Edit your EventCatalog without opening Markdown

EventCatalog Editor is now available in beta. It gives your team a local visual editor for maintaining the same EventCatalog files you already keep in Git. You can edit resources, preview changes, review diffs, and publish local commits without opening Markdown for every update.

That matters because catalog maintenance is not only an engineering task. Architects, developers, analysts, and product owners often know what needs to change, but the source files, frontmatter, schemas, and Git workflow can slow them down.

EventCatalog Editor runs locally on top of your catalog files.

The problem

EventCatalog is built around docs-as-code, which is still the right foundation for architecture documentation. Your catalog belongs in files, it should live with your existing review process, and it should be versioned like the rest of your technical knowledge.

Those files can be changed by humans and AI. Coding agents can keep manipulating your catalog directly through Markdown, MDX, frontmatter, and APIs when that is the right workflow.

The editor is focused on the human side. It helps people maintain the catalog without needing to understand every file shape, frontmatter field, or EventCatalog API before they can make a useful change.

The hard part is keeping that model approachable as more people contribute. Editing services, domains, events, commands, queries, schemas, specifications, and flows often means jumping between Markdown, MDX, frontmatter, folders, and Git diffs.

That is fine for engineers who live in the repo every day. It is less fine for the architect who wants to update ownership, the analyst who understands a business process, or the product owner who can clarify what an event means.

What is new

EventCatalog Editor is a local visual editor for maintaining an EventCatalog. It opens your catalog from disk, lets you edit resources through a richer interface, and writes changes back to the same local files.

The editor does not replace Markdown, MDX, Git, pull requests, or your deployment process. It gives contributors a clearer way to make changes before those changes go through the workflow your team already trusts.

When to use it

Use the editor when someone needs to make a catalog change but does not want to work directly in source files. That might be updating service documentation, improving an event description, adding a schema, editing a flow, or reviewing a local diff before publishing the work.

It is also useful when your catalog is becoming a shared team asset. The more people who can safely contribute, the less likely the catalog is to drift away from reality.

How it works

Start your EventCatalog project locally, then start the editor against the same directory:

npm run dev

npx @eventcatalog/editor

By default, EventCatalog runs on localhost:3000 and the editor runs on localhost:3900. The editor detects your local catalog, shows the resources it can edit, and writes changes back to the matching files in your project.

From there, the workflow is intentionally small:

1. Open a local catalog.
2. Edit a resource.
3. Preview the resource in your running EventCatalog site.
4. Review the local Git diff.
5. Click Publish to commit the change locally.

Preview changes in your running local EventCatalog before publishing them.

Review before you publish

The editor includes a changes view so you can inspect what changed before you commit. It groups local Git changes by catalog resource and lets you open the diff before you publish.

In the beta, Publish commits your changes locally. It does not deploy your catalog or open a pull request, so your existing review and release process stays in place.

Review the local Git diff before publishing a commit.

Visual editing for flows

One of the areas I am most excited about is the Flow Editor. Flows are easier to understand when you can see the process, not only read the YAML.

The Flow Editor lets you create and update flows visually, pick catalog resources as nodes, and keep the generated flow files in your catalog. This is useful for business processes, user journeys, and architecture workflows where the shape matters as much as the text.

Create and update EventCatalog flows visually.

Slash commands and source mode

The editor also supports slash commands for adding EventCatalog content blocks. Type / in an empty paragraph to insert diagrams, callouts, steps, tiles, prompts, and resource-aware blocks with visual feedback.

When you need more control, switch to source mode. You still have access to the underlying Markdown, MDX, and frontmatter whenever the visual editor is not the right tool for the change.

Use slash commands to insert EventCatalog components without remembering the syntax.

Beta access and seats

EventCatalog Editor is part of EventCatalog Cloud. Community includes 1 editor seat, Starter includes 3 editor seats, Scale includes 10 editor seats, and Enterprise includes unlimited editor seats.

Organization admins can invite team members in EventCatalog Cloud and assign editor access. Those editors can then run EventCatalog locally, start the editor locally, and work against the catalog files on their machine.

Because this is beta software, expect some workflows and features to change. We are shipping it now because the best feedback will come from teams using it on real catalogs.

Getting started

You need Node.js 22 or later, Git installed, an EventCatalog project on your machine, and editor access through EventCatalog Cloud.

Start with the Editor overview, then follow the first edit tutorial. If you need to add teammates, use the guide to invite editors.

Summary

EventCatalog Editor gives your team a local visual workflow for maintaining catalog content while keeping files, Git, and your existing release process in place. It helps more people contribute without asking every change to start in Markdown.

Read the run locally guide to try it. Questions and feedback are welcome on Discord, and issues or contributions are welcome on GitHub or the editor repository.