Documentation / Getting Started

Getting Started with Luminal CMS

This guide walks you through your first login, introduces the admin dashboard, and covers the basic workflow for creating and publishing content.

First Login

Access the admin panel by navigating to /admin/ on your site. For example: https://yoursite.com/admin/. You will be presented with a login screen.

Enter the username and password provided by your site administrator. If this is a fresh installation, the default credentials will have been set during setup.

Tip: If you cannot access the login page, make sure the admin/data/ directory exists and is writable by the web server (owned by www-data:www-data).

Dashboard Overview

After logging in, you land on the Dashboard. This is your central hub for site management. The admin interface has two main areas:

Navigation Rail (Left Sidebar)

The left sidebar contains the main navigation organized into sections:

  • Content — Page Manager, Gallery Manager, Content Stacks, Menu Manager, YouTube Playlist Studio, Podcast Manager, Shortcode Rosetta
  • Events — Events Manager Pro, Facebook Events
  • Ecommerce — Printful, Payment Methods, My Store, Affiliate Products
  • Tools — File Manager
  • System — Site Settings, Background Manager, User Manager, Mailgun, Font Manager, Update Manager, Media Thumbs, Tools
  • AI Tools — AI Resources, Agent Scheduler

The navigation is module-aware and auto-discovers installed modules. If a module folder with a valid module.json exists, it automatically appears in the appropriate section.

Content Area (Right Side)

The main content area displays the active module interface. Each module occupies this space when selected from the navigation.

Basic Workflow

The most common workflow in Luminal CMS is creating a page and adding it to your site menu. Here is the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Create a Page

  1. Click Page Manager in the navigation.
  2. Click the + New Page button.
  3. Enter a page title — the slug (URL-friendly name) is generated automatically.
  4. The editor modal opens with the content area, toolbar, and sidebar.

Step 2: Add Content

  1. Type or paste your HTML content into the main content area.
  2. Use the toolbar for formatting, or use the AI Assist button (purple) to generate content.
  3. Add shortcodes from the CPM Blocks sidebar to embed galleries, playlists, or widgets.
  4. Click Save to store your page.

Step 3: Preview

  1. Click the Preview button (eye icon) in the toolbar or the page card.
  2. The page opens in a new tab showing exactly how visitors will see it.

Step 4: Add to Menu

  1. Navigate to Menu Manager.
  2. Click Add Menu Item.
  3. Select your new page from the list.
  4. Set the label and position.
  5. Save the menu.

Your page is now live and accessible from the site navigation.

Understanding the File System

Luminal CMS stores all data as JSON files. Understanding where things live helps with troubleshooting:

  • admin/data/site-settings.json — Global site configuration
  • admin/data/menu.json — Navigation menu structure
  • admin/data/pages/{slug}/{slug}.json — Individual page content
  • admin/data/pages/{slug}/{slug}.css — Per-page custom CSS (optional)
  • admin/data/galleries/ — Gallery data files (images, videos, pdfs, combined)
  • media/ — Uploaded media files (images, videos, PDFs, backgrounds)

Important: All files in admin/data/ must be owned by www-data:www-data with 0664 permissions. If files are edited via command line as root, the CMS will not be able to save changes until ownership is fixed.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the basics, dive deeper into specific features:

Page Manager Gallery Manager Site Settings All Documentation