Admin Panel
Overview of the Nextly admin panel, including navigation, features, and how to access it.
Nextly ships with a full-featured admin panel built on React and Radix UI. It gives content editors and developers a visual interface for managing collections, singles, media, users, and settings, all without leaving the browser.
Accessing the Admin Panel
The admin panel is available at /admin by default. On first visit, Nextly runs a setup wizard that creates the initial admin account. After setup, users log in at /admin/login.
https://your-app.com/adminNavigation Structure
The admin panel uses a dual-sidebar layout. A narrow icon sidebar on the left provides top-level sections, and a wider detail sidebar shows the items within each section.
Sidebar Sections
| Section | What It Contains |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Overview landing page |
| Collections | Dynamic list of your collections. Click to browse and edit entries |
| Singles | Dynamic list of your singles. Click to edit the document |
| Media Library | Upload, browse, and manage files and images |
| Plugins | Plugin-provided pages (if any plugins are installed) |
| Users | User accounts, Roles & permissions, Custom user fields |
| Settings | General settings, API Keys, Email Providers, Email Templates |
| Schema Builder | Collections Builder, Singles Builder, Components Builder |
Collections and Singles sections are populated dynamically from your nextly.config.ts configuration. The Schema Builder section is visible by default in development and hidden in production. See Branding for the showBuilder toggle.
Key Features
Content Management
Every collection registered in nextly.config.ts gets a list view with filtering, sorting, pagination, and full-text search. Click an entry to open the editing form with field-type-aware inputs: rich text, date pickers, upload zones, relationship selectors, and more.
Media Library
A centralized media library supports drag-and-drop uploads, image previews, and file metadata editing. Upload fields across all collections reference this library.
Schema Builder
The Schema Builder is Nextly's visual schema designer. It lets you create and edit Collections, Singles, and Components through a drag-and-drop interface instead of writing code. The Schema Builder auto-generates TypeScript types, Zod validation schemas, and database migrations from your visual design.
See Schema Builder for a full walkthrough.
User Management
Manage user accounts, assign roles, and configure role-based permissions. The permission system controls access to every collection, single, and admin feature at a granular level (create, read, update, delete).
Settings
The Settings section provides configuration for:
- General. Site-wide settings
- API Keys. Create and manage API keys for external integrations
- Email Providers. Configure Resend, SMTP, or other providers
- Email Templates. Customize transactional email templates
Permissions
Navigation items are permission-gated. Users only see sections they have access to. The key permissions that control admin visibility:
read-mediafor Media Libraryread-usersfor Users sectionread-rolesfor Roles managementmanage-settingsfor Settings, Schema Builder, and Custom Fields sections
Next Steps
- Schema Builder -- Create collections, singles, and components visually
- Customization -- Configure the admin panel behavior
- Branding -- Customize logo, colors, and favicon
- Collections -- Define collections in code