a revision restores the layout.

If Sidcraft is switched off

Every save that changes the layout also writes a clean copy of the page into the normal WordPress post content, as core blocks: headings, paragraphs, lists and separators become real Heading, Paragraph, List and Separator blocks; images, tables, quotes and figures become Custom HTML blocks. Builder classes, inline styles, scripts and forms are left out.

While Sidcraft is active, visitors always see the full layout. The copy is never shown.
With Sidcraft off, the page shows the copy and opens in the block editor as editable content. Nothing is lost.
Search, feeds, excerpts, the REST API and SEO plugins read real content instead of an empty page.
The copy is only rewritten when the layout changes, so normal saves and page views make no extra database writes.

Turn this off under Settings → Advanced → Readable fallback content. To fill in pages built before 0.15.0, run wp sidcraft-page-builder fallback. To put back the content pages had before their first copy, run wp sidcraft-page-builder fallback --restore.

Content that only exists while the builder runs is not in the copy: forms, sliders that load slides with JavaScript, maps, video players, and query loops show the posts they listed at the time of the save.

The document

{
  "version": "2.8",
  "settings": { "template": "default", "page_width": "1140px" },
  "root":   [ /* nodes, top to bottom */ ],
  "header": [ /* optional page header */ ],
  "footer": [ /* optional page footer */ ]
}

Field	Type	Meaning
`version`	string	Format version. Older documents are upgraded when read; a save always writes the current version.
`root`	array of nodes	The page body.
`header`, `footer`	array of nodes	A header and footer for this page only. Ignored while the theme provides its own header and footer.
`settings.template`	string	`default`, `full_width` or `canvas` (no theme header and footer).
`settings.title`, `settings.body_class`, `settings.page_width`	string	Page title override, extra body class, content width as a CSS length.

PHP stores an empty object as [], so "settings": [] means no settings.

A node

{
  "id": "hero_title",
  "type": "heading",
  "settings": { "text": "Welcome", "tag": "h1", "size": { "desktop": "48px", "mobile": "32px" } },
  "styles": { "base": {}, "hover": {} },
  "interactions": [],
  "editor_settings": { "label": "Main title", "locked": true },
  "children": []
}

Field	Type	Meaning
`id`	string	Stable and unique in the document: letters, digits, `_` and `-`, up to 40 characters. Generated when missing. Used in CSS as `#lb-node-{id}` and for anchors, so keep it when you edit a document.
`type`	string	A registered unit type such as `container`, `heading` or `image`. Nodes of unknown types are dropped on save.
`settings`	object	Values for the unit's controls. Unknown keys are dropped on save; missing keys use the unit's defaults. See `$defs/settings_<type>`.
`settings._dynamic`	object	Dynamic tag bindings, keyed by setting name, resolved when the page renders.
`children`	array of nodes	Only for units that hold other units (container, grid, inner section, nested tabs…).
`slot`	string	For children of Nested Tabs, Nested Accordion and Nested Toggle: the `_id` of the tab or item the child belongs to.
`atomic`	boolean	XEditor element: prints a single HTML element styled by its classes.
`styles`	object	XEditor style layer, CSS property → value, per state: `base`, `hover`, `focus`, `active`, `focus_visible`.
`interactions`	array	Motion effects: kind, trigger, effect, duration and delay in seconds (0–30), easing, iteration (1–20), repeat, threshold (0–1).
`editor_settings`	object	Editor-only state that never changes what visitors see: `label` (name in the Navigator), `hidden` (hidden on the editor canvas), `locked` (cannot be moved, edited or deleted until unlocked).
`exposed`	array of strings	On component instances: the settings that may be overridden.

Setting values

Control	Stored as
Text, textarea, code, icon	String.
Rich text (wysiwyg)	HTML string, limited to what WordPress allows in posts.
Number	Number, or `""` when empty. Clamped to the control's range.
Slider	A number (in the control's default unit), a string with a unit such as `"24px"` or `"50%"`, `"auto"`, or `{"size": 24, "unit": "px"}`.
Switch	Boolean.
Select, choose	String, one of the listed options.
Color	Hex, `rgb()`/`hsl()`, or a global color such as `var(--lb-color-primary)`.
URL	String. `javascript:`, `vbscript:` and `data:` links are removed.
Media	Attachment ID (integer).
Gallery	Comma-separated attachment IDs.
Repeater (tabs, list items, slides)	Array of row objects. Each row has a stable `_id` plus its fields.
Group controls (typography, border, box shadow…)	An object with that group's fields.

Responsive values. A responsive setting holds either one value for all screens or an object keyed by breakpoint: widescreen, desktop, laptop, tablet_extra, tablet, mobile_extra, mobile. A breakpoint without its own value inherits one, the same way it does in the editor's device preview.

Reading and writing documents

Request	Does
`GET /wp-json/sidcraft-page-builder/v1/document/{id}`	The document of post {id}. Needs permission to edit that post.
`POST /wp-json/sidcraft-page-builder/v1/document/{id}`	Save a document (JSON body). It is checked and normalized exactly like an editor save, then returned.
`GET …/document/{id}/export`, `POST …/document/{id}/import`	Export and import one page.
`GET …/document/{id}/revisions`	Saved revisions, which can be previewed and restored.

Always write through the API (or SidcraftPageBuilder\Document\DocumentManager::save() in PHP), not straight into post meta: saving normalizes values, records a revision, refreshes the CSS and the readable copy, and skips all of it when nothing changed.

Converting from Elementor

The converter reads Elementor's own stored JSON and produces a document in this format. It never changes or deletes the Elementor data. Under Sidcraft → Tools, choose Convert for review: each converted page waits in Sidcraft → Review Conversions next to the current page, side by side, with a content check (any text from the old page that is missing on the new one), the widgets that could not be converted, and the dynamic data that needs re-linking. Nothing changes until you click Accept, and an accepted page can be reverted to its Elementor layout from the same screen.

Large sites convert in small batches. Progress is saved after every page, so a closed browser or a timeout never loses work; click Resume, or run wp sidcraft-page-builder convert-batch --resume. A page that fails is left untouched and listed with the exact element where it stopped, for example section#4f2a > column#9c1d > slides#77ab.

Format versions

A newer plugin reads every older version and upgrades it in memory; the upgraded form is written the next time the page is saved. The current version is in the document's version field and in the schema's x-version. Keys a version does not know are dropped on save, so validate against the schema for the version you target.