automation

Strapi: Customizable Headless CMS

Name: Strapi: Customizable Headless CMS
Author: strapi

Get a developer-first CMS with Strapi. For founders needing flexible content management.

intermediate⏱ 1-2 hours💵 Free

72,838 stars9,821 forksTypeScriptHealth Score 9/10Updated 8/11/2026100% free · open source

What it is

Use Strapi to pull data from various sources into a custom database and create a headless CMS for your application.

What you can make with it

Automations like: when a new user signs up, store their data in a custom database and send them a welcome email.

How it helps

With Strapi, you can centralize your data, improve data consistency, and enhance your application's performance.

Real use case example

"A founder is building a product that requires a robust CMS. They use Strapi to set up a custom database, connect it to their application, and automate tasks such as user onboarding and data synchronization."

If you're new

Pick up Strapi when you need a simple CMS solution for a small application.

If you're senior

Senior engineers and professionals will reach for Strapi when they require a custom, scalable, and fully-featured headless CMS.

Common confusion cleared up

Strapi is not a traditional CMS but rather a headless CMS, providing a developer-first, fully customizable solution.

Best inside these AI tools

CursorCodex CLIAny AI Client

Pairs with

stripe webhookNotion databaseGitHub Copilot

Why we list it on WorkflowStacks: Strapi is included in the marketplace as a leading open-source headless CMS alternative.

What it does

Strapi is a headless Content Management System (CMS) that allows developers to create and manage content programmatically using JavaScript or TypeScript

Install / run

npx create-strapi-app my-app --quickstart

When to use it

•Building a custom website or application with a flexible content management system
•Creating a RESTful API for content management with a developer-first approach
•Developing a Jamstack project that requires a headless CMS for content creation and delivery

Quick start

1Create a new Strapi project using the command `npx create-strapi-app my-app --quickstart`
2Start the development server with `npm run develop` or `yarn develop`
3Access the Strapi admin panel at http://localhost:1337/admin to create and manage content types
4Create a new content type by clicking on 'Content Type Builder' and following the wizard
5Use the Strapi API to fetch and display content in your application, for example with `http://localhost:1337/api/articles`

Ready-to-paste prompt

curl -X GET \<https://localhost:1337/api/articles?sort=title:asc>

Heads up: Make sure you have Node.js (≥14.17.0) and yarn (≥1.22.10) installed on your system, as Strapi requires these specific versions to run

Saves to your device

Topics

api

cms

cms-framework

content-management

content-management-system

customizable

dashboard

graphql

hacktoberfest

headless-cms

jamstack

javascript

mysql

no-code

nodejs

posgresql

rest

strapi

typescript

How Strapi: Customizable Headless CMS works

Codeflow

Free to inspect

Strapi: Customizable Headless CMS is a very large TypeScript project (~264k lines across 3502 code files, plus 1563 test files). Setup is light: installs like a normal app. Reading the code is optional. Last commit this month, Other license, has a test suite.

Size

Very large codebase

~264k lines · 3502 code files · days to read — use, don't read

Setup

One-command install

Installs like a normal app. Reading the code is optional.

Runs on

Node.js

No API keys detected

TypeScript 87%JavaScript 12%

Where to start reading

1
README.md
Start here — what it does and how to install it
2
AGENTS.md
The instructions the AI actually follows
3
package.json
Dependencies and the commands it exposes
4
packages/core/admin/README.md
Inside packages/core/ — the main logic begins here
5
examples/complex/.env.example
A worked example — copy this to get going