ContentFlow CMS

ContentFlow is a monorepo CMS with:

• Client/: Next.js App Router frontend (CMS UI + website rendering)
• Server/: Express + MongoDB backend (auth, content, media, APIs, backup)

Stack

• Frontend: Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind, Radix UI, Sonner
• Backend: Express, Mongoose, JWT, session/cookies, Redis rate-limiter
• Database: MongoDB

Repository Structure

Content_Management_System/
|- Client/
|- Server/
|- CONTRIBUTING.md
|- STATUS.md
`- README.md

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ recommended
• npm
• MongoDB instance
• Redis instance (required for external API rate limiting)

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

npm install
npm --prefix Client install
npm --prefix Server install

2. Configure environment files:

• Local development: Client/.env.local, Server/.env
• Production profile templates: Client/.env.local.frontend, Server/.env.server
• See docs/ENVIRONMENT_REFERENCE.md

3. Start development:

npm run dev

Default dev ports:

• Client: http://localhost:3000
• Server: http://localhost:5000

Fork And Branch Policy

• Fork from main only.
• Do not fork from deploy and do not develop directly on deploy.
• Use short-lived feature branches from your fork's main, then open PRs back to main.
• Promote to production by merging main -> deploy via PR (no direct pushes).

Post-Fork Production Checklist

1. Create local env files: Client/.env.local and Server/.env, then follow docs/ENVIRONMENT_REFERENCE.md.
2. Replace local endpoints: change http://localhost:5000/... entries in Client/.env.local to your API domain.
3. Rotate secrets: generate new JWT/session secrets and OAuth credentials for your own project.
4. Configure deploy secrets/variables in your fork: SSH_HOST, SSH_USER, SSH_PRIVATE_KEY, SSH_PORT, SSH_FINGERPRINT, SERVER_APP_PATH, HEALTHCHECK_URL, SERVER_ENV_FILE, CLIENT_ENV_FILE.
5. Configure optional deploy integrations only if used: SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL, DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL, and Docker settings (DEPLOY_METHOD=docker, DOCKER_IMAGE, GHCR_USERNAME, GHCR_TOKEN).
6. Configure URLs and callbacks: set server CORS_ORIGIN, SERVER_BASE_URL, OAuth callback URLs, and frontend auth redirect for your domain.
7. Run pre-deploy checks locally before merging to deploy: npm --prefix Client run lint, npm --prefix Client run typecheck, npm --prefix Client run build, npm --prefix Server run test.

Common Commands

From repo root:

# Run client + server together
npm run dev

# Run production start (both)
npm run start

# Frontend build
npm --prefix Client run build

# Frontend lint
npm --prefix Client run lint

# Backend tests
npm --prefix Server run test

API Mount Overview

Server route mounts are centralized in Server/server.js.

Detailed map:

• docs/API_ROUTE_MAP.md

Documentation Index

• docs/README.md
• docs/ENVIRONMENT_REFERENCE.md
• docs/API_ROUTE_MAP.md
• docs/CODEBASE_MAP.md
• docs/DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md
• docs/RELEASE_PROCESS.md
• CHANGELOG.md
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• SECURITY.md
• SUPPORT.md
• STATUS.md

Commit Convention

This repository uses a STATUS(code): message convention.

Examples:

• STATUS(301): add backup restore endpoint
• STATUS(601): fix page update path resolution

See full mapping in STATUS.md.