CaretCMS documentation

CaretCMS 0.5.0 adds on-page editing and a structured content Studio to Astro. It is MIT-licensed and runs inside your project. Supported: Astro 6 or 7, Node 22.12 or newer. Use embedded mode, where CaretCMS runs inside your Astro project. Hosted cloud mode is alpha.

If you are setting up the site, start with the Quickstart and complete one edit before adding schemas or deployment automation. If someone has already configured the site and you only need to edit content, go straight to Content Studio and Saving and publishing.

Choose your starting point

I want to…	Start here
Add editing to an Astro site	Quickstart
Automatically mark existing templates as editable	Caretize CLI
Update text, images, or structured entries	Inline editing and Content Studio
Understand when visitors see my changes	Saving and publishing
Edit existing Markdown files	Markdown body editing
Check what is supported	Capabilities and limits

How the pieces fit

Astro templates + your content
          |
          v
Inline editor or Content Studio
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          v
Storage you choose: files, Markdown, Durable Objects, KV, or custom
          |
          +-- Server delivery: shared changes appear on a new request
          |
          +-- Static delivery: Publish -> rebuild -> deploy

A collection groups entries, such as articles. An entry is one record, such as an article with ID welcome. A field is a value on that record, such as title. A schema describes its fields and validation rules.

<h1 data-caret="pages::home::headline">Welcome to my site</h1>

Here, pages is the collection, home is the entry, and headline is the field. Template text remains the default until stored content overrides it. With Markdown storage, supported rendered prose receives editing markers automatically.

An authoring environment is where editors sign in and make changes, such as a local development server or a configured production server. A draft is an editor’s private saved work. Publish moves that work into shared content; deploy puts a built site on its public host.

Choose how updates reach visitors

• Static site: edit in an authoring environment, save drafts, Publish, rebuild, and deploy static HTML. The public site has no CMS routes.
• Server-rendered site: run CaretCMS inside the Astro server. Ordinary fields save live unless an authorization policy requires drafts.
• Markdown body: prose always saves as a draft and requires Publish, whichever delivery mode you use.

Preview mode lets you browse without editing. It does not publish a draft. See the save behavior table.

Build and operate your site

1. Add schemas and collection settings to make Studio clear for editors.
2. Choose storage for your host and write-concurrency needs.
3. Configure authentication and, if needed, write permissions.
4. Follow deployment. For static sites, connect deployment status if editors need verified build completion.
5. Use troubleshooting and publish recovery when something fails.

The configuration reference covers integration options; the API reference covers custom clients.