Brave CMS 2.0

What is this about?

This is a simple, easy to use, CMS, ideal for an online newspaper or a blog. Laravel masters are invited to contribute.

Why use it

1. It's written in Laravel 8.
2. It's scalable.
3. The code is DRY and easy-to-follow, so contributors will have no headaches.
4. The newsletter form is integrated with Mailchimp.
5. Its Admin is designed with Bootstrap 5 SASS and very easy to customize.
6. It's free and open source.

Support Brave CMS

Brave CMS is free, open source, and maintained in my spare time.

If you find the project useful, please consider supporting its continued development. Your sponsorship helps fund new features, bug fixes, documentation, security updates, and long-term maintenance.

⭐ Star this repository if you like the project.

❤️ Sponsor Brave CMS on Open Collective: https://opencollective.com/brave-cms

Video demo

Login form

Dashboard

Articles

Add article

Edit article

Site settings

The super-admin has access to the Settings section.

How to use Brave CMS

I have created a simple installation process: after creating a database and providing credentials (the appropriate values for DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD) in the .env file (placed in the root directory), you can run the Install controller which will create all the necessary tables.

Alternatively, you can import minimal.sql, which contains all the necessary tables. You can find it in the root of the repository.

After that, you will be invited to sign up. After a successful sign-up, because you are the first user, you will be given the role of super-admin.

You will be able to sign in and write articles, add or delete categories, etc.

Brave CMS Theme Development Guide

Variables → Template Reference

Variable	Description
$article	Current article object (title, content, meta, etc.)
$article_count	Total number of articles in the current listing
$articles	Collection of articles (used for loops/lists)
$author	Author data for current context (name, bio, etc.)
$categories	List of all site categories
$category	Current category being viewed
$comments	List of comments for the current article
$is_cookieconsent	Boolean flag to toggle cookie consent display
$page	Current static page object
$pages	List of all static pages
$search_query	Current search query string
$site_name	Website name
$subtitle	Subtitle of the 404 template
$tag	Current tag being viewed
$tagline	Website tagline/description
$title	Title of the 404 template
$theme_directory	Path/URL to the active theme directory

---

Creating a Theme

Brave CMS supports custom themes located in:

resources/views/themes/

---

Theme Directory Variable

All templates reference the active theme dynamically using $theme_directory.

Example:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')
@include('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/partials/header')

---

Theme Structure

A typical theme structure:

resources/views/themes/mytheme/

layout.blade.php

partials/
    header.blade.php
    footer.blade.php

templates/
    index.blade.php
    single.blade.php
    page.blade.php
    contact.blade.php
    404.blade.php

Public assets:

public/themes/mytheme/
├── css/
│   └── style.css
├── js/
│   └── script.js
└── images/

Include CSS/JS in the layout:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ asset('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/css/style.css') }}">
<script src="{{ asset('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/js/script.js') }}"></script>

---

Layout

layout.blade.php defines the main page structure:

@include('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/partials/header')

@yield('content')

@include('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/partials/footer')

Templates extend the layout:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')

---

Templates

index.blade.php — Article List

Example:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')

@section('content')
@if (count($articles))
  <div class="row articles-grid">
    @foreach ($articles as $article)
      <h2>{{ $article->title }}</h2>
      <p>{{ $article->short_description }}</p>
      <a href="{{ url('/show/' . $article->slug) }}">Read more</a>
    @endforeach
  </div>
@endif

{!! $articles->onEachSide(1)->withQueryString()->links() !!}
@endsection

single.blade.php — Single Article

Example:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')

@section('content')
  <article>
    <h1>{{ $article->title }}</h1>
    <p>{{ $article->short_description }}</p>
    <div class="article-content">
     {!! $article->content !!}
    </div>
  </article>
@endsection

page.blade.php — Static Page

Example:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')

@section('content')
  <h1>{{ $page->title }}</h1>
    <div class="page-content">
     { !! $page->content !!}
    </div>
@endsection

contact.blade.php — Contact Page

Example:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')

@section('content')
  <div class="container">
    <h3>Contact us</h3>
      <form method="post" action="{{ route('contact.submit') }}">
      @csrf
        <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="Your Name">
        <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Your Email">
        <textarea name="message" placeholder="Your Message"></textarea>
        <input type="submit" value="Send">
      </form>
  </div>
@endsection

404.blade.php — 404 Page

Example:

@extends('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/layout')

@section('content')
  <div class="container text-center">
    <h1>{{ $title }}</h1>
    <p class="text-muted">{{ $subtitle }}</p>
  </div>
@endsection

---

Partials

Always use $theme_directory when including partials.

Example:

@include('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/partials/header')
@include('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/partials/footer')

header.blade.php — header partial

Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>{{ $tagline }} | {{ $site_name }}</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <meta name="csrf-token" content="{{ csrf_token() }}">
    <meta name="description" content="{{ $article->short_description ?? '' }}">
    <link rel="icon" href="{{ asset('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/img/favicon.ico') }}">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ asset('themes/' . $theme_directory . '/css/style.css') }}">
</head>
<body>

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2022 Razvan Zamfir

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.