A flat-file PHP CMS with a built-in MCP server. Build your site by hand, in your favorite web builder, or with a coding agent — your client edits only the parts you choose, and your design stays exactly as you built it. No database, no subscription, nothing leaves your server.
Explore
4,500+ licenses in the wild. A yoga studio in Japan, a car dealership in Germany, a newspaper association in Washington — same CMS. Different countries, different industries, front ends with nothing in common, because Total CMS never dictates the markup.
Built something with T3? Send it in →
AI-Native
Total CMS 3.5 ships with a built-in MCP server — not a bolt-on. Connect Claude Code, Cursor, or ChatGPT and your agent can query your schemas, search your content, and look up exact Twig signatures in real time. No hallucinated hooks. No guessed API shapes. A real CLI for terminal workflows, and agent skills that teach your AI the T3 way of doing things.
Your CMS is queryable by your agent — schemas, content, docs.
tcms — collections, schemas, objects, deploys. All scriptable.
Install once. Your agent scaffolds T3 sites the right way.
Why Total CMS
Rented platforms. Squarespace, Wix and Webflow hold your client’s content on their terms. If the pricing changes or the doors close, your client starts over.
Plugin roulette. A WordPress update, a conflict, a 2am call you didn’t sign up for and can’t bill for.
Open season on your design. Full admin access means your layout is only ever as safe as the client’s restraint.
Guesswork. Your agent invents hooks that don’t exist, because your CMS gives it nothing real to read.
Total CMS was built by web professionals, for web professionals. More than a decade powering client sites taught us exactly which of these hurt most — so we built the opposite.
Flat-file JSON storage means nothing to configure, nothing to break, and nothing that fights your hosting environment.
Works with Stacks, hand-coded HTML, JavaScript frameworks, or any tool that speaks to a PHP server.
Built on Slim 4 and Twig 3 — clean, standards-compliant, and built to last across hosting environments.
Content lives on your server, in your files. No platform dependency — ever.
How it works
Drop the tcms directory on your server. No database setup. No complex configuration. Total CMS runs on flat-file JSON storage — meaning it works on virtually any host your clients already use, with nothing to configure and nothing that can break overnight.
Choose from 18 built-in content types — blogs, galleries, file management, styled text, and more. Or design your own custom schemas with exactly the fields you need. The result is a clean admin interface your clients can actually navigate on their own.
Every install ships an MCP server. Connect Claude Code, Cursor or ChatGPT and your agent queries your real schemas, your real content, and the exact Twig signatures this version exposes — then writes back through the same validation your editors go through. No hallucinated hooks. No guessed API shapes.
Content lives on the server you (or your client) controls. Flat files. No platform dependency. If they ever want to move hosts, change tools, or work with someone else — everything goes with them. That's what ownership actually means.
Guardrails
This is the part that changes everything. You decide which fields are editable. Clients update the content you want them to update. Employees add blog posts without touching anything structural. Your agent works inside the same permission system, not around it. Your design stays exactly the way you built it — because it isn’t up for negotiation.
The admin your clients will actually enjoy
Every screen, phone-friendly
Testimonials
TCMS3 has opened the door for me to build sites I honestly never would have thought possible before. The flexibility, structure, and freedom it provides changes how I think about content, scale, and long term site growth.
I've never had more control over my designs and the content I need to manage on the go. T3 is the most powerful CMS you'll ever find.
This isn't just a website builder, but the infrastructure of a web app builder… or even, a mini-platform builder.
Total CMS 3 leaves room for all kinds of scenarios that you might need when creating a professional website. After a short training period, you won't want to go back.
Everything you could do before is now cleaner, faster, and more resilient — and there's no going back.
Platform
Bundled in the download, not bought from a store. Access control, scheduling, A/B testing, push notifications and Algolia search all ship with Total CMS — each one sandboxed behind permissions you toggle individually. The extension API is public, so you or your agent can build your own from the starter repo.
Total CMS never dictates your markup. Hand-code it, generate it, or design it in Stacks, Pinegrow, Bootstrap Studio or Blocs — then drop in Total CMS tags and the content becomes editable. A REST API, a PHP API and the tcms CLI handle everything else.
Pricing
No monthly fees. No per-site subscriptions. No pricing tier that makes your proposal awkward. One-time purchase, licensed per domain. Bake it into your project cost and move on.
$195
One-time · per domain
$395
One-time · per domain
Let’s talk
Custom licensing & hosting
No credit card required · Full Pro features during trial
Compare all features, upgrade paths, and update pricing → · Or buy a license in the store →
Get Started
Total CMS gives you a modern, professional CMS that you own completely — your data, your design, your rules. Try it free for 45 days and see why web professionals keep choosing ownership over dependency.
Start Your Free 45-Day TrialComparing tools? Read our honest head-to-head comparisons and CMS guides.
