An Open Source Project · by Dorian Fichot

Everything you need,
nothing you don't.

SynaptikCMS is a powerful, lightweight, blazing fast and highly customizable file-based content management system (CMS) to create websites in minutes. No database setup, no messing around with code, no need for plugins.

1
Step Install
PHP 8.0+
Minimum requirement
2
Available themes
MIT
License

Built for speed and simplicity.

No database, no bloat, no wasted time. Just PHP files and clean JSON. Everything you need to publish on the web — nothing you don’t.

Flat-file architecture

All content lives in lightweight JSON files. No MySQL, no PostgreSQL — nothing to configure, nothing to maintain.

Exceptional performance

No ORM queries, no heavy framework. Pages render directly from cached JSON with minimal PHP overhead.

SEO-first by design

Open Graph tags, JSON-LD schema, canonical URLs, per-item meta overrides and a built-in sitemap generator.

Full theme system

Override any template via a cascade fallback. Ship your theme as a ZIP and install it with one click.

Shortcodes

Drop galleries, TOC, callouts, recent articles, contact forms and more directly inside any rich-text content.

Multi-language ready

JSON locale files for both front-end and admin. Localised URL slugs out of the box. Add a language in minutes.

Security-hardened

CSRF tokens, rate limiting, honeypot, hCaptcha support, strict .htaccess rules and security headers included.

Media manager

Drag-and-drop uploads, automatic image optimisation, WebP conversion and a bulk batch processor — all built-in.

Zero installation

Extract the ZIP, point your domain, open install.php once. You’re live. No Composer, no npm, no build step.

Markdown support

Write content in Markdown or rich HTML — both are first-class. Tables, code blocks, headings and inline formatting just work.

Backup & restore

Your entire site is plain JSON files. Back up with a ZIP, restore by extracting it. No SQL dumps, no migration scripts.

Tiny footprint

The full CMS — admin panel, theme engine, media manager and all — weighs under 2 MB. Your server will barely notice it.

Start with a beautiful theme.

Every theme is fully standalone and customisable. Drop yours in the /theme/ folder and it’s auto-detected.

Latest updates

Blueish Theme

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Ready to ship something fast?

Download SynaptikCMS, extract, and you’re running. No database required.