hotdog-cms/README.md

Websites from Markdown files and templates, with no database.
Write in Markdown, see it live, publish from git.

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Note

Development happens on git.coffeylabs.org/coffey-labs/hotdog-cms; the copy on GitHub is a read-only mirror. Report issues at git.coffeylabs.org/coffey-labs/hotdog-cms/issues, join discussions at community.coffeylabs.org, or chat on Discord.

Install

Download hotdog-cms for Linux, macOS or Windows from the releases and check it against SHA256SUMS. Or, with Go 1.26 or newer:

go install git.coffeylabs.org/coffey-labs/hotdog-cms/cmd/hotdog-cms@latest

The editor, previews and the pull agent also need git.

Use

hotdog-cms new mysite        start a site from the starter
cd mysite
hotdog-cms serve             preview at http://127.0.0.1:8140, reloading as you save
hotdog-cms build             write the finished site to public/
hotdog-cms check [-csp] [-fix] build, then check it: tracking, privacy, links, SEO, security (docs/checks.md)
hotdog-cms publish <target>  build, then publish: a folder, a server over SSH, a container image, or your own command
hotdog-cms pull -repo URL -out DIR   on the web server: publish from git when the branch moves
hotdog-cms preview -repo URL     every branch built as it would be published, at <branch>.localhost:8160
hotdog-cms endpoint -config FILE forms and search, behind your web server (docs/forms.md)
hotdog-cms import <from>       bring a site in: wordpress, wxr, ghost, hugo, jekyll (docs/importing.md)
hotdog-cms pack add <pack>     sections, layouts and styles from a folder or repository, no code (docs/packs.md)
hotdog-cms ci <platform>         the CI file for GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Forgejo, Bitbucket, Woodpecker, or a git hook

A site is a folder:

Folder	What goes in it
site.yaml	Name, address, menus, collections, what check refuses
content/	Pages, as Markdown with front matter. A folder such as articles/ is a collection
layouts/	Page shapes. base.html wraps every page; the others fill its main block
partials/	Pieces the layouts share
sections/	Blocks a page stacks in its front matter, instead of writing HTML
data/	YAML or JSON the templates read
assets/	CSS, scripts, fonts, published with a content hash in the name
static/	Files copied as they are

The output is plain files for any web server, on bare metal, a VPS or in a container; docs/publishing.md covers each, docs/previews.md covers looking at a change before it's published, and docs/platforms.md covers GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Forgejo, Bitbucket and plain git. The editor is in docs/editor.md, quick posts in docs/quick-posts.md, events and calendar feeds in docs/events.md. docs/editor-roadmap.md has what's built and what comes next, and docs/security.md how it's kept safe.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Contributors accept the contributor agreement once, in their first pull request.

License

Copyright (C) 2026 Coffey Labs LLC.

The engine and the editor are AGPL-3.0-or-later; see LICENSE. The starter site in starter/ and HotDog themes are MIT; see starter/site/LICENSE-starter.txt. A site built with HotDog CMS carries no AGPL obligations. The vendored WebP encoder in internal/media/webpenc/ keeps its own MIT and BSD licenses.