Features
Everything RenewCMS includes for publishing, media management, AI access and self-hosting. Browse by category, then follow the documentation for setup and details.
Install RenewCMSCurrently in beta. Features and APIs may change between releases; check the documentation for your installed version.
Writing and publishing
- Article editor
- Write and format articles in a rich text workspace, with covers and excerpts.
- Drafts and publication
- Prepare drafts, publish articles and take them offline. Publishing has its own permission.
- Author credits
- Credit authors using profiles kept separate from login accounts.
- Multiple sites
- Manage sites in one instance, each with its own base URL, SEO defaults and sitemap.
- English and French interface
- Switch the admin workspace between English and French, in light or dark theme.
Media library and cleanup
- Shared image library
- Upload and reuse images across articles, custom entries, author profiles and site settings.
- Where an image is used
- Open an image’s usage list to see the content and fields that reference it.
- Unused-image filter
- Find images with no tracked references in the CMS before deciding what to remove.
- Duplicate detection
- Identify identical uploaded images and review duplicate groups across the library.
- Manual duplicate merging
- Keep one copy and repoint tracked CMS references when merging duplicate images.
- Library-wide duplicate cleanup
- Preview and merge eligible duplicate groups in one action. Groups with no copy in use are left alone.
- Scheduled duplicate merging
- Enable background merging every 1–365 days and see the last and next runs. Off by default; this does not delete all unused images.
- Named image variants
- Define image sizes and transformations. Raster variants are generated on demand and cached; originals are preserved. SVGs and animated GIFs are served unchanged.
- Variant cache management
- Inspect cache usage and purge cached variants from the workspace.
Structured content
- Custom content types
- Define types for projects, events, directories or other structured content. Each type supports 1–50 fields.
- Eight field types
- Text, Markdown rich text, number, boolean, date, choice, media and relation.
- Generated entry forms
- Arrange fields in the schema builder; editors get a form based on that schema.
- Field validation
- Configure required fields and type-specific validation, such as bounds and allowed choices.
- Relations between entries
- Connect entries with one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many relations.
- Schema-change checks
- Check proposed schema changes against existing entries before applying them.
SEO and content delivery
- Search and social previews
- Review search snippets and social cards alongside your article.
- SEO suggestions
- Check article SEO and review suggestions without blocking publication.
- Resolved metadata
- Retrieve canonical URLs, Open Graph, Twitter cards and Article JSON-LD with site defaults applied. Your frontend renders the tags.
- Site sitemaps
- Retrieve a sitemap for each site through the API.
- Three article formats
- Read article bodies as Markdown, stored HTML or structured JSON blocks.
- Public article reads
- Read published articles without an API key. Drafts follow the caller’s permissions; custom entries require authentication.
Team and permissions
- Invitations and roles
- Invite teammates and use the built-in Owner, Admin and Writer roles, or create your own.
- Ownership scopes
- Set None, Own or All access for supported content operations.
- Permissions per content type
- Grant access by custom type and keep writing permissions separate from publishing.
- Activity log
- Review content, media and access events. Filter by person, category or outcome, export CSV and configure retention.
AI access through MCP
- Connect an MCP client
- Run the optional renewcms-mcp executable with your instance URL and API key to connect a compatible assistant.
- Draft and update articles
- Let your assistant list and read articles, create drafts and update article bodies.
- Media and SEO tools
- List or upload images, check article SEO, list sites and retrieve sitemaps through MCP.
- Permission-aware actions
- MCP uses the API key creator’s current permissions. Newly created articles are drafts; deletion tools are disabled by default.
- Publishing workflow
- Publishing is available when the role permits it. The supplied writing prompt asks for confirmation before publishing.
- Documentation for the connected version
- The MCP documentation resource reads the connected instance’s own documentation.
API and integration
- REST API
- Connect your own website, application or publishing workflow to articles and structured entries.
- Named API keys
- Create and revoke keys in the workspace. Keys inherit their creator’s current role permissions.
- OpenAPI 3.1
- Inspect the version-matched OpenAPI contract served by each instance.
- Built-in API reference
- Browse and search routes, access requirements and examples from the admin workspace.
- Agent-readable documentation
- Each instance serves /llms.txt, /llms-full.txt and individual Markdown documentation pages.
Accounts and personal data
- Email verification and account recovery
- Verify account email addresses and reset forgotten passwords through your configured SMTP service.
- Profile and email changes
- Manage your profile and confirm a new email address before it replaces the current one.
- Personal data export
- Download a ZIP containing your profile, created content, media references and account activity.
- Account deletion
- Delete your own account with password confirmation. Created content remains; the last owner or administrator must transfer the role first.
Hosting and storage
- One CMS executable
- The Go API and Vue admin ship together. No Go or Node.js runtime is needed to run a release.
- Binaries and Docker
- Use a Linux, macOS or Windows release binary, or deploy with Docker Compose.
- Database choice
- Start with SQLite or configure PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB.
- Local or S3-compatible images
- Store uploaded images on disk or in S3-compatible object storage.
- Update options
- Replace the binary or pull a Docker image. Browser updates require a separately installed helper on Linux with systemd.
- AGPL-3.0-only source
- Inspect, run and modify the source under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License v3.
Before you start
You build and host the public frontend separately. RenewCMS supplies content and metadata; your frontend handles rendering, routes and SEO tags.
Image usage tracks references managed by the CMS, not external websites or hotlinked files. Custom content types currently have documented performance and uniqueness limits.
Read the guides and limitationsTry RenewCMS
on your own server.
Currently in beta. Features and APIs may change between releases.