BotCMS Platform

A Laravel-powered Content Management Platform
Modular Monolith • AI-Native • JSON-Metadata CPTs • Multi-Site • Marketplace Ready

BotCMS is an advanced, high-performance alternative to WordPress and Shopify. Built on Laravel 13+ and PHP 8.4+, BotCMS combines the dynamic extensibility of classic CMS platforms with the security, speed, and clean MVC structure of modern web applications.

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📊 Technical Comparison: WordPress vs. Shopify vs. BotCMS

Feature	WordPress	Shopify	BotCMS (Our Monolith)
Framework/Language	Legacy PHP (Procedural)	Closed SaaS (Ruby/Liquid)	Modern PHP 8.4+ / Laravel 13 (MVC)
Database Schema	Bloated EAV (wp_postmeta)	Proprietary API Cache	Clean SQL + JSON Metadata Columns
Response Speed	150ms - 500ms (Uncached)	Variable (Hosted API)	Sub-15ms (Native database compile)
AI Compatibility	Poor (Requires heavy DB setups)	Medium (Theme Liquid files)	Excellent (Code-first template files)
Extensibility	Messy Hook actions	App Bridge Webhooks (Slow)	Secure Sandbox Action/Filter Hooks
Architecture	Spaghetti legacy files	Multi-tenant SaaS	Decoupled Modular Monolith

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🧩 Foundational Architecture

BotCMS is designed around three decoupled, recursive folders residing in the workspace root:

1. Modules/ (Core Application Layer): Holds essential system packages like Auth (login, roles, RBAC permissions) and Dashboard (visual control panel screens).
2. Plugins/ (Logical Extension Layer): Self-contained packages with custom routes, controllers, models, and migrations. They can inject HTML input fields into forms using core Action Hooks and save extra data into custom SQL tables.
3. Themes/ (Visual Frontend Layer): Folder structures containing custom templates and CSS styling configurations. Switching active themes dynamically swaps the CSS framework engine (Tailwind CSS vs. Bootstrap 5).

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💡 Key Developer & AI Features

1. Hybrid Code-First Templates (WordPress & Shopify Style)

Non-technical managers can create pages in the Admin Dashboard. However, if a developer or coding AI wants to build a highly customized, interactive page:

• Simply create a file named page-{$slug}.blade.php (e.g. page-about-us.blade.php) inside your active theme directory (Themes/{activeTheme}/resources/views/).
• Resolution Priority: When a user visits /about-us, BotCMS scans the theme directory first. If the file exists, it renders the template file directly, ignoring the database content!

2. Custom Post Types & JSON Metadata (No Bloat CPTs)

Register new post types (e.g. Portfolio, Testimonials) at boot time:

use App\Core\Facades\PostType;

PostType::register('portfolio', [
    'label' => 'Portfolio',
    'singular_label' => 'Project',
    'icon' => 'briefcase',
    'supports' => ['title', 'editor'],
    'fields' => [
        'client_name' => ['type' => 'text', 'label' => 'Client Name'],
        'project_date' => ['type' => 'date', 'label' => 'Completion Date'],
    ]
]);

• Auto-Generated Admin UI: Forms, fields, and tables are generated automatically in the Admin Dashboard.
• Database Performance: Saved attributes are stored in a native metadata JSON column on the posts table—retaining dynamic flexibility while utilizing native database JSON index compiled speeds.

3. Reference MVC Plugin: BotCommerce (Plugins/BotCommerce)

We have built a foundational E-Commerce starter plugin showing how plugins can extend the core platform:

• Custom Migrations: Creates a plugin_products table containing sku, price, and stock_quantity.
• Hierarchical Sidebar Menus: Dynamic parent-child navigation registry using the AdminMenu facade, creating nested Products, Orders, and Stripe Gateways screens.
• Action Hook Injections: Injects inputs into the dynamic product CPT edit form using botcms_cpt_edit_fields_product and saves data to its custom table using botcms_cpt_saved_product.
• Public Shop Catalog: Registers public routes /shop and /shop/product/{slug} utilizing its own models and Blade views.

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🚀 Quick Start (Local Development)

1. Requirements

• PHP 8.4+ (PHP 8.5 recommended)
• Composer 2.9+
• SQLite (default) or PostgreSQL/MySQL

2. Setup & Installation (1-Click Installer)

Run the interactive setup script in the workspace root:

./install.sh

This script validates your environment, installs dependencies, prompts you to select your preferred database driver, runs migrations, and seeds defaults.

3. Start Development Server

php artisan serve

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000 to view the public site.

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🔐 Credentials & Testing

• Admin URL: http://127.0.0.1:8000/login
• Default Super Admin:
  • Email: admin@botcms.local
  • Password: admin123

Run Automated Tests

Execute the feature test suite verifying modular isolation, hooks registry, authentication, CPTs, and BotCommerce integration:

php artisan test

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📜 Detailed Docs

For a deep dive into Hook registries, custom plugin creation, and theme configuration, refer to our detailed developer logs:

• Markdown format: DOCUMENTATION.md
• HTML format: DOCUMENTATION.html

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📄 License

Licensed under the MIT Open Source License. Build something extraordinary!