Compatibility with .NET

As a pure JavaScript/TypeScript application, CKEditor 5 will work inside any environment that supports such components. While we do not offer official integrations for any non-JavaScript frameworks, you can include a custom build of CKEditor 5 in a non-JS framework of your choice, for example, Microsoft’s .NET.

To integrate CKEditor 5 with .NET, we will create a custom CKEditor 5 build using the online builder, and then import it into the .NET project.

# Preparing a build

In this guide, we will use the online builder. It is a web interface that lets you create a custom build of CKEditor 5 and download the code as a zip package.

The online builder is a powerful tool that lets you effortlessly create a rich text editor that is custom-tailored to your needs. With the online builder, you can choose the desired editor type, and plugins, configure the toolbar, and choose the UI language for your editor.

You can learn more about creating custom CKEditor 5 builds with the online builder in our Customized installation guide.

# Setting up the project

For the purpose of this guide, we will use a basic ASP.NET Core project created with dotnet new webapp. You can refer to the ASP.NET Core documentation to learn how to set up a project in the framework.

Once the project has been prepared, create an assets/vendor directory in the existing wwwroot directory in your app. Your folder structure should resemble this one:

├── bin
├── obj
├── Pages
├── Properties
├── wwwroot
│   ├── assets
|      └── vendor
│   ├── css
│   ├── js
│   ├── lib
│   └── favicon.ico
├── appsettings.Development.json
├── appsettings.json
└── ...

# Integrating the build in your .NET project

Once you have your custom editor build ready and the .NET project has been set up, extract the .zip folder obtained from the online builder and place it in the assets/vendor directory created in the previous step. Your folder structure should now look like this:

├── bin
├── obj
├── Pages
├── Properties
├── wwwroot
│   ├── assets
|      ├── vendor
|          └── ckeditor5
│   ├── css
│   ├── js
│   ├── lib
│   └── favicon.ico
├── appsettings.Development.json
├── appsettings.json
└── ...

Then, modify the Index.cshtml file contained in the Pages directory to include the CKEditor 5 script. You can use this HTML boilerplate as a starting point:

@page
@model IndexModel
@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Home page";
}

<div class="text-center">
    <h1>Welcome to CKEditor&nbsp;5 in .NET</h1>
    <div id="editor"></div>
    <script src="assets/vendor/ckeditor5/build/ckeditor.js"></script>
    <script>
        ClassicEditor
            .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ) )
            .catch( error => {
                console.error( error );
            } );
    </script>
</div>

Finally, in the root directory of your .NET project, run dotnet watch run to see the app in action.