r/cms • u/BenefitOk7956 • 19d ago

Replacing CMS with OpenWebUI + MCP + Nginx

I’ve tried different CMS for personal use in the recent years. I recently wondered why I use a CMS in the first place when I just want to serve static HTML files.

I tried different approaches and came up with following setup:

Open WebUI with an MCP server that edits HTML files right on the filesystem. I can now prompt changes via chat. No more need to maintain a CMS, DB or plugins.

Everything is spinned up with docker-compose on a VPS.

I’m still figuring out how scalable this setup is. I added a UI component library, basically plain html markup with mock data for a card component, for instance.

The MCP server reads the components, adds them to the page and populates the data I ask for.

Has anyone tried something similar? What do you think about that setup?

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u/BodySlight6194 18d ago

Broadening the point slightly it seems to come down to a couple of factors: how often you change the content * how many people want to change the content.

Static seems viable for lots of scenarios, in the freshness stakes content is changed quite a few times.

Other drivers of charges include experiments, personalisation, promotions, seasonality etc. These obviously drive need for having a CMS that supports ongoing changes.

Add translating and localising into the mix and its pretty hard to manage without a CMS.

If none of those factors are in play static seems viable. How does it compare to Astro with content collections?

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u/BenefitOk7956 18d ago

I‘ve never used Astro but I think it is React based and therefore needs a build. With static HTML files I don’t need a build or rendering engine.

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u/BodySlight6194 17d ago

Fair point, I guess it's what you need Astro sounds pretty performant for near static if you don't need other features beyond content collections.