Deployment & Infrastructure¶

SkyCMS supports multiple deployment targets and hosting models — from one-click Azure Marketplace installs to Docker containers, AWS, and Cloudflare edge hosting. The system includes a guided setup wizard, automated demo provisioning, and a documentation publishing pipeline.

Audiences: Administrators, Developers, Evaluators

Jump to:

Hosting Options
Setup Wizard
Database Configuration
Cloud Storage Configuration
CDN Configuration
Email Provider Configuration
Demo Deployment
Documentation Publishing (DocsPublisher)
CI/CD & DevOps
Licensing

1. Hosting Options¶

Documentation: Deployment Overview · Azure Deployment · Docker Deployment · Cloudflare Edge Hosting · Installation Overview · Azure Installation · AWS Installation · Docker Installation · Local Development

Azure App Service¶

Azure Marketplace deployment — One-click ARM template deployment with 9 pre-configured resources
Customizable template with subscription, resource group, and region selection
Configurable parameters: email provider, web app plan tier, storage account type
Premium and Standard tier support
Docker container hosting on App Service
Azure Files integration for persistent storage

Docker¶

Official Dockerfile for containerized deployment
Docker Compose configuration (docker-compose.yml + docker-compose.override.yml)
Docker Compose project file (docker-compose.dcproj) for Visual Studio integration
Compatible with any Docker-capable host (Azure Container Instances, AWS ECS, Kubernetes, self-hosted)

AWS¶

Deployment documentation and guidance for AWS hosting
S3 storage integration via the multi-cloud storage layer
AWS-compatible via Docker containers

Cloudflare¶

Cloudflare Cloud Connector — Connect SkyCMS to Cloudflare's CDN
Cloudflare Edge Hosting — Serve static-generated pages from Cloudflare's edge network
Cloudflare R2 storage integration (S3-compatible)
Custom filter expression rules for URL routing

Local Development¶

dotnet run --project Sky.Editor for local development
launchSettings.json profiles for IDE launch configurations
SQLite support for zero-dependency local development
No cloud services required for development mode

2. Setup Wizard¶

Documentation: Setup Wizard · Post-Installation · Minimum Required Settings

An interactive, step-by-step setup experience for initial site configuration.

Prerequisites¶

CosmosAllowSetup=true environment variable
Database connection string configured
Application deployed and accessible

Setup Steps¶

Step	Purpose
Welcome	Introduction and prerequisites check
Step 1: Storage	Configure cloud storage connection (Azure Blob, S3, R2)
Step 2: Admin Account	Create the initial administrator user
Step 3: Publisher	Configure the public-facing publisher settings
Step 4: Email (optional)	Configure email provider for notifications and identity
Step 5: CDN (optional)	Configure CDN provider for content delivery
Step 6: Review	Review all settings before committing
Complete	Finalize setup, restart required

Post-Setup¶

Application restart to apply configuration
Sign in with administrator credentials
Validate all settings
Disable setup mode (CosmosAllowSetup=false) for security

Multi-Tenant vs. Single-Tenant Setup¶

Single-tenant: Standard setup wizard at /__setup
Multi-tenant: Multi-tenant setup flow with per-tenant initialization
Database schema auto-initialized on first tenant access

3. Database Configuration¶

Documentation: Database Overview · Cosmos DB · SQL Server · MySQL · SQLite · Database Configuration Reference · EF Cross-Provider Compatibility Guide

Supported Databases¶

Database	Use Case	Connection
Azure Cosmos DB	Production, global scale, multi-region	Cosmos DB connection string
SQL Server / Azure SQL	Enterprise, ACID compliance	SQL Server connection string
MySQL	Open-source relational	MySQL connection string
SQLite	Development, demos, small sites	File path or `:memory:`

Database Features¶

Auto-detection from connection string (no configuration flags needed)
Provider selection is based on connection-string shape and documented for developers in the EF cross-provider guide
Schema auto-migration on startup
EF Core migrations support (AddMigrationScript.ps1)
Cross-provider query compatibility

4. Cloud Storage Configuration¶

Documentation: Storage Overview · Azure Blob Storage · Amazon S3 · Cloudflare R2 · Google Cloud Storage · Storage Configuration Reference · Storage Provider Auto-Detection

Supported Providers¶

Provider	Connection Method
Azure Blob Storage	Azure storage connection string
Amazon S3	AWS access key + secret
Cloudflare R2	S3-compatible endpoint + credentials
Azure Files	Azure file share connection string

Storage Roles¶

Media storage — Images, documents, uploaded assets
Static site hosting — Pre-generated HTML pages (Azure Blob static website)
File manager — All file operations routed through storage abstraction
Runtime detection — Active storage driver selected from the connection-string shape at startup or tenant resolution time

5. CDN Configuration¶

Documentation: CDN Overview · Azure Front Door · Cloudflare CDN · CloudFront · Sucuri · CDN Configuration Reference

Supported CDN Providers¶

Provider	Integration Type
Azure CDN / Azure Front Door	API-based cache purge
Cloudflare	API-based cache purge, edge hosting
AWS CloudFront	API-based cache invalidation
Sucuri	API-based cache purge

CDN Features¶

Configure from admin settings panel
Automatic cache purge on content publish
Purge failures don't block publishing (graceful degradation)
Per-tenant CDN isolation
Proxy settings configuration (for CDN/reverse proxy header forwarding)

6. Email Provider Configuration¶

Documentation: Email Overview · Azure Communication Services · SendGrid · SMTP · NoOp Provider · Email Configuration Reference

Supported Providers¶

Provider	Features
Azure Communication Services	Azure-native, high-volume delivery
SendGrid (Twilio)	Template support, delivery analytics
SMTP	Self-hosted, TLS support, username/password auth
NoOp	Development/test mode (no emails sent)

Email Roles¶

Identity emails (registration confirmation, password reset)
Contact form notifications
Admin alerts

7. Demo Deployment¶

Documentation: Demo Deployment Guide · SkyCMS.Demo README

Automated Demo Provisioning (SkyCMS.Demo)¶

PowerShell + Bicep automation for one-command demo site deployment to Azure.

What Gets Deployed¶

Resource	Purpose
App Service Plan	Compute (default P1v3 SKU)
Web App	Docker-hosted SkyCMS Editor
Storage Account	Blob storage for media assets
Azure File Share	Persistent storage for SQLite database

Demo Features¶

Pre-seeded SQLite database with sample content
Pre-populated blob storage with demo assets
Interactive PowerShell deployment script (deploy-demo.ps1)
Cleanup script for teardown (destroy-demo.ps1)
Configurable: resource group, region, name prefix, SKU
Docker image source (from GitHub Container Registry or custom)

8. Documentation Publishing (DocsPublisher)¶

Documentation: DocsPublisher Installation · DocsPublisher README · DocsPublisher Quick Start

Markdown-to-CMS Pipeline¶

A ready-to-run tool for syncing Markdown documentation into SkyCMS.

Features¶

Feature	Description
Markdown → HTML	Automatic conversion of `.md` files to HTML content
Asset upload	Images and files uploaded to `/pub/docs` storage path
Idempotent sync	Hash tracking prevents duplicate uploads (`.skycms/docs-import-map.json`)
GitHub Actions CI	Automated sync on doc changes via workflow
Front matter	YAML metadata: title, summary, URL path, publish flag, banner image
Relative links	Internal cross-linking between documentation pages

Front Matter Schema¶

---
title: Page Title
summary: Brief description
published: true
published_at: 2026-01-15T00:00:00Z
url_path: /docs/my-page
banner_image: https://example.com/banner.jpg
article_type: documentation
---

Integration¶

Uses the SkyCMS Docs Import API (PUT/DELETE /_api/import/docs/{sourceKey})
Requires: API URL, API key, tenant host, service account user ID
Jest test suite for import script validation

9. CI/CD & DevOps¶

Documentation: CI/CD Pipelines Guide · Deployment Overview

GitHub Actions Workflows¶

Workflow	Purpose
Docker Image Build	Build and publish Docker images
NuGet Push	Publish NuGet packages (AspNetCore.Identity.FlexDb, etc.)
Docs Cloudflare Deploy	Deploy documentation to Cloudflare Pages
Docs Import	Sync Markdown documentation to SkyCMS

Secret Management¶

UploadSecretsToGithubRepo.ps1 — Upload secrets to GitHub repository
Cloudflare secrets setup documented (.github/CLOUDFLARE_SECRETS_SETUP.md)
Secrets managed via environment variables and secret stores — never in code

Package Management¶

Central package version management via Directory.Packages.props
NuGet package publishing for shared libraries
Global tool management (.config/dotnet-tools.json)

10. Licensing¶

Documentation: Licensing & Distribution

Open Source¶

GPL License — Core CMS under GNU General Public License
MIT License — Select components under MIT
CKEditor GPL — CKEditor fork under GPL
Licensing and distribution documentation provided

Self-Hosting¶

Free for self-hosting
No build pipeline required
No vendor lock-in — multi-cloud, multi-database
Docker container for portable deployment