how to install

Sitecake is a PHP, flat-file CMS — there’s no database to set up. Adapt your markup, upload two things, and you’re editing live.

Requirements

Sitecake runs on the same hosting you already use for static sites. All you need is:

A web server — Apache (with mod_rewrite) or NGINX
PHP 7.4 or newer (8.x recommended), with the openssl, gd, curl, fileinfo and mbstring extensions

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No database, no build step, no Node. Sitecake reads and writes your HTML files directly on the server.

Step 1 — Adapt your website

Add the sc-content class to any <div> you want to be editable. Everything inside that block — headings, text, images — becomes editable; everything else stays locked.

<div class="sc-content">
  <h1>Fine looking heading</h1>
  <img src="feature.jpg">
  <p>Some text</p>
</div>

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Don’t nest sc-content divs inside one another — it isn’t supported.

If you want the same content repeated on several pages — for sidebars, footers, or anything else — just name the class with a specific suffix, e.g. sc-content-footer.

Step 2 — Get Sitecake onto your host

Two ways to do this, pick whichever fits your setup.

Shell access — run this in your website’s root folder to fetch and extract the latest version in one step:

$ curl -sS https://admin.sitecake.com/install | php

No shell access — download the free version as a ZIP and upload it yourself. Extract it with cPanel File Manager or a tool like Akeeba Kickstart, then upload it into the same folder as your website. You should end up with a structure like this:

/css
/images
/js
/sitecake          ← the CMS files
index.html
sitecake.php      ← login entry point

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Both methods give you the exact same, full editor — nothing is feature-limited. It only asks for a license key once you point it at a real public domain; on localhost, *.local, *.test, or a private network address, it just works, no key needed. See the pricing page for licensed plans once you’re ready to go live.

Don’t have a website yet to try this on? Start from one of the free HTML templates.

Step 3 — Start editing

Point your browser to sitecake.php on your domain and log in with the admin password to start editing.

→ http://domain.com/sitecake.php

That’s it — you’re editing live, right on the page. If you haven’t tried the live demo yet, it gives you a feel for editing in seconds.

You can also watch a 2-minute video showing basic editing capabilities.

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Change the default admin password before handing the site to a client — Settings → Change password in the toolbar.