Introduction

WollyCMS is a self-hosted, open source headless CMS built specifically for Astro. It brings the content composition model of enterprise CMS platforms like Drupal to the modern Astro ecosystem.

What it does

Block composition — Pages are built from typed content blocks arranged in named regions (hero, content, sidebar, etc.)
Visual page builder — Drag-and-drop blocks between regions with live preview
Hierarchical menus — Unlimited independent menus with deep nesting
Custom content types — Define page types with custom fields, regions, and block restrictions
Media library — Upload, organize, and auto-optimize images (WebP generation)
REST API — Structured JSON with batch fetching, search, ETag caching

How it works

WollyCMS runs as a standalone server (Hono + Drizzle ORM) with a SvelteKit admin UI. Your Astro frontend fetches content from the API using the @wollycms/astro integration package.

┌─────────────────┐    REST API    ┌─────────────────┐
│  WollyCMS Server │◄──────────────│  Astro Frontend  │
│  (admin + API)   │               │  (@wollycms/astro)│
│                  │               │                   │
│  • SvelteKit UI  │               │  • BlockRenderer  │
│  • Hono API      │               │  • Menu helpers   │
│  • SQLite/PG     │               │  • WollyImage     │
│  • S3/R2 media   │               │  • SEO utilities  │
└─────────────────┘               └─────────────────┘

The developer defines the content model (page types, block types, regions) and maps each block type to an Astro component. Content editors then manage pages through the admin UI — no code, no pull requests, no deploys.

Tech stack

Component	Technology
API server	Hono 4.x
Database	Drizzle ORM (SQLite or PostgreSQL)
Admin UI	SvelteKit
Rich text	TipTap
Image processing	Sharp
Astro integration	`@wollycms/astro`

Who it’s for

WollyCMS is designed for developers who build Astro sites for clients. The developer defines the structure, the client manages the content. It’s also a great fit for personal projects where you want CMS-managed content without depending on a SaaS platform.