Pipeline Editor

The Pipeline Editor opens SFCC pipeline XML as an interactive graph. Edit start nodes, pipelets, decisions and transitions visually, follow the scripts and templates they use, open a route in the browser and set breakpoints on nodes. The XML stays the file you commit, upload and deploy, and the graph writes every change back to it

Select a nodeScript inputs and outputsEdit and save

STstorefrontSandbox 01version2

Cart.xml

SavedSearch nodes or breakpoints

Pipeline changes are written to XML

Minimap

Properties

Configuration

OnErrorPIPELET_ERROR

Script Filecart/AddProduct.dsGo ToBrowse

Timeout 

Transactionaltrue

Dictionary Input

BasketBasket

ProductIDCurrentHttpParameterMap.pid.stringValue

Dictionary Output

ProductLineItemdw.order.ProductLineItem

Cart Pipeline EditorText

storefrontapp_customcartridgepipelinesCart.xmlRefArch (3)LFUTF-8

Open a pipeline

Open any XML file in a pipelines folder, for example app_custom/cartridge/pipelines/Cart.xml. The graph opens in a tab named "Cart Pipeline Editor", placed before the XML source tab

To switch views, right-click the file in the Project view, the editor or the editor tab and choose Show Pipeline Source or Show Pipeline Editor

Create a pipeline

Right-click a cartridge folder and choose New › Pipeline . The New Pipeline dialog shows the target folder. Enter a name and the plugin creates <cartridge>/cartridge/pipelines/<name>.xml with a starter pipeline and opens it in the graph

Edit the graph

Drag nodes to arrange them and drag between connectors to add a transition. Copy and paste nodes, move the selection with the arrow keys and use the minimap to find your way around a large pipeline

Saving

The editor writes graph changes to the XML document on its own, shortly after each change. The status in the toolbar tells you where it is

The IDE then saves the file like any other document, and with Auto Upload on, the saved pipeline is uploaded. Review the XML in Show Pipeline Source or in your Git diff before you commit

Follow scripts, templates and routes

Resource fields in the Details panel have Browse to pick an indexed script, template or pipeline, and Go To to open it. Double-click a node to open the resource behind it

For a script node, the dictionary inputs and outputs come from the @input and @output annotations of the linked script

/**
 * @input ProductID : String
 * @output Product : dw.catalog.Product
 */
function execute(args) {
    // read args.ProductID and set args.Product
}

Select a start node to get three extra buttons around it:

• The top one opens the route on the storefront, for example https://<host>/on/demandware.store/Sites-RefArch-Site/default/Cart-Show
• The middle one copies that URL and shows it in an "Endpoint URL copied" message
• The bottom one opens References with the scripts, templates and XML that call the route. Click one to open it

The endpoint uses the host of the active connection and the selected site scope. With Global scope selected the editor asks you to "Select a site scope before opening a storefront route."

Breakpoints

Select a node and click Breakpoint to set a breakpoint, click it again to remove it. Skip breakpoint disables the selected breakpoint without removing it, and Breakpoints lists every node that has one. You can also click the gutter of the XML source on a line that belongs to a node

Pipeline breakpoints show up as SFCC Pipeline in the IDE breakpoints dialog. They live in the IDE, not in the XML, so they never reach the instance. To pause on them, start a debug session, see Pipeline debugging

Performance

The graph runs in the IDE's embedded browser, JCEF. The plugin asks for a windowed browser, which scrolls and zooms smoothly. On some IDE builds, out-of-process JCEF forces off-screen rendering instead, and scrolling, trackpad gestures and pinch zoom can feel delayed. If the editor already feels smooth, skip this section

When the plugin detects off-screen rendering it shows a Make Pipeline Editor Smoother balloon with Apply for Next Restart, Open VM Options and Read Docs, a panel above the graph with a Do not show again link, and a Pipeline editor performance button in the toolbar. Do not show again hides only the panel

Apply the setting

-Djcef.remote.enabled=false

If Apply for Next Restart is missing, the registry key is already off or the VM options force remote JCEF on. Use the VM option. If the plugin can't open the VM options file, it shows Improve Pipeline Editor Smoothness with Copy VM Option and Copy Manual Steps

Edit only the custom copy. The .vmoptions file inside the IDE installation is replaced by updates, and editing a macOS app bundle can break its signature

Check the result

After the restart, open the same pipeline and repeat the same scroll and zoom. To confirm the mode, open Help › Show Log in Finder (or Explorer) and look for the latest Pipeline editor JCEF rendering mode: line in idea.log. windowed means the fix worked, osr means the editor still renders off-screen

Undo the change

1. Remove the -Djcef.remote.enabled=false line from the custom VM options, or restore its old value
2. If you used Apply for Next Restart, open Find Action (Cmd+Shift+A or Ctrl+Shift+A), search for Registry and reset ide.browser.jcef.out-of-process.enabled
3. Restart the IDE

Troubleshooting

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