Content editor overview

This guide is for editors who have never used the site before. It walks through every public content type managed in the CMS at /admin.

Before you start

1. Local or staging access — follow Local setup or use a deployed environment
2. CMS role — your account must be Admin, Editor, or Contributor
3. Sign in — /login → /admin

Optional seed data (npm run db:seed) creates sample categories, frameworks, and an admin user so you can inspect working examples before creating your own.

Recommended setup order

Build content in this order — later steps depend on earlier ones:

Step	Admin path	Why first
1	/admin/categories	Pillars and article grouping
2	/admin/frameworks	Homepage featured research
3	/admin/articles	Pillar feeds, labs, research notes
4	/admin/resources	Downloadable assets
5	/admin/podcasts	Media hub
6	/admin/assessments	Standalone readiness quizzes
7	/admin/learning-paths	Curated sequences (needs content IDs)
8	/admin/users	Staff accounts (Admin only)
9	Stripe + /pricing	Premium gating (see Commerce setup)

Research studies are configured separately — see Research operations.

How the CMS works

• Create — /admin/[type]/new
• Edit — click a row in the list, or open /admin/[type]/[id]
• Publish — set status/flags (varies by type); public pages read published rows only
• Immediate updates — saving calls a server action + revalidatePath; no redeploy needed

Finding content IDs

Several forms (especially learning paths) ask for a content ID — the database primary key, not the slug.

1. Open the item in the CMS (e.g. /admin/articles/abc123…)
2. Copy the ID from the browser URL: /admin/articles/clxyz…

Keep a simple spreadsheet of title → ID while building learning paths.

Visibility quick reference

Most content types have Visibility and Teaser fields. Full rules are in Access & gating.

Visibility	Who sees full content
Public	Everyone
Free member	Signed-in members
Premium	Premium plan or path purchase

Publish checklist

Before announcing new content:

• Status is Published (articles) or Published checkbox checked (frameworks, paths, etc.)
• Slug is correct — URLs are permanent
• Public summary / excerpt reads well on listing pages
• Featured image URL loads (if used)
• Visibility matches intent
• Open the public URL in a private window to verify gating
• Homepage sections update if Featured is checked (frameworks, articles, lab reports)

Public URL map

Content	URL pattern
Article	/articles/[slug]
Lab report	/labs/[slug]
Framework	/research/[slug]
Resource	/resources (listing) + download via API
Podcast	/media/[slug]
Learning path	/learning-paths/[slug]
Assessment	/assessments/[slug]
Pillar page	/learn, /research, /systems, … (from category slug)

Next steps

Start with Categories & pillars, then work through the guides in order above.