ElmapiCMS - Self-Hosted Headless CMS with AI, Auth and Templates

ElmapiCMS 4.0 is a self-hosted headless CMS with Authentication, frontend templates, and content versioning. It is built with Laravel 13, React, TypeScript, Inertia.js, and Tailwind CSS.

Host your own CMS. Manage content, add user login, and ship frontends with ready templates. Generate, rewrite, and translate content with built-in AI. You bring your own API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google Gemini.

Use it for websites, SaaS tools, memberships, storefronts, mobile backends, and API-powered platforms. You own the source code and the infrastructure.

Live Demo

https://demo.elmapicms.com

User: admin@admin.com
Password: password

Resources

Everything you need to get started and build with ElmapiCMS.

• Documentation: https://elmapicms.com/documentation/
• Templates: https://elmapicms.com/templates/
• Authentication: https://elmapicms.com/authentication/
• Changelog: https://elmapicms.com/changelog/
• Tutorials: https://elmapicms.com/tutorials
• JavaScript SDK: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@elmapicms/js-sdk
• MCP Server: https://github.com/elmapicms/elmapicms-mcp-server

What’s New in 4.0

• Authentication for frontend — signup, sign-in, refresh, logout, optional email verification, sessions, and user API keys
• Frontend templates — production starters for Next.js, Nuxt, and Astro with importable Elmapi project packages
• Content versioning — save a draft without changing the live API; publish creates an immutable snapshot
• Laravel 13 — PHP 8.4+, updated AI stack
• Portable packages — export and import projects or collections as JSON or ZIP, including assets
• Asset upgrades — WebP optimization, resize and rotate, direct S3 uploads, video/audio preview, asset usage
• App theme system — presets, custom tokens, font, and roundness settings

Authentication (NEW in 4.0)

Add signup, sign-in, refresh, and logout for members, customers, and learners in your frontend apps.

• Email and password signup and sign-in
• Identity JWTs — tokens identify the user
• Refresh sessions without a full sign-in again
• Optional email verification
• User API keys (uak_…) with introspection
• Session limits and user suspension in project settings
• Works with the official JavaScript SDK and the Next.js, Nuxt, and Astro starters

See it in Keenfold Academy (membership) and Sable Goods (storefront accounts).

Docs: https://elmapicms.com/authentication/

Content Versioning (NEW in 4.0)

Saving is not the same as publishing. Edit a published entry without changing the live API.

• Save as draft keeps edits off the published response
• Save & Publish mints an immutable snapshot
• Preview versions, add labels, revert, or discard an unpublished draft
• Bulk publish and unpublish from the content list
• Explicit publish and unpublish API endpoints

Frontend Templates (NEW in 4.0)

Clone a production frontend and import the matching Elmapi project package. Templates cover agency sites, memberships, storefronts, SaaS marketing, restaurants, and docs.

Catalog: https://elmapicms.com/templates/

Typical flow

1. Copy the template folder you need.
2. In ElmapiCMS, create a project with Import from file and select the template zip.
3. Set your API credentials in the frontend env. Then run the app.

All templates

Meridian Studio — Next.js Creative agency and portfolio marketing site. Services, case studies, team, insights, and contact pages driven from Elmapi. Demo: https://elmapi-nextjs-meridian.elmapicms.com	Atlas Group — Next.js Multilingual company site and blog with English, German, and Spanish locales. Case studies, services, locations, FAQ, and SEO defaults from the CMS. Demo: https://elmapi-nextjs-atlas-group.elmapicms.com
Keenfold Academy — Next.js Membership learning hub with public marketing pages, guided paths, instructors, and gated lessons powered by end-user auth. Demo: https://elmapi-nextjs-keenfold.elmapicms.com	Sable Goods — Next.js Design-led home goods storefront with catalog, account checkout, and order records. Customer accounts via end-user auth. Demo: https://elmapi-nextjs-sable-goods.elmapicms.com
Ridgeform — Next.js Modern general contractor site for residential and light commercial work. Services, projects, process, team, and contact from Elmapi. Demo: https://elmapi-nextjs-ridgeform.elmapicms.com	Cove — Nuxt SaaS product marketing for an async standup and weekly-update tool. Features, pricing, blog, changelog, and contact from Elmapi. Demo: https://elmapi-nuxt-cove.elmapicms.com
Hearthfold — Astro Neighborhood bistro site with menu, gallery, visit info, journal, and reservation requests. Demo: https://elmapi-astro-hearthfold.elmapicms.com	Basic Starters — Next.js, Nuxt, and Astro Reference starters that share one Elmapi project. SDK usage, BFF writes, i18n, and end-user auth. Next.js: https://elmapi-nextjs-basic.elmapicms.com Nuxt: https://elmapi-nuxt-basic.elmapicms.com Astro: https://elmapi-astro-basic.elmapicms.com
Documentation — Next.js, Nuxt, and Astro Docs and help center with CMS-driven categories, sidebar nav, and markdown articles. Next.js: https://elmapi-nextjs-docs.elmapicms.com Nuxt: https://elmapi-nuxt-docs.elmapicms.com Astro: https://elmapi-astro-docs.elmapicms.com

Features

• AI-Powered Content Management
  • AI Chat Assistant: create projects, collections, fields, and content entries through natural conversation
  • Inline content tools: generate, rewrite, expand, summarize, fix grammar, and translate text in any field
  • One-click entry translation: translate entire entries to any locale, preserving formatting
  • Rewrite with tone: Professional, Casual, Friendly, Formal, Concise, or custom instructions
  • Rich text AI: AI actions in the floating toolbar when selecting text
  • Context-aware generation: AI considers field labels, collection name, and other field values
  • Real-time streaming: see AI output as it generates
  • Undo AI changes with one click
  • Token usage tracking per session
  • Bring your own API key: OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google Gemini
  • Configurable model, max tokens, max steps, and conversation memory
  • No AI markup or hidden fees from ElmapiCMS

• MCP Server
  • Connect Cursor, Claude Code, or any MCP-compatible AI tool directly to your CMS
  • Manage collections, content, assets, versions, locales, and webhooks through natural language
  • Built-in schema and field type docs
  • Install via npm, configure, and go

• Content Management
  • Multiple projects
  • Blank projects, import from file, or start from your own templates
  • Import projects from JSON or ZIP packages (including assets)
  • Clone projects
  • Save projects as reusable templates
  • Create collections to define content types
  • Single-entry collections for one-off pages
  • Multiple-entry collections for lists of content
  • Add custom fields to collections
  • Choose from 16 field types: text, long text, rich text, slug, e-mail, password, number, enumeration, boolean, color, date, time, media, relation, json, field group
  • Optional Markdown mode for rich text (Lexical remains the default)
  • Group fields for nested content structures
  • Duplicate content entries with one click
  • Save as draft or Save & Publish
  • Immutable publish versions with preview, revert, and discard draft
  • Bulk publish and unpublish
  • Move content to trash, restore, or permanently delete
  • View content in a data table with filtering
  • Set fields as required
  • Field validations: unique, required, charcount
  • Custom validation error messages
  • Repeatable fields for multiple values
  • Manage multilingual content with translations
  • Set default language for projects
  • Add or remove languages from projects
  • Link translations from the dashboard or the API
  • Import and export content, collections, and projects

• Asset Library
  • Upload images, videos, documents, and other files
  • View assets in grid or list view
  • View and edit detailed metadata for each asset
  • Crop, resize, and rotate images without leaving the CMS
  • Store an optimized WebP copy while keeping the original
  • Video and audio preview
  • See where each asset is used across content
  • Optional direct S3 / Spaces upload for large files
  • Get assets by name via API
  • List, upload, bulk upload, and delete assets via API

• Rich Text Editor
  • Edit formatted content with Lexical editor
  • Optional Markdown mode per field
  • Insert media directly from Asset Library
  • View source code of rich text content
  • Edit in fullscreen mode
  • Use rich formatting toolbar
• User Management
  • Create user accounts
  • Assign roles to users
  • Assign multiple roles to a single user
  • Create custom roles
  • Edit role permissions
  • Create custom permissions
  • Control access to all projects or specific projects
  • Grant project access to specific users
  • Update your own profile information
  • Change your password
  • Switch between light and dark themes
  • Sync theme with operating system
  • App theme presets, custom design tokens, font, and roundness
• API & Integration
  • Access content via REST API
  • Generate API access tokens
  • Create tokens with specific abilities (read, create, update, delete, admin)
  • Make API public for unauthenticated GET requests
  • Keep API private requiring authentication
  • Filter content via API with advanced operators
  • Sort, paginate, and filter content via API
  • Exclude specific fields from API responses
  • Get total count of entries via API
  • Filter by related collection fields
  • Use AND, OR, NOT logics in filters
  • Filter by equals, not equals, greater than, less than
  • Filter by like, in, not in, between, not between
  • Filter by null or not null values
  • Get single entry by UUID
  • Get single entry by slug
  • List all entries in a collection
  • Create, update, and delete entries via API
  • Publish, unpublish, and discard draft via API
  • Bulk create, update, and delete entries via API
  • Get translations via API
  • Link translations via API
  • Use official JavaScript SDK 1.0
  • Configurable API rate limit (300 per minute by default)
• Webhooks
  • Create webhooks to notify external services
  • Trigger webhooks on content creation, updates, deletions, publications, unpublications, trashing, restorations
  • Webhook REST API to manage webhooks with an admin token
  • Sign webhook payloads with a secret
  • HTTPS-only delivery by default, with retries
  • View webhook delivery logs
  • Select all collections when creating or editing webhooks
• Project & Collection Templates
  • Save collection structures as templates
  • Include demo data with templates
  • Create templates manually via JSON files
  • Use project templates when creating new projects
  • Use collection templates when creating collections
  • Import frontend template packages as project zips
• Storage
  • Store files locally
  • Store files on AWS S3
  • Store files on S3-compatible services
  • Choose storage disk per project
  • Optional direct upload to S3 / Spaces for large files

Who It’s For?

• Laravel developers
• Indie makers
• Freelancers and small agencies
• SaaS builders
• Teams building memberships, accounts, or gated apps
• Content teams managing multilingual sites
• Anyone who wants a modern, self-hosted CMS they can own and customize

Server Requirements

ElmapiCMS 4.0 runs on Laravel 13.

• PHP >= 8.4
• Ctype PHP Extension
• cURL PHP Extension
• DOM PHP Extension
• Fileinfo PHP Extension
• Filter PHP Extension
• Hash PHP Extension
• Mbstring PHP Extension
• OpenSSL PHP Extension
• PCRE PHP Extension
• PDO PHP Extension
• Session PHP Extension
• Tokenizer PHP Extension
• XML PHP Extension

Database Support

• MySQL >= 8.0
• MariaDB >= 10.5
• PostgreSQL >= 12.0

Web Server

• Nginx or Apache (configured to serve the public/ directory)
• A queue worker in production (for webhooks, and for finishing direct uploads when that feature is on)

For Development / Building Assets

• Composer >= 2.x
• Node.js >= 18.x
• npm >= 9.x (or pnpm/Yarn)

UPDATES Version 4.0.0 - 8 August 2026 Content versioning - NEW: Immutable publish versions — every publish mints a snapshot; state=published API reads return snapshot data instead of live draft fields - NEW: Revert, discard unpublished draft, version labels, and configurable retention (CONTENT_VERSIONS_PER_ENTRY) - NEW: Snapshot-aware export/import - NEW: Save as draft on published entries — keeps editing without changing the live API - NEW: Save & Publish mints the next version (including singletons) - NEW: Version preview and version history UI on content edit (including singletons) - NEW: Explicit publish/unpublish API — POST /api/{collection}/{uuid}/publish and .../unpublish Asset library - NEW: Portable project and collection packages — export versioned JSON or ZIP with referenced assets or the entire Asset Library; import restores media relationships - NEW: Import individual collections into existing projects - NEW: Direct S3/Spaces uploads for large files — optional presigned and multipart upload (ASSET_DIRECT_UPLOAD=true when the project disk is s3) - NEW: Image optimization — store an optimized WebP copy while keeping the original - NEW: Image resize and rotate tools in the asset editor - NEW: Video and audio preview in asset details - NEW: Asset usage — see where each asset is used across content - NEW: Video previews in the asset library grid and table - NEW: Arrow navigation between assets in the details modal - NEW: Media field selection preserves order and pins selected assets in the picker Authentication - NEW: End-user authentication APIs — signup, sign-in, refresh, sessions, and settings UI for headless apps - NEW: Identity-only JWTs — Authentication tokens identify the user; CMS API access stays on Sanctum project tokens - NEW: End-user API keys (uak_…) with introspection - NEW: Optional email verification for Authentication users - NEW: Suspend users, session caps, and dedicated Authentication settings pages - NEW: access_auth_settings permission for Authentication settings access Frontend templates - NEW: Frontend templates for Next.js, Nuxt, and Astro with importable Elmapi project packages - NEW: Meridian Studio, Atlas Group, Keenfold Academy, Sable Goods, Ridgeform, Cove, Hearthfold, Basic Starters, and Documentation Content & localization - NEW: Bulk publish / unpublish on the content list - NEW: Link translation API — join entries into a translation group from the API - NEW: Export/import keeps translation links - NEW: Singleton locale auto-link — new locale entries share one translation group - NEW: Project locales admin API — create, delete, and set the default locale via API - NEW: Optional Markdown richtext — Lexical remains default; fields can use markdown mode - NEW: Relation fields by collection slug — create/update by slug; renaming a slug remaps relations - NEW: Cyclic relation nests — self/mutual relation links return a stub instead of overflowing the JSON stack - NEW: Relative content timestamps with full-date tooltips - NEW: Unsaved-changes guard on the content form API & webhooks - NEW: Bulk content and asset API endpoints for atomic multi-create / metadata updates - NEW: Webhook REST API to manage webhooks with an admin token - NEW: Hardened outbound webhook delivery (HTTPS-only by default, retries, signed payloads) - NEW: Webhooks for AI content ops and translation link/unlink - NEW: Configurable API rate limit — API_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE in .env (default 300) - NEW: Select all collections when creating or editing webhooks App settings & UI - NEW: App theme system — presets and custom design tokens - NEW: App font setting - NEW: Theme roundness setting - NEW: Sticky project settings sidebar; webhook sheet, events modal, and logs UX - NEW: Simplified project detail page and MCP setup snippets - NEW: AI chat interleaves streamed text and tool steps, and restores ordered parts from conversation history - NEW: Project preview URL — optional clickable frontend URL on project settings, dashboard, and project detail - NEW: Dashboard view mode and sort order persist across visits Platform - NEW: Laravel 13 and updated AI stack (laravel/ai, no Prism) - NEW: MCP setup section on the project detail page Changed - CHANGED: Content entry status renamed to state (draft | published) in the API and dashboard - CHANGED: GET /api requires the read ability - CHANGED: New image uploads are stored as WebP (original retained when available) Fixed - FIXED: Asset library mobile layout — toolbar and pagination wrap; collections sidebar and AI chat open as sheets below lg - FIXED: Asset crop area and aspect ratio controls - FIXED: Asset library upload and streaming reliability - FIXED: asset_metadata unique index migration for MySQL foreign keys - FIXED: API unique validation ignores the current entry by UUID - FIXED: SVG uploads rejected via allowlist (existing SVGs unchanged) Version 3.3.0 - 12 February 2026 - NEW: AI Chat Assistant - create projects, collections, fields, and content through conversation - NEW: Inline AI content tools - generate, rewrite, expand, summarize, fix grammar in any text field - NEW: AI entry translation - translate entire entries to any locale with one click - NEW: Rich text AI tools - AI actions in the floating toolbar when selecting text - NEW: AI field context - generation considers field labels, collection name, and other field values - NEW: Token usage tracking per session - NEW: AI settings page - configure provider, model, max tokens, max steps, conversation memory - NEW: Create blank translation entries for any locale - NEW: Improved dashboard design and other UI changes. - NEW: API admin endpoints to manage collection and fields schema. - NEW: MCP Server. Version 3.2.0 - 23 November 2025 - Added translations. - Added import/export. - Added new field type: field group. - Added a new frontend template: Landing Page. - Added examples - Added tutorials - New Javascript SDK - Added locale field and filter by locale to the content list. - Added drag and drop sorting for selected relations. - Added seeders for examples. - Fixed content list media load issue. - Fixed login page app name from settings issue. - Fixed editor source code removing tags issue. - Removed backend html conversion. Rich text is saved in both format. - Fixed asset library server error when aws s3 is not configured. - Fixed underscore to dash conversion for slug field. - Fixed API query sorting issue when combined with paginate. Version 3.1.0 - 23 September 2025 - Replaced TinyMCE with the new Lexical Editor. - Added OpenAPI annotations and swagger docs. - Added force param to API when deleting entries. - Added first param to API when querying entries. - Added app settings page for updating app name, logo, and favicon. - Fixed preventing updating or deleting system permissions. - Fixed count with limit and offset. - Fixed API relation null not_null issue. Version 3.0.0 - 12 July 2025 Rebuilt from scratch using Laravel 12, React, TypeScript, Shadcn UI, and Inertia.js Brand new user interface with modern design Fully responsive layout for desktop, tablet, and mobile Added full Dark Mode support New user, role, and permission management system New asset library with: - Advanced uploader (drag & drop) - Filter by type, date, and sort options - Grid and list views - Image crop tool - More file info and metadata display New data tables with advanced filtering and bulk actions Project templates – create projects from predefined or custom templates Project cloning – duplicate entire projects instantly Collection templates – create and save reusable collection blueprints Added support for single entry collections (ideal for About, Terms, etc.) Duplicate entries with one click New integrated editor: TinyMCE with: - Source code mode - Fullscreen editing - Insert image from URL or asset library Rewritten content API – now faster and supports advanced filtering Completely updated documentation – better organized and easier to follow v2.0.0 - 29 January 2023 - Upgraded to Laravel 9. - Added: Webhooks. - Added: Embeddable Forms. - Added: Repeatable fields. - Added: Option for enabling public API access (unauthenticated get requests). - Added: Timepicker option for the date field type. - Added: New field type: Color picker. - Added: Allow multiple option to the enumeration field type. - Fixed: refreshing the page issue when saving project settings. - Fixed: the thumbnail issue while uploading files. - Fixed: change password issue. - Fixed: unnecessary query in the content resource for collections. - Fixed: small UI issues. v1.1.2 - 18 March 2022 - Added: API endpoints for managing Media Library - Added: uploading files via API - Added: AWS S3 Upload feature. - Added: whereRelation filter option. - Added: Include timestamps option to API requests. - Added: API error message when the field doesn't exist using where clause. - Added: API error message when using offset without limit - Fixed Trying to get property 'id' of non-object error - Fixed: Disabled thumb field for non-image files in API responses. v1.0.0 - 23 Nov 2021 Initial release