Quick start

This walk-through uses the admin. Every step is also an ability, so you could do the same from the CLI, the REST API or an AI agent.

#Finding your way

The sidebar holds what you open every day: Dashboard and Analytics, then your content — Pages, Blog, Media and Forms. Hide it with ⌘\ when you want the room; it stays that way until you bring it back. Everything else is one click away under More (globals, menus, templates, components, the design system, redirects). Pin what you use often from there, hover a row to unpin it, right-click it to move it or open it in a new tab, drag rows to reorder them, or open Customize Sidebar… to arrange everything at once. Your sidebar is your own; an admin can make theirs the default for everyone.

Settings (the gear next to your name, or ⌘⇧,) turns the sidebar into the settings list: your account, the site's settings and administration — users, roles, collections, languages, modules and the audit log. Back or Esc returns you to where you were. ⌘K finds any screen, setting, entry or command.

The assistant is optional. Lettern works fully without an API key: Chat in the top bar leads admins to set one up, and if you don't use AI, Hide Chat there takes it out of the bar.

#1. Model your content

With the Site plugin on, a new site starts from its starter kit: Pages (a tree with a Home, About and Blog page) and Blog (posts), templates, a header and a footer, and a main menu. Open Settings → Collections to change them or add your own — say Services with a Blocks field for the body and any additional structured fields you need. Collections are saved as YAML in content/collections/, so you can commit them.

#2. Write and shape a page

Open Pages and press New page (or C). Edit text in the rendered page, rest the pointer between blocks and press + to add text, media, layouts and data blocks, and use Outline to navigate. Select a block for the shared Design, Content and Interact inspector. Posts, templates and components use this same workspace. The site renderer shows the real layout while you work. Changes save as you go; Preview checks interactions without editing controls.

#3. Shape the design system

Open Design System (under More — pin it while you build) to edit the tokens — colors, fonts, sizes, spacing — with a live preview. Every block uses these tokens, so one change restyles the whole site. Open Templates or Components to change the frame around pages or the header and footer; they use the same block editor.

#4. Publish

Press Publish. Lettern renders the page with its template to public/, updates the sitemap, llms.txt and the page's Markdown twin, and the change is live — no deploy step, no cache to clear.

#5. Let an agent help

Press ⌘J to open the assistant and ask it to "add a pricing section with three plans". It uses the same abilities you do and asks before deleting anything. To work from your own AI tools instead, connect them over MCP.