Can I build client sites with Nextly?

Yes. Build each client site as its own Next.js app, with its own Nextly and its own database. Put your client’s logo, favicon and colours on the admin with admin.branding. Role-based permissions for each collection and action, plus field-level read and write rules in code, on a collection’s or single’s fields, fields inside field groups included.

Agency workClient sites with an admin you can hand over.

Build each client site as its own Next.js app, with its own Nextly and its own database.

After a developer sets up and deploys Nextly, editors manage content and pages in the admin.

Start building Try the tour Read the docs

>_npx create-nextly-app@alpha my-app

01How it fits together

What you write, what Nextly runs, and who it is for

Each numbered part is explained under the drawing, with its limit where it has one.

Your Next.js app

In your codenextly.config.tsYour client’s logo and colours
Nextly, inside your Next.js appThe adminAt /admin
Who it is forYour client’s editors
In your codeSet in the admin
Nextly, inside your Next.js appRoles and permissionsPer collection and action
Who it is forEach person on your client’s team
In your codeTwenty core blocks
Nextly, inside your Next.js appVisual Page Builder@nextlyhq/plugin-page-builder
Who it is forYour client builds pages
In your codecollections/*.tsThe content model, in code
Nextly, inside your Next.js appVisual Schema BuilderOff in production by default
Who it is forYou, in development

Your own PostgreSQL or MySQL database, or SQLite for local work

The admin
Put your client’s logo, favicon and colours on the admin with admin.branding.
Sign-in for your team: email and password, sessions and API keys, stored in your own database.
CMS for Next.js
Roles and permissions
Role-based permissions for each collection and action, plus field-level read and write rules in code, on a collection’s or single’s fields, fields inside field groups included.
CMS for Next.js
Visual Page Builder
The Visual Page Builder ships with 20 core blocks, from sections and columns to forms, galleries and embeds.
A block’s supports decides which style controls the Visual Page Builder offers for it.
Visual Page Builder
Visual Schema Builder
Model content visually on your development instance with the Visual Schema Builder.
In production the Visual Schema Builder is off unless you turn it on with admin.branding.showBuilder.
Visual Schema Builder

02Who does what

Who does what

Your agency

01
Create the project
One command creates a project with the admin and a database: npx create-nextly-app@alpha my-app.
02
Brand the admin
Put your client’s logo, favicon and colours on the admin with admin.branding.
03
Create the first admin
In production, the web setup asks for a one-time setup token, printed in the server log, before it creates the first admin.
The dashboard, with its collection counts and create buttons.
Nextly admin · 0.0.2-alpha.69

HandoverAfter a developer sets up and deploys Nextly, editors manage content and pages in the admin.

Your client

04
Build pages
The Visual Page Builder ships with 20 core blocks, from sections and columns to forms, galleries and embeds.
An image block selected, with its Content tab open.
Nextly admin · 0.0.2-alpha.69
05
Restore an earlier version
Compare two versions of the same language and restore an earlier one from the admin; restoring saves the current state first.
Two versions of a post compared side by side.
Nextly admin · 0.0.2-alpha.69
06
See who changed what
An activity feed of who created, changed or deleted entries, and a security audit trail.
The recent activity feed on the dashboard.
Nextly admin · 0.0.2-alpha.69

03In your code

The code you write

// Single logo for both modes
admin: {
  branding: {
    logoUrl: "/logo.svg",
    logoText: "Acme CMS",
  },
},

import { defineCollection, relationship, text } from "nextly/config";

export const Posts = defineCollection({
  slug: "posts",
  fields: [
    text({ name: "title" }),
    relationship({ name: "author", relationTo: "users" }),
  ],
  access: {
    read: true,
    // Narrowed: the role's update-posts, and not while a content freeze is on.
    update: () => process.env.CONTENT_FREEZE !== "on",
  },
});

docs/admin/branding.mdx · v0.0.2-alpha.72

Try Nextly here, before you install it.

Pick a tour. Each one is a short, hands-on illustration of the product, and nothing here is saved.

A short tour, in your browser, and nothing is saved. Every control it draws is one Nextly 0.0.2-alpha.72 has; a dashed button is a tour shortcut.

An illustration of the Nextly admin nothing is saved

Step 1 of 3

Posts Release notes: November

Draft

Release notes: November

Excerpt

Content releases, version history and a German edition.

Change the excerpt, then Save

History

Every save that changes the content is recorded as a version, drafts included.

Version 2 yesterday Excerpt rewritten
Version 1 3 days ago Created

Every save that changes the content is recorded as a version. Compare two, and restore one.

npx create-nextly-app@alpha my-app

Read the quick start

In 0.0.2-alpha.72

What ships today

Agency workAt a glance

Packages: nextly, @nextlyhq/plugin-page-builder
Release: 0.0.2-alpha.72 · 27 Oct 2026
Licence: MIT
Core blocks: 20 core blocks
Databases: PostgreSQL 15+, MySQL 8+, SQLite 3.38+ for local work
Requires: Node.js 22.12+ or 24+; Next.js 16 with the App Router; React 19

Documentation Release notes

Where Nextly is today

Before you start

Nextly fits if you want

Keep the site inside your own Next.js app, on your own database.
Access rules in code that apply over REST and in the admin.

Look elsewhere if you need

One admin serving many clients from one database.
A review-and-approve step before publishing.
A hosted service. Nextly is self-hosted.

One client, one app: One admin does not keep several clients’ content apart: access rules have no per-row filtering, so give each client their own app and database. Docs
The first admin: In production, the web setup asks for a one-time setup token, printed in the server log, before it creates the first admin. Docs
The schema in production: In production the Visual Schema Builder is off unless you turn it on with admin.branding.showBuilder. Docs

Nextly is in alpha. APIs may change before 1.0. Pin exact versions in production.

Questions

Short answers

Can each client have their own database?

Build each client site as its own Next.js app, with its own Nextly and its own database.

Runs inside your own Next.js app, on your own PostgreSQL or MySQL database, or SQLite for local work.

Can one Nextly admin serve several clients?

No. One admin does not keep several clients’ content apart: access rules have no per-row filtering, so give each client their own app and database.

Can I put my client’s logo on the admin?

Put your client’s logo, favicon and colours on the admin with admin.branding.

Can my client change the content model?

In production the Visual Schema Builder is off unless you turn it on with admin.branding.showBuilder.

Model content visually on your development instance with the Visual Schema Builder.

Can my client undo a change?

Working drafts with autosave, and a side-by-side comparison of two versions of the same language.

Compare two versions of the same language and restore an earlier one from the admin; restoring saves the current state first.

Which plugins can I add?

The established official plugins: Visual Page Builder, SEO and Form Builder.

Build forms and capture submissions with the official Form Builder plugin.

Is Nextly free?

Nextly is MIT licensed and self-hosted.

MIT today, and no decision yet about paid offerings.

Agency workClient sites with an admin you can hand over.

What you write, what Nextly runs, and who it is for

The admin

Roles and permissions

Visual Page Builder

Visual Schema Builder