Aether: A CMS That Gets Out of Your Way

Aether CMS is a fast, minimal platform built for simplicity. No bloat, just clean, modular architecture for effortless content management.

My journey with content management started in the WordPress ecosystem, building themes and plugins. But over time, I grew tired of the heavyweight platforms and returned to the roots of the web: HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript.

That path led me through the JAMstack world, but I found most tools overcomplicated and bloated. So I built Blog-Doc, a lightweight CMS/SSG that taught me the value of simple content workflows. Then came LiteNode, my custom Node.js framework built for performance and minimalism.

Aether CMS is where that journey led. It's everything I've learned about content systems, distilled into a platform that runs on just four core modules: adm-zip, argon2, litenode, and marked. No bloat. No overengineering. Just fast, clean, modular architecture.

Unlike many JAMstack tools that feel like using a cannon to kill a fly, Aether strikes the perfect balance between developer empowerment and user-friendliness.

Built from Experience, Not Hype

Aether isn't a weekend project or an AI-generated solution. It's the result of years of real-world development, starting with WordPress, evolving through Blog-Doc, crafting LiteNode for it, and culminating in a complete rethink of what a CMS should be.

Every architectural decision reflects actual use and iteration. The integrated static site generator isn't bolted on, it's fundamental to the design. The file-based storage isn't trendy, it's practical. The four-dependency approach isn't restrictive, it's liberating.

This is what happens when you build tools for yourself first, then share them with the world.

The Philosophy: Files Over Databases

Here's a radical idea: what if your content lived in simple, readable files instead of being locked away in a database? What if you could edit a blog post in any text editor, version control your entire site with Git, and deploy anywhere without worrying about database migrations?

Aether stores everything as Markdown files with YAML frontmatter. Your blog post isn't a row in a MySQL table, it's a file you can read, edit, and understand:

--- title: "Why I Built Another CMS" slug: "why-i-built-another-cms" category: "Development" tags: ["cms", "javascript", "philosophy"] status: "published" --- # Why I Built Another CMS Because sometimes you need to scratch your own itch...

Simple. Portable. Future-proof.

Built for Speed (All Kinds of Speed)

Development Speed

Want to create a custom page layout? Drop an HTML file in your theme's custom/ folder. Need to modify how posts are displayed? Edit the template. No plugin APIs to learn, no complex build processes. Just files and folders that make sense.

Content Creation Speed

The admin interface feels familiar if you've used any modern CMS, but it's built with one goal: get out of your way. Write in Markdown, see a live preview, hit publish. The media library handles your images without fuss. Categories and tags work exactly like you'd expect.

Runtime Speed

Here's where Aether really shines: it generates static sites that load instantly. No database queries, no server-side rendering delays, no PHP processing. Just pre-built HTML files that any CDN can serve at lightning speed.

npm run build # Your entire site is now a folder of HTML files # Deploy to any platform that host static sites

Themes That Don't Fight You

Remember WordPress's template hierarchy? Aether borrowed that idea and made it simpler. Want a custom layout for your documentation pages? Create docs.html in your theme's custom/ folder. Need a special design for a specific post? The template system cascades gracefully from specific to general.

But here's the kicker: themes are just folders of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Templates are plain .html files that use LiteNode's STE (Simple Template Engine), a powerful and intuitive AST-based template engine that runs directly inside your HTML. No complex build steps. No proprietary magic. If you can build a website, you can build an Aether theme.

Real-World Flexibility

I designed Aether around actual use cases, not theoretical ones:

Personal Blog? Posts, categories, tags, and RSS feeds work out of the box.

Company Documentation? Nested custom pages with automatic navigation and breadcrumbs.

Marketing Site? Custom page templates for landing pages, about pages, whatever you need.

Multi-author Publication? User management with role-based permissions.

Portfolio Site? Built-in media library with automatic metadata and alt text management.

The same CMS handles all of these without plugins, extensions, or configuration hell.

Why Another CMS?

Fair question. The world has plenty of content management systems. But most of them optimize for the wrong things:

• ❌ WordPress is powerful but bloated (and still on PHP...)
• ❌ Ghost is beautiful but tightly opinionated
• ❌ SSGs are fast but only usable by devs
• ❌ Headless CMSs are flexible but complex
• ✅ Aether: Simple, flexible, fast — without compromise

Aether sits in the sweet spot: simple enough for content creators, flexible enough for developers, fast enough for users.

The Technical Stuff (For the Curious)

Under the hood, Aether runs on Node.js with vanilla JavaScript, no frameworks, no complexity. It uses:

• LiteNode for the server (think Express but lighter)
• Marked for Markdown parsing
• File-based storage (no database required)
• Argon2 for secure password hashing
• A hook system for extensibility
• ADM-ZIP for themes upload/installation

Getting Started Takes 2 Minutes

npx create-aether-cms my-cms-site cd my-cms-site npm install npm start

Visit localhost:8080/aether, log in with admin/admin, and start creating. That's it.

Want to see it in action? The site you're reading right now is built with Aether. The admin interface, theme system, and static generation all work behind the scenes to render, generate, and deliver Aether site content as fast as possible, allowing users to publish it anywhere.

What's Next?

Aether is already powering real websites, my own blog and its documentation, but it's just getting started. I'll be working on:

• Scheduled Publishing
• Search functionality
• Advanced user permissions with more roles
• Page caching with duration for more performance
• Plugin system expansion (hooks for everything)
• Comment system with moderation
• Advanced SEO tools (because discoverability matters)
• Editor enhancements (better UX)
• New themes added to the marketplace
• Simplify update system
• And that’s just the beginning…

But honestly? Aether is already everything I wanted in a CMS. It's fast, it's simple, it gets out of my way, and it makes websites that users love.

Try It (No Commitment Required)

The best part about file-based CMSs? There's no lock-in. Your content is yours, in a format you can read. Don't like Aether? Take your Markdown files and move on. No hard feelings.

But I think you'll like it!

Aether Repository →
View the Documentation →
Join the Discussion →

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Aether CMS: Content in Motion. Powered by Simplicity.

What would you build with a CMS that finally gets out of your way? I'd love to hear about it, so drop me a line in the discussions.

Note: The background image is a photo by Art Attack.