🚀 Quick Start – BakeKit CMS

Welcome to BakeKit CMS! This quick start guide will help you get up and running in minutes.

This guide assumes you've already downloaded or cloned BakeKit CMS from GitHub and have it running in a local development environment.

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🧰 Site Management Panel

Once launched, you’ll see a clean dashboard. All features in BakeKit CMS are plugin-based, so nothing is enabled by default.

At the top of the dashboard, there are two predefined region placeholders:

• [plugins-menu] – For menus populated with plugin links (Pages, Blog, etc.)
• [custom-menu] – For menus with custom links

To begin configuring your site, click the ⚙️ cogs icon in the top-right corner of the dashboard to access the Site Management Panel, where you can:

• Manage Plugins, Themes, Regions, Menus, Roles, Users, Meta, and Settings

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🧩 1. Load a Plugin

To enable features like static pages, blog posts, or slideshows, you need to install and activate plugins.

👉 Tip: Start by installing the FileManager plugin — it’s required by other plugins for image handling.

Install via Git:

git clone https://github.com/bakewizard/FileManager.git
zip -r FileManager.zip FileManager
rm -rf FileManager

1. Go to the Plugins page and click Browse.
2. Upload the FileManager.zip file.
3. Click Install, then Activate.

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🧭 2. Add a Menu

1. Navigate to the Menus page.
2. Click the ➕ icon to create a new menu.
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Name: Admin left accordion menu
   • Description: Admin plugins menu
   • Client: Select Backend.
   • Enabled: ✅ Checked.
4. Click Save & Close.

The menu will appear in the Menus page:

To add links to the menu:

1. In the Actions column, click the first button to manage menu links.
2. Click the ➕ icon to add a new link.
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Title: FileManager
   • Icon: Enter a Bootstrap or FontAwesome class (e.g., bi-folder, fa fa-file)
   • Click the Link button and choose Plugin page from the accordion.
4. Click Save & Close.

The new link will be added to the menu:

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🧱 3. Add a Region with a Block

To render the admin menu in your layout:

1. Go to Regions & Blocks.
2. Click the ➕ icon to create a new region.
3. Enter the details:
   • Alias: plugins-menu (must match the placeholder name).
   • Description: Plugins menu region.
4. Click Save & Close.

The region will now appear in the list:

To add a block to the region:

1. In the Actions column, click the first button to manage blocks.
2. Click the ➕ icon to create a block.
3. Fill in the details:
   • Alias: plugins-menu-block (must be a unique identifier: a-z, 0-9, -).
   • Title: Plugins menu block.
   • Description: Plugins menu block containing plugins menu.
   • Click the Cell button and choose 'Menu cell' from the accordion.
   • Enabled: ✅ Checked.
4. Click Save & Close.

Finally, configure the new block:

1. In the Actions column, click the ⚙️ icon.
2. Select Admin left accordion menu from the dropdown.
3. Click Save.

You should now see the FileManager link in the admin sidebar.

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📦 4. Load a Theme

To install and activate a new theme:

1. Go to the Themes page.
2. Click Browse and select the theme .zip file.
3. Click Install, then Activate.

💡 Alternatively, unzip a theme manually into the /themes directory. It will appear in the theme list for activation.

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🛠️ Next Steps

BakeKit CMS is now set up!

You can now:

• Install plugins
• Install themes
• Create dynamic content
• Tweak advanced settings