Scene File

A scene file is the lightweight, database-friendly way to persist a CE.SDK design. It serializes the complete structure of the current scene (pages, blocks, layout, variables, metadata) into a compact Base64-encoded string and stores asset references as URLs, not as embedded binary data.

This is the default save format for most integrations. The scene file is small enough to store inline in a database column, fast to load, and works well in environments where the platform manages the assets on a CDN or content store separately from the scene.

The scene file works whenever the asset URLs it references will remain accessible. The most common pattern: a product platform uploads user images to S3 or a CDN, generates URLs, and the scene file stores those URLs. The scene file and the assets live separately, and the references stay valid as long as the platform keeps the assets where they are.

This is also the format used to distribute CE.SDK templates. A template scene file defines the structure (placeholders, constraints, variables); the assets it references are hosted separately and do not change between users. End-user editing happens against the asset URLs the template specifies.

If asset URLs are not stable (assets may move, get deleted, or live behind auth that may expire), the alternative is the scene archive format, which bundles everything together.

The choice between the two persistence formats is a storage and deployment decision.

Scene file. Compact and URL-referenced. Appropriate for database storage and environments with reliable asset hosting. Lighter to store and transfer, but requires asset URLs to remain accessible.

Scene archive. A self-contained ZIP that bundles the scene structure and all asset data together. Appropriate when portability and offline access matter. Heavier but fully portable.

In practice, most production integrations use scene files for normal operation (compact, fast, database-friendly) and reserve archives for export to external systems, archival storage, or offline contexts.

Scene files can be loaded across every platform CE.SDK supports (web, mobile, server, desktop). All platforms share the same rendering engine, so a scene file saved on web loads and renders identically on iOS, Android, Node.js, or the CE.SDK Renderer.

See scene-archive for the bundled alternative, scene for the scene container itself, and uri-resolver for controlling how asset URLs get fetched from a scene file.