Welcome back to the XM Cloud Basics series!
So far, we’ve covered:

• Part 1: Introduction to Sitecore XM Cloud
• Part 2: Understanding the XM Cloud Architecture

Now, it’s time to get our hands dirty and set up your first XM Cloud project. Whether you’re a developer evaluating XM Cloud or a team lead exploring SaaS-first DXP, this guide will help you get started from scratch.

Accessing the Sitecore Cloud Portal

Sitecore XM Cloud is fully managed via the Sitecore Cloud Portal.

URL: https://portal.sitecorecloud.io

If you’re part of a licensed organization or Sitecore Partner, your Org Admin can add you to the portal. Otherwise, you’ll need to request access via Sitecore support or your sales contact.

Provisioning a New XM Cloud Project

Once you’re inside the portal:

1. Open your instance and click on “Start“ in controls section
   ( takes ~15-20 minutes )
2. In Important links section click on “Sitecore Launchpad”
3. Click Demo…/Default dropdown select “Manage environments”
4. Click “Projects” and “Create Project“
5. Choose the XM Cloud template
6. Enter project name, region, and environment details (Preview & Production)
7. Wait for the provisioning to complete (takes ~5-10 minutes)

This will spin up:

• A new content management instance
• Access to Pages for visual editing
• Edge delivery endpoints
• Deploy App for CI/CD

Setting Up Your Local Development Environment

Tools Required

• Node.js (LTS)
• .NET SDK (6.0 or later)
• Sitecore CLI (npm install -g @sitecore-cli)
• JSS CLI (npm install -g @sitecore-jss/sitecore-jss-cli)
• Visual Studio Code (recommended)

Sitecore CLI Login

To connect your local machine to your XM Cloud instance:

sitecore init

sitecore cloud login

This opens a browser window to authenticate with the Cloud Portal.

If the above command throws error stating –

Run below 2 commands:

dotnet nuget add source -n Sitecore https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-packages/api/v3/index.json

dotnet tool install Sitecore.CLI -g

Once you hit the login command, it will open the below screen in the browser

Once you click Confirm, it will ask you for your credentials and once you enter the valid credentials, you will see the success screen

Initialize a New XM Cloud Project

You can scaffold your project using the XM Cloud Foundation Template:

npx create-sitecore-jss --templates sitecore-xmcloud-foundation

This sets up:

• A JSS app (Next.js)
• Sitecore configuration
• Serialization and deployment setup

You’ll be prompted to link your environment using your Cloud Portal credentials.

Connecting to XM Cloud & Deploying

Pulling Down Content Schema

Once initialized, you can pull serialized items from the environment:

sitecore pull

This pulls templates, layouts, and renderings locally.

Deploying Your Changes

To push updates back to XM Cloud:

sitecore deploy

This includes:

• Sitecore items (YAML)
• Frontend code (via GitHub Actions or Deploy App)

Previewing Your Site

Once your deployment is successful, you’ll have access to:

• Preview URL – to test your JSS app with content
• Pages – to visually edit layouts and components
• GraphQL Playground – to test data queries via Edge

Common Issues to Watch Out For

• Authentication errors → Try sitecore cloud logout and sitecore cloud login again
• Wrong region → Make sure your project and environment regions match
• CLI version mismatch → Always update CLI to match the latest XM Cloud requirement

In the next post, we’ll take a closer look at Sitecore Pages—the modern replacement for Experience Editor and how it fits into headless content modeling.

P.S. The blog content is rephrased by AI!

Hope it helps.. Keep learning.. Keep Sitecoring.. 🙂