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Decap CMS — Update Content

Decap CMS — Update Content

Section titled “Decap CMS — Update Content”

This guide covers how to update every part of your site using Decap CMS. If you’re using the Code + Decap CMS package, this is your daily workflow.

If you’re using Code Only, you edit files directly — see the Developer Guide instead.

Accessing the CMS

Section titled “Accessing the CMS”

Once deployed to Netlify, your CMS is available at:

https://your-domain.com/admin/

Log in with your Netlify Identity credentials (set up during deployment).

If you’re running locally, go to:

http://localhost:4321/admin/

The CMS Interface

Section titled “The CMS Interface”

The admin panel has three main areas:

Left sidebar — Collections (Pages, Blog, Docs, Home, Site Config)

Middle panel — List of entries in the selected collection

Right panel — Editor for the selected entry

Editing the Landing Page

Section titled “Editing the Landing Page”

Click Home in the sidebar. This opens src/data/home.json.

You’ll see sections:

  • Hero — Badge, title, highlight, description, actions, trust badges
  • Showcase — Section title and description
  • Features — Feature grid items
  • Pricing — Pricing plans
  • CTA — Call-to-action section

Example: Changing the Hero Title

Section titled “Example: Changing the Hero Title”
  1. Click Home in the sidebar
  2. Expand the Hero section
  3. Update the Title field
  4. Click Save
  5. Click Publish → Publish now

Your landing page updates within seconds.

Example: Adding a New Feature Card

Section titled “Example: Adding a New Feature Card”
  1. Click Home
  2. Expand the Features section
  3. Click Add next to “Items”
  4. Fill in:
    • Icon (an emoji or symbol)
    • Title
    • Description
  5. Click Save → Publish

Editing Blog Posts

Section titled “Editing Blog Posts”

Click Blog in the sidebar. You’ll see a list of all blog posts.

Creating a New Post

Section titled “Creating a New Post”
  1. Click Blog
  2. Click New Blog (top right)
  3. Fill in:
    • Title — post title
    • Description — SEO description (150–160 characters)
    • Date — publish date
    • Tags — comma-separated tags
    • Image — featured image (upload or paste URL)
    • Body — post content (Markdown editor)
  4. Click Save → Publish

Editing an Existing Post

Section titled “Editing an Existing Post”
  1. Click Blog
  2. Click the post title
  3. Edit any field
  4. Click Save → Publish

Using the Markdown Editor

Section titled “Using the Markdown Editor”

The body field uses a Markdown editor with:

  • Bold — **text**
  • Italic — *text*
  • Headings — ## Heading
  • Links — [text](url)
  • Lists — - item or 1. item
  • Code — `code` or triple backticks for blocks
  • Images — ![alt](url)

There’s a preview pane on the right side of the editor.

Editing Documentation

Section titled “Editing Documentation”

Click Docs in the sidebar. You’ll see the docs tree.

Adding a New Doc Page

Section titled “Adding a New Doc Page”
  1. Click Docs
  2. Navigate to the folder where you want the page (e.g., getting-started)
  3. Click New Getting Started (or whatever the folder is called)
  4. Fill in:
    • Title — doc title
    • Description — SEO description
    • Body — doc content
  5. Click Save → Publish

The sidebar updates automatically if the folder uses autogenerate.

Editing an Existing Doc

Section titled “Editing an Existing Doc”
  1. Click Docs
  2. Navigate to the page
  3. Click the page title
  4. Edit the content
  5. Click Save → Publish

Editing Static Pages

Section titled “Editing Static Pages”

Click Pages in the sidebar. You’ll see:

  • About
  • FAQ
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Contact

Creating a New Static Page

Section titled “Creating a New Static Page”
  1. Click Pages
  2. Click New Pages
  3. Fill in:
    • Title — page title
    • Description — SEO description
    • Image — hero image (optional)
    • Layout Type — choose from default, faq, legal, contact
    • Show in Nav — toggle to show in navigation
    • Nav Order — number for ordering
    • Body — page content
  4. Click Save → Publish

The page is available at /{filename} (e.g., /about, /faq).

Editing Site Configuration

Section titled “Editing Site Configuration”

Click Site Config in the sidebar. This opens four files:

SEO

Section titled “SEO”
  • Title — site title for search engines
  • Description — meta description
  • Keywords — array of keywords
  • OG Image — social share image
  • Canonical — canonical URL

Site

Section titled “Site”
  • Name — site name
  • Version — version number
  • Tagline — short tagline
  • Description — longer description
Section titled “Navbar”
  • Brand — logo and site name
  • Links — navigation links
Section titled “Footer”
  • Brand — logo and tagline
  • Columns — footer link columns
  • Social — social media links
  • Bottom — copyright and legal links

Media Management

Section titled “Media Management”

All uploaded images go to public/uploads/. To manage media:

  1. Click the Media icon in the top bar
  2. Upload new images by dragging them in
  3. Click any image to copy its URL
  4. Paste the URL in any image field

Recommended image sizes:

Purpose Size
Blog featured image 1200×630
Hero image 1600×900
Feature card image 800×600
Logo 200×50
Favicon 512×512

Editorial Workflow

Section titled “Editorial Workflow”

Decap CMS supports two publishing modes:

Simple mode — Click Save → Publish now. Changes go live immediately.

Editorial workflow — Changes go through Draft → In Review → Ready → Published. Enable this in config.yml with:

publish_mode: editorial_workflow

This is useful if multiple people edit content and you want review before publishing.

Preview Changes

Section titled “Preview Changes”

Decap CMS shows a preview of your changes in the editor. For a full-site preview:

  1. Save your changes
  2. Wait for the Git commit
  3. Your hosting provider rebuilds the site
  4. Refresh your live site to see changes

Local preview: If you’re running the dev server, changes appear instantly after saving.

Common Issues

Section titled “Common Issues”

Changes don’t appear on the live site

Section titled “Changes don’t appear on the live site”

Wait 1–2 minutes. Netlify rebuilds take time. Check the deploy log in Netlify to see if the build is in progress.

Can’t upload images

Section titled “Can’t upload images”

Check that public/uploads/ exists. If not, create it in your project folder.

Editor is slow

Section titled “Editor is slow”

For very large blog posts, the Markdown editor can lag. Consider splitting long posts into multiple entries.

Login doesn’t work after deployment

Section titled “Login doesn’t work after deployment”

Check Netlify Identity configuration:

  1. Go to your Netlify site dashboard
  2. Click Identity in the sidebar
  3. Click Settings and usage
  4. Verify Registration is set to Invite only
  5. Verify Git Gateway is enabled

Best Practices

Section titled “Best Practices”

1. Write descriptions for every page. SEO descriptions appear in search results. Keep them 150–160 characters.

2. Use meaningful filenames. The filename becomes the URL. Use lowercase, hyphens instead of spaces (my-blog-post, not My Blog Post).

3. Compress images before uploading. Large images slow down your site. Use TinyPNG or Squoosh.

4. Preview before publishing. Use the preview pane to check formatting.

5. Use tags consistently. Blog tags are case-sensitive. Use the same casing for the same tag.

What’s Next

Section titled “What’s Next”

Now that you can edit content via CMS, deploy your site:

→ Push to GitHub

→ Deploy to Netlify

Need Help?

Section titled “Need Help?”

If you’re stuck: