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Basehim
v1.2.58 is out · What's new (opens the release notes on GitHub in a new tab)

The CMS Built for the AI Era

An open-source PHP CMS with a full REST API and a built-in MCP server for AI agents. It runs on ordinary hosting: no Composer, no build step, no terminal required.

Download Basehim Quick start

v1.2.58 MIT licensed PHP 8.1+ ~1 MB zip Source on GitHub

content/apps/hello/src/App.php 
<?php
namespace Acme\Hello;

final class App extends \App\Core\App
{
    public function boot(): void
    {
        // A dashboard widget
        $this->registerWidget('stats', [
            'title'    => 'Site Stats',
            'surfaces' => ['dashboard'],
            'render'   => fn() => '<p>Hello 👋</p>',
        ]);

        // Hook into content
        $this->addFilter('post.content', fn($html) =>
            $html . '<hr>Thanks for reading!');
    }
}

A complete app: this file plus a short app.json. Drop the folder into content/apps, activate, done. How apps work

  • Runs on any standard web host
  • MIT licensed, open source
  • REST API for everything
  • Built-in MCP for AI agents

Quick start

Up and running in about a minute

Choose where to run it. The web installer then sets up the database, the tables and your admin account.

  1. 1

    Download the latest release

    One zip, about 1 MB, with everything included and nothing to build.

    basehim.zip v1.2.58
  2. 2

    Upload it to your hosting

    Put the contents of the zip's basehim/ folder in public_html/ with your control panel's File Manager or FTP. A subfolder works too, for example public_html/blog/.

  3. 3

    Open the installer

    Visit yoursite.com/install.php and enter the MySQL database your host gave you. Four short steps and you're signed in to /admin.

PHP
8.1 or newer
Extensions
pdo_mysql, mbstring, openssl, gd, fileinfo, zip
Database
MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
Web server
Apache or LiteSpeed (cPanel, Plesk)

Step-by-step help, including what to do if something goes wrong: installation guide

Built for what comes next

Open, modular, and ready for AI

Basehim is an open-source, modular CMS with powerful APIs, AI-ready architecture, and flexible themes, apps and modules — built for developers, businesses, and the next generation of website builders.

AI-ready architecture

A built-in Model Context Protocol server lets AI agents search, read and draft your content — every permission scoped, so you decide exactly what they can reach.

Powerful APIs

A full REST API across posts, pages, media, users and taxonomies. Build a separate front end, connect other systems, or automate what you do by hand today.

Modular by design

Blocks, widgets, modules and a clean hook system. Add what you need, leave out what you do not, and swap any piece without rebuilding the site.

Apps that fit

Actions, filters, admin menus, blocks and widgets, all through one consistent interface. One class and a manifest make a working app.

Flexible themes

Straightforward templates with no compile step and no framework to learn. Ship a theme by zipping a folder.

Marketplace built in

Browse and install themes and apps from inside the admin, every download checksum-verified. Sites check in on their own and update themselves.

Start building

API reference Every REST, OAuth and MCP endpoint, with scopes and examples. Write an app Hooks, routes, widgets, settings and the app lifecycle. Connect an AI agent Point Claude or any MCP client at /mcp. It registers itself.

Deploy anywhere

If it runs PHP, it runs Basehim

Most modern CMSs assume SSH, Composer and a build pipeline. Basehim doesn't. It was built for the hosting real clients actually buy — upload the files, open the installer, and you're live in about a minute.

  • Upload a zip — no terminal required
  • No vendor/ directory to sync
  • Works behind cPanel, Plesk or plain Apache
  • Subdirectory installs supported out of the box
  • Updates itself from the admin, one click
Installation guide
yoursite.com/install.php 
1 Requirements   ok  PHP 8.3 · pdo_mysql · gd
2 Database       ok  host, name, optional prefix
3 Schema         ok  tables created
4 Admin          ok  your account

Welcome to Basehim. Sign in at /admin

Learn

Latest guides & tutorials

Browse all

Connect an AI assistant to your site

A step-by-step tutorial. Connect Claude, or any MCP client, to your Basehim site over OAuth or with an API key. Choose the right account and scopes, try useful prompts, and know how to disconnect.

Asif Mughal

Publish from a script with the REST API

A step-by-step tutorial. Write a small Node.js script that publishes Markdown files to Basehim - creating the category, uploading a cover image, and updating the same post on later runs - with a scoped API key and proper error handling.

Asif Mughal

Import an RSS feed on a schedule

A step-by-step tutorial. Build an app that checks an RSS feed every hour and saves new items as draft posts, using scheduled tasks, outbound HTTP, terms, declared permissions and the app log, plus a real cron job for punctual runs.

Asif Mughal

Give your app an MCP tool for AI agents

A step-by-step tutorial. Expose your app's data to AI assistants as an MCP tool with its own scope, decide which roles may grant it, and test it with an API key and a JSON-RPC call.

Asif Mughal

Add a "Was this helpful?" widget with AJAX

A step-by-step tutorial. Build an app that asks readers whether a post helped, records answers through a rate-limited public AJAX action, stores them in its own table and shows a report to editors.

Asif Mughal

Build a theme from scratch

A step-by-step tutorial. Build "Notebook", a clean reading theme with a header, menus, a sidebar widget area, post cards, pagination, comments, an author box and a Customizer accent colour, in plain PHP and CSS.

Asif Mughal

Ready to build on a solid base?

Free, MIT licensed and yours to extend. Get a site running in the time it takes to make coffee.

Download Basehim Read the docs