devLap

How to Develop Faster with LindenCMS

php dev.to

Why Another CMS?

Every development tool shares one goal: development efficiency. LindenCMS is no exception. Its mission is to find the most efficient way to configure dynamic content.

When developing websites, you often encounter a typical task — adding a new section or page to your site.

If you use a traditional CMS, you manually create migrations, edit source files, or install additional plugins. If you write code manually, you're bouncing between migrations, validation rules, resources and views files. Scattered changes across your entire application.

Why can't a single class declaration handle everything — migrations, validation, admin UI, and API?

That's exactly the idea LindenCMS brings to life.

The Task: Adding Memberships to a Gym Website

We've built a gym website with LindenCMS. It's a demo project — not a real production site, but a fully functional showcase that you can explore in the demo repository.

Now the client wants a new page — Memberships — where visitors can see available plans.

Here's the design:

The data structure is simple:

  • title (string)
  • price (float)
  • is popular flag (boolean)
  • access list (string[])

The page should:

  • List all active memberships
  • Be manageable through the admin panel

The Workflow

Here's how LindenCMS handles this task from start to finish.

Step 1: Declare the Node 

<?php

namespace App\Nodes;

use LindenCMS\Cms\Attributes\Validation;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Attributes\View;
use LindenCMS\Core\Attributes\Collection;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\_Bool;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\_Float;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\_String;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\AppNode;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\AppNodeCollection;

#[View(
    label: 'Membership',
    labelMany: 'Memberships',
    icon: 'mdi:wallet-membership',
    index: ['title', 'price', 'created_at', 'updated_at'],
    filterable: ['id', 'title', 'price', 'created_at'],
    sortable: ['id', 'title', 'price', 'created_at'],
)]
class Membership extends AppNode
{
    #[View(label: 'title', asOption: true)]
    #[Validation('required')]
    public _String $title;

    public _Float $price;

    public _Bool $is_popular;

    #[Collection(Access::class)]
    public AppNodeCollection $access;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

What's happening here:

  • AppNode — base class for all content entities
  • _String, _Float, _Bool — typed properties that hold data
  • AppNodeCollection - typed collection
  • #[View] — tells the system how to display this in the admin
  • #[Validation] — defines validation rules

Each membership can have multiple access items — like "24/7 Gym Access", "Pool Access", or "Personal Training". The Access class represents a single item in that list:

<?php

namespace App\Nodes;

use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\_String;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\AppNode;

class Access extends AppNode
{
    public _String $title;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Right now it's simple — just a title. But you can easily extend it later:

class Access extends AppNode
{
    public _String $title;
    public _String $icon;  // New field
    public _Bool $is_available; // Another field
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Step 2: Register the Node

Add it to config/lindencms.php:

'nodes' => [
    'memberships' => App\Nodes\Membership::class,
],
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Step 3: Run Sync 

php artisan lindencms:sync
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This command will migrate your database to the current nodes state.

Step 4: Admin Panel Ready

Visit /lindencms and you'll see the Memberships section with full CRUD functionality.

No additional code required.

Step 5: Public Page

Create app/Nodes/Pages/MembershipsPage.php:

<?php

namespace App\Nodes\Pages;

use App\Nodes\Membership;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Attributes\Load;
use LindenCMS\Core\Attributes\Collection;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\AppNodeCollection;
use LindenCMS\Cms\Nodes\Page;

class MembershipsPage extends Page
{
    #[Load(static function (AppNodeCollection $node) {
        $node->context('db.read')->read()
    })]
    #[Collection(type: Membership::class)]
    public AppNodeCollection $memberships;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Add the route in routes/web.php:

Route::get('/memberships', MembershipsPage::class);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Create the view — resources/views/pages/memberships-page.blade.php:

<div class="memberships">
    @foreach ($page->memberships as $membership)
        <div class="membership-card">
            <h3>{{ $membership->title }}</h3>
            <p>${{ $membership->price }}/month</p>
            @if ($membership->is_popular)
                <span class="badge">Popular</span>
            @endif
            <ul>
                @foreach ($membership->access as $item)
                    <li>{{ $item->title }}</li>
                @endforeach
            </ul>
        </div>
    @endforeach
</div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

the template is intentionally simplified and may differ from the repository version

MembershipsPage is holding list of Membership::class, but—just as with the Access collection we can easily add any other nodes from our project:

class MembershipsPage extends Page
{
    #[Load(static function (AppNodeCollection $node) {
        $node->context('db.read')->read()
    })]
    #[Collection(type: Membership::class)]
    public AppNodeCollection $memberships;

    #[Load(static function (About $node) {
        $node->context('db.read-first');
    })]
    public About $about;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Step 6: The Result

The page is now live. All memberships are displayed, popular plans are highlighted, and the admin can manage everything through the panel.

What LindenCMS Approach Gives Us

One Class, Full Control

The Membership Node is the single source of truth. Everything else is derived from it — the database schema, the admin panel, the API endpoints. No migrations to write. No controllers to build. No ADMIN views to design.

Code Reusability Through Composition

The Access class is a perfect example. A simple Node that can be reused across multiple contexts:

// In Memberships
#[Collection(Access::class)]
public AppNodeCollection $access;

// In another Node
#[Collection(Access::class)]
public AppNodeCollection $benefits;

// Or as a single relation
public Access $main_feature;
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Trait-Based Organization

Group related fields and behaviors into traits for maximum reusability:

// app/Nodes/Traits/HasSeo.php
trait HasSeo
{
    #[View(label: 'Meta Title')]
    public _String $meta_title;

    #[View(label: 'Meta Description')]
    public _Text $meta_description;
}

// app/Nodes/Traits/HasSlug.php
trait HasSlug
{
    #[View(label: 'Slug')]
    #[Validation('required|unique')]
    public _Slug $slug;
}

// app/Nodes/Traits/HasGallery.php
trait HasGallery
{
    #[Collection(Image::class)]
    public AppNodeCollection $gallery;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now you can compose Nodes by combining traits:

class Product extends AppNode
{
    use HasSeo, HasSlug, HasGallery;

    public _String $title;
    public _Text $description;
    public _Float $price;
}

class Article extends AppNode
{
    use HasSeo, HasSlug;

    public _String $headline;
    public _RichText $content;
}

class Page extends AppNode
{
    use HasSeo, HasGallery;

    public _String $title;
    public _String $subtitle;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Native PHP Packages Organization

Because everything is just PHP classes, you can organize code into native PHP packages — the same way you structure any PHP project. Without special directories or custom autoloading rules. Just standard PHP namespaces and Composer packages.

Flexible Data Delivery — Your Choice

LindenCMS doesn't force you into one specific approach for delivering data to the public site. You choose what fits your project:

Option 1: Monolith with Pages

Use the Page system as shown in this article — declare what data you need, and LindenCMS loads it automatically into Blade views.

Option 2: Traditional Laravel

Since LindenCMS generates database schemas in a normalized form, you can completely bypass the Node system and use standard Laravel Eloquent models:

$memberships = DB::table('memberships')
    ->where('is_active', true)
    ->get();
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Option 3: Headless CMS (Coming Soon)

API generation is currently in development and planned for future releases. You'll be able to use LindenCMS as a fully headless CMS with automatic REST endpoints.

Outro

LindenCMS is in early beta. It's stable for testing and feedback, but not yet recommended for production projects. The core architecture is solid — we're actively developing and would love your input.

Useful Links:

Prefer personal communication?

Thanks for reading — we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Source: dev.to

arrow_back Back to Tutorials