JSON CMS

A zero-database content management system for portfolio & personal sites.

One PHP file. One JSON file. No MySQL, no setup wizard, no bloat.

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Why?

Most "simple" CMSs still drag in a database, a Composer dependency tree and a 600 MB container. For a portfolio site — a handful of sections, one admin, zero concurrent editors — that is absurd.

JSON CMS stores all content in a single data.json file. Your frontend fetches it and renders. The admin panel edits it, and before every save it keeps a timestamped backup. That is the whole system — and it is running in production on real sites.

Live demo

vantonopoulos.duckdns.org — a live portfolio site running on this exact code, in production.

Features

• Single-file admin — admin.php is the entire backend: login, editor, uploader.
• Timing-safe auth — passwords checked with hash_equals(), session-based.
• Automatic backups — every save snapshots data.json to backups/ (keeps the last 5).
• Data-driven frontend — included demo theme renders entirely from data.json via fetch().
• CV upload — replace your cv.pdf straight from the admin panel.
• No build step — plain PHP 8.3 + vanilla JS. Works on any shared host.
• Docker-ready — one command to run it anywhere.
• ~50 KB total — the whole CMS is one readable PHP file.

Architecture

                    ┌────────────────────────────┐
   browser  ──────► │  index.html (frontend)     │
                    │  fetch("data.json")        │
                    └─────────────┬──────────────┘
                                  │ reads
                    ┌─────────────▼──────────────┐
                    │  data.json                 │  ◄── the database
                    └─────────────▲──────────────┘
                                  │ writes (with backup first)
                    ┌─────────────┴──────────────┐
   admin.php  ────► │  admin.php (auth + editor) │
   (password)       └─────────────┬──────────────┘
                                  │ before each save
                    ┌─────────────▼──────────────┐
                    │  backups/data.TIMESTAMP.json│  (last 5 kept)
                    └────────────────────────────┘

Screenshots

The included demo theme (site) and the admin panel:

Quick start

Option A — Docker (2 minutes)

git clone https://github.com/avasileios/json-cms.git
cd json-cms
ADMIN_PASS=super-secret docker compose up -d
# → http://localhost:8080  (admin at /admin.php)

Option B — Plain PHP (any shared host)

git clone https://github.com/avasileios/json-cms.git
cd json-cms
./install.sh          # generates admin-config.php with a random password
php -S localhost:8000
# → http://localhost:8000  (admin at /admin.php)

Option C — Manual

cp admin-config.sample.php admin-config.php   # then EDIT THE PASSWORD
cp data.sample.json data.json
# point your web server at the project directory

Web server config

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name portfolio.example.com;

    root /var/www/json-cms;
    index index.html;

    location / { try_files $uri $uri/ =404; }

    # Optionally: protect the admin panel behind basic auth (extra layer)
    location = /admin.php {
        auth_basic "Restricted";
        auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd-portfolio;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

Apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName portfolio.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/json-cms
    <Directory /var/www/json-cms>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Project structure

json-cms/
├── admin.php               # the entire CMS backend (auth, editor, uploads)
├── admin-config.sample.php # copy to admin-config.php and set your password
├── data.sample.json        # demo content — copy to data.json
├── index.html              # included demo frontend (terminal theme)
├── install.sh              # one-command setup (PHP or Docker)
├── docker-compose.yml      # PHP 8.3 + Apache, named volume for persistence
├── Dockerfile
├── backups/                # automatic timestamped snapshots (git-ignored)
└── README.md

Editing content

1. Open admin.php and log in with the password from admin-config.php.
2. Edit sections with tabs: Profile · Skills · Experience · Certs · Projects · Hobbies · CV.
3. Click Αποθήκευση αλλαγών (Save) — the panel writes data.json and snapshots the previous version into backups/.
4. Your frontend picks the change up immediately (fetch uses no-store).

The UI strings are in Greek (el) — the admin panel was built for Greek business owners. Every string lives in admin.php; translate them freely.

Security notes

• Change the default password immediately (admin-config.php).
• Serve the site over HTTPS — the admin panel sends the password over POST.
• Consider basic-auth (or an IP allowlist) in front of admin.php for a second layer — see the Nginx snippet above.
• backups/ should stay outside the web root or be denied by the server config — it contains full content snapshots.
• Keep admin-config.php out of version control — it is already git-ignored. See SECURITY.md.

License

MIT © 2026 Vasileios Antonopoulos