BrixCMS.Open.Core 1.4.0

BrixCMS

Open-source, block-based CMS for .NET 10. Build pages visually, ship AI-powered chatbots, and run everything on a single SQLite file.

What is BrixCMS?

BrixCMS is a free, self-hosted CMS built on ASP.NET Core 10 + Blazor. No Docker required, no managed cloud, no SaaS subscription. Drop it on any server with .NET installed and you're live in minutes.

Who is it for?

• .NET developers who don't want to reach for WordPress
• Agencies building client sites on a familiar stack
• Teams that need GDPR-compliant hosting (no data leaves your server by default)

Features

Tech Stack

Quick Start

Prerequisites: .NET 10 SDK

Option A — dotnet new (recommended)

dotnet new install BrixCMS.Open.Templates
dotnet new brixcms -n MyWebsite
cd MyWebsite
dotnet run

Option B — clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/Learsi23/BrixCMS
cd BrixCMS/BrixCMS.Open
dotnet run

Open https://localhost:5001 — your site is running.

Admin panel: https://localhost:5001/Manager
Default credentials: admin@brix.com / admin123 — change these immediately.

AI Chatbot Setup

BrixCMS.Open supports two AI modes: local (Ollama, free, zero data leaves your server) and cloud (Gemini — BYOK). You can switch between them from the admin panel at Configuration → Chatbot & Security, no code changes needed.

Option A — Ollama (local, default)

# Install Ollama from https://ollama.com, then:
ollama pull llama3.1:8b   # chat model
ollama pull all-minilm    # embeddings for PDF search

No configuration needed — BrixCMS connects to http://localhost:11434 automatically. You can also download models directly from the admin panel.

Option B — Gemini (cloud, free tier available)

1. Get a free API key at aistudio.google.com/app/apikey — Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is free (60 req/min, 1 M tokens/day).
2. Open the admin panel → Configuration → Chatbot & Security.
3. Paste your key in the Gemini section and click Save.
4. Pick a model (gemini-2.5-flash-lite / gemini-2.5-flash / gemini-2.5-pro) and click Set Active.

The key is stored encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) and never leaves your server. If Gemini is unavailable the system falls back to Ollama automatically.

PDF-trained chatbot

Drop any PDF into wwwroot/Data/ (or upload via the admin panel). On startup BrixCMS ingests it into the local vector store and the ChatBlock answers questions about it with source citations. Works with both Ollama and Gemini.

Block Reference

Layout

GridColumn · FullColumnBlock · SpacerBlock · DividerBlock · BannerBlock

Content

HeroBlock · HeroFlexibleBlock · TextBlock · MarkdownBlock · ImageBlock · CardBlock · IconCardBlock · StatsBlock · CTABannerBlock · LogoStripBlock · TimelineBlock · TestimonialsBlock · SocialProofBlock · TeamBlock · FeatureGridBlock · FeatureListBlock · MenuBlock · OpeningHoursBlock · TableBlock · CodeBlock

Media

GalleryBlock · VideoBlock · FlexibleImageTextBlock · MapBlock · BeforeAfterBlock · AudioBlock · LottieBlock · QRCodeBlock

Interactive

ButtonLinkBlock · AccordionBlock · TabsBlock · FAQBlock · CountdownBlock · NewsletterBlock · CookieBannerBlock · DropdownBlock

AI / Blazor

ChatBlock · FloatingChatBlock · ContactFormBlock

Headless API

BrixCMS exposes a read-only JSON API so you can use it as a backend for any frontend — Next.js, Nuxt, React, Vue, Flutter, or anything that speaks HTTP.

All endpoints return JSON. No authentication required for published content.

GET /api/content/pages

Returns all published pages with their SEO metadata. Use this to build navigation, sitemaps, or a page list in your frontend.

Response

[
  {
    "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
    "title": "Home",
    "slug": "",
    "metaDescription": "Welcome to my site — built with BrixCMS.",
    "ogImage": "/images/og-home.jpg",
    "metaKeywords": "cms, dotnet, open source",
    "publishedAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "sortOrder": 0,
    "pageType": "standard"
  },
  {
    "id": "7c9e6679-7425-40de-944b-e07fc1f90ae7",
    "title": "About",
    "slug": "about",
    "metaDescription": "Learn more about us.",
    "ogImage": null,
    "metaKeywords": null,
    "publishedAt": "2025-01-16T08:00:00Z",
    "sortOrder": 1,
    "pageType": "standard"
  }
]

GET /api/content/pages/{slug}

Returns a single published page with its full nested block tree. The home page has an empty slug ("").

GET /api/content/pages/about
GET /api/content/pages/        ← home page

Response

{
  "id": "7c9e6679-7425-40de-944b-e07fc1f90ae7",
  "title": "About",
  "slug": "about",
  "metaDescription": "Learn more about us.",
  "ogImage": "/images/about-og.jpg",
  "metaKeywords": "about, team",
  "publishedAt": "2025-01-16T08:00:00Z",
  "pageType": "standard",
  "blocks": [
    {
      "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
      "parentId": null,
      "type": "HeroBlock",
      "sortOrder": 0,
      "data": {
        "title": "We build great products",
        "subtitle": "A small team with big ambitions.",
        "buttonText": "Get started",
        "buttonUrl": "/contact",
        "backgroundImage": "/images/hero-bg.jpg"
      },
      "children": []
    },
    {
      "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
      "parentId": null,
      "type": "GridColumn",
      "sortOrder": 1,
      "data": { "columns": 2 },
      "children": [
        {
          "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000003",
          "parentId": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
          "type": "TextBlock",
          "sortOrder": 0,
          "data": { "content": "<p>Our mission is...</p>" },
          "children": []
        },
        {
          "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000004",
          "parentId": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
          "type": "ImageBlock",
          "sortOrder": 1,
          "data": { "src": "/images/team.jpg", "alt": "Our team" },
          "children": []
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Blocks that act as containers (e.g. GridColumn) nest their child blocks under children. Leaf blocks have an empty children array.

GET /api/content/pages/{slug}/blocks

Returns a flat list of all blocks for a page, without nesting. Use this when you want to build your own tree or render blocks in a custom order.

[
  {
    "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
    "parentId": null,
    "type": "HeroBlock",
    "sortOrder": 0,
    "data": {
      "title": "We build great products",
      "buttonText": "Get started",
      "buttonUrl": "/contact"
    }
  },
  {
    "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
    "parentId": null,
    "type": "GridColumn",
    "sortOrder": 1,
    "data": { "columns": 2 }
  },
  {
    "id": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000003",
    "parentId": "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
    "type": "TextBlock",
    "sortOrder": 0,
    "data": { "content": "<p>Our mission is...</p>" }
  }
]

POST /api/newsletter/subscribe

Subscribe an email address to the newsletter.

Request body

{ "email": "user@example.com", "name": "Alice" }

Responses

Error responses

All error responses follow the same shape:

{ "error": "Page not found." }

404 is returned when a page does not exist or is unpublished.

Consuming the API from Next.js

// lib/brixcms.ts
const BASE = process.env.BRIX_URL ?? 'https://your-brixcms-host.com';

export async function getPage(slug: string) {
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/api/content/pages/${slug}`, {
    next: { revalidate: 60 },   // ISR — revalidate every 60 seconds
  });
  if (!res.ok) return null;
  return res.json();
}

export async function getAllPages() {
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/api/content/pages`);
  return res.json();
}

// app/[slug]/page.tsx
import { getPage, getAllPages } from '@/lib/brixcms';

export async function generateStaticParams() {
  const pages = await getAllPages();
  return pages.map((p: any) => ({ slug: p.slug || '' }));
}

export default async function CmsPage({ params }: { params: { slug: string } }) {
  const page = await getPage(params.slug);
  if (!page) notFound();
  // render page.blocks however you like
}

Configuration

appsettings.json — set before deploying:

{
  "EncryptionKey": "your-32-char-minimum-secret-key!!",
  "SmtpSettings": {
    "SmtpServer": "smtp.resend.com",
    "SmtpPort": 465,
    "SmtpUsername": "resend",
    "SmtpPassword": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "FromEmail": "hello@yourdomain.com"
  },
  "Ollama": {
    "ChatModel": "llama3.1:8b",
    "EmbeddingModel": "all-minilm:latest"
  }
}

Use User Secrets or environment variables for all sensitive values in production.

Deployment

BrixCMS runs on any server with .NET 10. No Docker required.

dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish
# Copy ./publish to your server and run:
dotnet BrixCMS.Open.dll

Works on: Azure App Service · DigitalOcean · Hetzner · VPS with systemd

For Azure Sweden North (recommended for Swedish GDPR compliance), use the standard App Service Linux plan.

Project Structure

BrixCMS.Open/
├── Areas/Manager/          # Admin panel (login, pages, media, team, backup)
├── Components/             # Blazor components (chat UI, contact form, interactive blocks)
├── Controllers/            # CMS, API, sitemap, landing
├── Data/                   # EF Core context + entity models
├── Models/                 # 40+ block type definitions
├── Services/               # Auth, AI, PDF ingestion, email, encryption
├── Views/                  # Razor views (blocks, layouts, admin)
├── wwwroot/                # Static assets + PDF data folder
├── Program.cs              # App startup
└── appsettings.json        # Configuration

vs BrixCMS Pro

BrixCMS Pro →

Security Notes

• Passwords: PBKDF2-SHA256, 100,000 iterations
• API keys: AES-256-GCM encrypted at rest
• 2FA: TOTP (RFC 6238) — works with Google Authenticator, Authy, Microsoft Authenticator
• Rate limiting: 5 login attempts/min, 20 AI requests/min
• Security headers: X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy

Changelog

v1.4.0 (2026-05-31)

• Navbar auto-shows published pages: Unhandled top-level published pages now appear automatically alongside configured menu items, with dropdown children support
• Seed items auto-clear: First real page publish removes seed menu items and footer page links
• Fixed 404 on root URL: MapFallbackToController replaces the broken pattern: "" route
• Fixed admin anti-forgery: Save Settings page no longer shows the anti-forgery class name
• Improved route ordering: CMS catch-all route now registered before MapRazorComponents<App>()
• Full changelog: GitHub Releases

Support the Project

If BrixCMS saves you time or helps your project, please give it a star on GitHub ⭐ — it takes two seconds and helps others discover it.

You can also help by:

• Sharing on social media / dev communities (tag #BrixCMS)
• Writing a blog post or tutorial
• Opening issues and PRs — all contributions welcome!

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute. Attribution required in the OSS version (footer bar). Remove it by upgrading to BrixCMS Pro.