Get started

HotDog CMS is one program, hotdog-cms. It builds sites, runs the editor and publishes.

1. Install it

Download hotdog-cms for Linux, macOS or Windows from the releases, or, with Go 1.26 or newer:

go install git.coffeylabs.org/coffey-labs/hotdog-cms/cmd/hotdog-cms@latest

2. Start a site

hotdog-cms new mysite
cd mysite
hotdog-cms serve

Open the address it prints: that's your site, rebuilt every time you save a file.

Already have a site?

Bring it into the new one before you go on. From WordPress, use the site's address, or an export file from Tools → Export:

hotdog-cms import wordpress -url https://your-old-site.example
hotdog-cms import wxr -file export.xml

Ghost, Hugo and Jekyll work the same way: hotdog-cms import ghost, hugo or jekyll. Posts and pages become Markdown, pictures come across, and every old link redirects to its new page. Nothing on the old site is changed. Read IMPORT-REPORT.md afterwards to see anything that needs a hand, like shortcodes only the old site could run. The importing guide has the details.

3. Put it in git

Push the folder to a repository on GitHub, Gitea, Forgejo, GitLab, Bitbucket or your own git server. From now on, every change to the site is a commit.

4. Edit it in your browser

Run the editor, sign in with your git platform and open your site. Drafts, reviews and publishing all happen there, with a live preview of every page. Watch the tutorial to see it from start to finish.

5. Publish

hotdog-cms publish sends the finished site to a folder, a server over SSH or a container image. Or let your platform's pipeline do it: hotdog-cms ci github writes the file for GitHub, and there are ones for Gitea, Forgejo, GitLab, Bitbucket and Woodpecker.