Drupal's Experience Builder (XB) — previously known as Starshot — is now in active development and expected in Drupal 11.x. Here is what we know from the alpha releases.
What it does
XB replaces the current block-based page builder with a visual, component-driven editor that feels closer to Webflow or Framer than to Drupal as it has historically existed. Components are defined in code (Twig + Schema.org JSON) and edited visually with real-time preview.
Implications for custom themes
XB components are self-contained and portable — closer to Web Components than to Drupal blocks. This means custom theme code needs to be structured differently to participate in XB. We are already building client projects with XB compatibility in mind.
When to adopt
XB is not production-ready yet. For new projects starting now, we recommend building with Layout Builder and planning for an XB migration path. For existing sites, wait for XB stable (expected Q1 2026) before considering migration.
