better-cms

Drop-in headless CMS for SvelteKit (React/Next planned). BYO database, BYO storage. SSR-first. LLM-first.

Status: pre-alpha.

What is this

Like better-auth, but for content. Bring a libsql/SQLite URL + an S3-compatible bucket + a config file, get a typed CMS bolted to your site.

bun add better-cms

import { defineCMS, collection, text, richText, image } from 'better-cms';
import { libsqlAdapter } from 'better-cms/adapters/libsql';
import { s3Media } from 'better-cms/media/s3';

export default defineCMS({
  collections: {
    posts: collection({
      fields: {
        title: text({ required: true }),
        body:  richText(),
        cover: image(),
      },
    }),
  },
  adapter: libsqlAdapter({ url: process.env.DATABASE_URL! }),
  media:   s3Media({ bucket: process.env.S3_BUCKET! }),
});

See packages/better-cms/README.md for the full surface.

Repo layout

Path	Published as	What
packages/better-cms	better-cms	Main published shell — re-export hub for subpath imports.
packages/core	@better-cms/core	IR, DSL, contracts, request handler, ops kernel.
packages/adapter-libsql	@better-cms/adapter-libsql	Direct libsql ContentStore.
packages/adapter-drizzle	@better-cms/adapter-drizzle	Drizzle ContentStore.
packages/media-s3	@better-cms/media-s3	S3-compatible MediaStore.
packages/sveltekit	@better-cms/sveltekit	SvelteKit handle + remote-function helpers.
packages/admin	@better-cms/admin	<CmsAdmin> Svelte 5 admin component.
packages/cli	@better-cms/cli	bcms CLI — init / generate / mcp.
plugins/claude-code	(Claude Code plugin)	Skills + MCP server registration.

End users only bun add better-cms. Internal @better-cms/* packages are pulled transitively or installed directly by power users.

Develop

bun install
bun run --filter '*' typecheck
cd packages/better-cms && bun run build   # tsdown emits dist/

Release

Changesets, single fixed group across every published package.

bunx changeset
bunx changeset version
bunx changeset publish

See CLAUDE.md for invariants.

License

PolyForm Shield 1.0.0 — source-available, noncompete.

You can:

• Use better-cms for any purpose (commercial site, agency work, internal tooling, SaaS product, etc.)
• Self-host on any infrastructure (Turso, libsql, SQLite, R2, S3, Wasabi, B2 — your call)
• Modify, fork, redistribute (free or paid), build derivatives

You cannot:

• Build and offer a product that competes with better-cms (e.g. fork it and sell cooler-cms as a hosted or shrink-wrapped CMS)

No sunset — restriction is permanent. If you want to build something competing, contact for a commercial license.

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