FastCMS

A modern, lightweight content management system built with FastHTML and SQLite. Inspired by Wagtail, reimagined for simplicity and speed.

Built by Predictive Labs Ltd

Features

• Page Tree — Hierarchical page management with drag-and-drop reordering
• Rich Text Editing — WYSIWYG editor with image and link embedding
• StreamField-style Blocks — Composable content blocks (text, image, embed, table, code)
• Media Library — Image and document management with collections and tagging
• User Management — Role-based access control (Admin, Editor, Moderator)
• Full-Text Search — SQLite FTS5 powered search across all content
• Revision History — Full version control with diff and restore
• Draft/Publish Workflow — Draft, review, schedule, and publish content
• Snippets — Reusable content fragments manageable from the admin
• Dynamic Forms — Build forms in the admin, collect submissions, export CSV
• JSON API — Headless CMS capability with RESTful endpoints
• Multi-Site Support — Serve multiple sites from a single instance
• Live Preview — See changes before publishing
• SQLite Embedded Storage — Zero-config database, no external dependencies
• HTMX-Powered Admin — Fast, SPA-like admin experience with server-side rendering

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• pip

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/predictivelabs/FastCMS.git
cd FastCMS

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
# .venv\Scripts\activate   # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

First Run

# Initialize the database and create an admin user
python setup.py

# Start the server
python main.py

The app will be running at http://localhost:5001.

• Public site: http://localhost:5001/
• Admin panel: http://localhost:5001/admin/
• API: http://localhost:5001/api/v1/pages/

Default admin credentials (set during setup.py):

• Email: admin@example.com
• Password: admin (change immediately in production)

Configuration

Environment variables (set in .env):

# Server
HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=5001

# Database
DATABASE_PATH=data/fastcms.db

# Security
SECRET_KEY=change-me-to-a-random-string
SESSION_COOKIE=fastcms_session

# Media
MEDIA_PATH=media/
MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE_MB=10

# Site
SITE_NAME=FastCMS
DEFAULT_LOCALE=en

Project Structure

FastCMS/
├── main.py                 # Application entry point
├── setup.py                # Database init and admin user creation
├── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies
├── .env                    # Environment configuration
├── data/
│   └── fastcms.db          # SQLite database (created on first run)
├── media/                  # Uploaded images and documents
├── static/                 # CSS, JS, and static assets
│   ├── css/
│   ├── js/
│   └── img/
├── app/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── db.py               # Database models and schema
│   ├── auth.py             # Authentication and authorization
│   ├── pages.py            # Page tree and content management
│   ├── blocks.py           # StreamField block system
│   ├── media.py            # Image and document management
│   ├── search.py           # Full-text search (FTS5)
│   ├── snippets.py         # Reusable content snippets
│   ├── forms.py            # Dynamic form builder
│   ├── api.py              # JSON API endpoints
│   ├── settings.py         # Site settings management
│   ├── workflows.py        # Draft/publish/review workflow
│   └── components.py       # Shared FastHTML UI components
├── admin/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── routes.py           # Admin route definitions
│   ├── dashboard.py        # Admin dashboard
│   ├── page_editor.py      # Page create/edit views
│   ├── page_explorer.py    # Page tree browser
│   ├── media_library.py    # Image/document manager
│   ├── user_manager.py     # User administration
│   ├── snippet_editor.py   # Snippet management
│   └── components.py       # Admin UI components (sidebar, panels, choosers)
└── templates/              # Email templates and other text templates

Dependencies

Development

# Run with live reload (development mode)
python main.py --reload

# Run tests
python -m pytest tests/

# Reset database
rm data/fastcms.db && python setup.py

Deployment

FastCMS runs as a single Python process with an embedded SQLite database. No external services required.

# Production
pip install -r requirements.txt
python setup.py
python main.py

For production, set SECRET_KEY to a strong random value and configure a reverse proxy (nginx/caddy) in front of uvicorn.

Demo

Try the live demo at fastcms.predictivelabs.ai

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.