Iframely.com Embed.js

Embed.js script is a part of Iframely cloud service for rich media embeds and works only with Iframely-hosted iFrame helpers. The script is normally hosted on Iframely's CDN and is included when required into HTML codes that our API returns. If you wish to self-host the script rather than rely on our CDN, we make the script available here on GitHub and on NPM.

The script's main function is to adjust height of rich media with variable sizes (say, Twitter, Facebook or Iframely summary cards) and to handle other messages received from Iframely iFrames. The script also enables lazy-loading through intersection observer (including video placeholders), unfurls URLs if you use Iframely without making API requests first, and uses web component imports to speed-up bulk inserts of rich media.

Read more about the script itself at iframely.com/docs/embedjs. The description below focuses solely on self-hosting of the script.

Host embed.js on your servers

To serve embed.js script from your network, your reverse proxy needs to be configured to point embed.js file to its location on the local disc.

• dist/embed.js - not minified development version
• dist/embed.min.js - minified production version

You can either clone repo from GitHub, or pull library from NPM as @iframely/embed.js. We recommend creating a symlink to a file first for a simpler reverse proxy config.

Alternatively, you may include the contents of embed.js into your other JavaScript distributions. Include src/index.js main script or entire "@iframely/embed.js" module in your own build configuration to pull all dependencides.

Omit cloud embed.js from API responses

The HTML embed codes you get from Iframely APIs will include the cloud copy of embed.js by default (as <script src="//cdn.iframe.ly/embed.js">). You need to remove that script piece if you're going to self-host embed.js.

To do it, make your API calls with &omit_script=1 query-string.

Using embed.js without API calls

If you use embed.js script to unfurl links without requesting actual HTML codes from Iframely APIs first, it is critical that your self-hosted script initiates api_key (or key) to properly link to your Iframely account.

If you serve embed.js as a separate script, you can simply add query-string parameters to it. Say,

<script src=".../embed.js?api_key=..." async>

You may use any other supported query-string parameters. The script will find itself by name and will initiate params from the query-string. If you happen to have already other file with embed.js name, you may serve our script as with the name iframely.js - in any case we will only grab config from a file with a query-string.

On the other hand, if you mix embed.js with your other scripts, after you've added embed.js, you can configure options in the the code as:

iframely.extendOptions({api_key: '...'});

Self-hosting embed.js when you also use custom CDN

Please, don't :). Consider that the hassle of host and update embed.js youself, provided that the script is already available and up-to-date as YOUR_CDN/embed.js anyway and sourced directly from Iframely origins. However, if your security team does require no 3rd party scripts in any form, read on.

Also, if you use Iframely default CDN for iFrames, no action is required as well.

But if you use "bring your own CDN" option, and do need to self-host the script, then you also need to configure CDN's domain name. It is because embed.js script works with Iframely iFrames on your page, and it is critical that it can find such iFrames by src.

To configure your own CDN add it as ?cdn= query-string param if you source file separately, or, if you mix it with other scripts:

var iframely = window.iframely || {};
iframely.CDN = 'ABC.cloudfront.net';

Options.js

Also included into the repository is the options.js. It is an extension to embed.js script that helps render URL Options form.

Options are URL-, provider- and content- specific additional query-string parameters that you can give your users as the HTML form to fine-tune their rich media.

Read details in our docs.

After you run the build process, options.js will appear in the dist:

• dist/options.js - not minified development version
• dist/options.min.js - minified production version

To customize the script, you may consider your own HTML templates for UI elements (see /options/tempates) or simply style the default ones with CSS.

To add more languages with form label translations, see labels.LAN.example.js. Pull-request with your translations are welcome.

Working with the distribution

Build embed.js

Install required modules first:

npm install

Do a dev build + watch:

npm start

Do a production build:

npm run build

Do both dev+production builds:

npm run all

Or pull from NPM

npm install `@iframely/embed.js`

Stay up-to-date

Please monitor any new versions on NPM or follow this repo here on GitHub to see what's happening. From time-to-time, we may need a fix or new features, and then you need to npm update @iframely/embedjs or git pull. Ping us by creating issue here or at support at iframely.com if you need help.