System

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Getting Started

Automad is a PHP application that runs on most standard web servers. The system requirements are intentionally minimal, and you can choose between several installation options depending on your setup. Alternatively you can also try out a live demo first.

Automad is a flat-file content management system designed for performance and straightforward configuration. Configuration can be managed through several methods depending on the context and scope of the settings being configured.

Caching is essential for site performance and should generally be enabled. However, there are circumstances where you might want to disable or clear your cache. The dashboard provides an easy way to manage your cache behavior with just a few clicks.

Email Configuration

Automad requires proper email configuration on your server to send transactional emails using PHP. These emails are sent for user invitations, password resets, and when using the mail block on a page.

Understanding what Automad is doing internally can be helpful during theme and extension development or when troubleshooting an installation. Debug logging can be enabled temporarily through System Setting → Debug.

Encrypting Secrets

Automad stores credentials such as the mail server password, AI provider API keys and the hashes of MCP access tokens as PHP files in the config directory of your installation. This page explains how you can encrypt those secrets with your own key and how to provide that key in different server environments.

Every person who works on your site signs in to the dashboard with their own user account. This page explains how to manage your own account, secure it with two-factor authentication, recover access and invite other people to collaborate with you. All of these options can be found in the Users section of the System Settings.

The Console is Automad's command line interface. It lets you run system tasks such as clearing the cache, changing the configuration, creating users or updating Automad from a terminal. This is useful for automated deployments, scripts or in case you can't access the dashboard.

Automad is a flat-file content management system and doesn't use a database. All content, settings and themes are stored as plain files in the installation directory, so a backup is simply a copy of those files. This page explains which files matter, how to back them up and how to automate version-controlled backups to GitHub.

Automad offers AI assistance for content editing within the block editor. The assistant helps you generate, rewrite and improve content without leaving the dashboard. This feature is optional and can be fully disabled. To use AI writing assistance, you must connect at least one supported AI provider.

Automad includes a built-in MCP server that allows AI agents and other MCP-compatible clients to read and manage pages and content on your site over the Model Context Protocol. Instead of copying content back and forth between your site and an AI chat, a connected agent can search and read your pages, draft new ones or update existing content — while all edits are saved as drafts for you to review.

The public tools of the MCP server work without any authentication. They give AI agents and MCP clients read-only access to the published content of your site — for example to answer questions about your documentation or to summarize your latest blog posts.