Setup Wizard Guide

Comprehensive guide to configuring SveltyCMS with SQLite, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, or MongoDB using the auto-installer.

8/20/2026

2 min read

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The SveltyCMS Setup Wizard is a progressive, self-healing installation flow that provisions your database, seeds system permissions and roles, and locks down bootstrapping endpoints.

sequenceDiagram participant User participant Wizard as Setup Wizard (/setup) participant State as System State Machine participant DB as Target Database participant Hook as Middleware Guard User->>Wizard: Fill DB & Admin Credentials Wizard->>State: POST /api/setup/seed-db State->>DB: Provision Tables, System Roles, Indexes State->>Wizard: DB Ready Wizard->>State: POST /api/setup/complete State->>State: Transition state to READY (isSetupComplete = true) Hook-->>User: Gating Active — /setup routes blocked (403)

Supported Database Engines

SveltyCMS features a 100% database-agnostic architecture. Choose the database that fits your operational needs:

Database Engine	Recommended Environment	Connection Requirements
SQLite (In-Process)	Local Development, Edge, Small to Medium Sites	Zero external dependencies; automated file creation in `./db/sveltycms.db`.
PostgreSQL (v15+)	Enterprise, High Concurrency, Microservices	Host, Port (5432), Database Name, Username, Password.
MariaDB / MySQL (v10.6+)	Standard Cloud VPS, Shared Hosting	Host, Port (3306), Database Name, Username, Password.
MongoDB (v6.0+)	Document-first, Schemaless, Atlas Cloud	Mongo Connection String (`mongodb://` or `mongodb+srv://`).

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1. Database Configuration

Select your engine and input credentials. SveltyCMS tests connection resilience and retries automatically before applying schemas.

2. Administrator Account

Set up the super-admin identity:

Email: Must be a valid email format.
Password: Minimum 8 characters with lowercase, uppercase, numeric, and symbol enforcement.
2FA (Optional): Can be activated immediately or later in User Profile.

3. Localization & Multi-Tenancy

Base Locale: Set default system language (e.g. en, de, fr, es).
Multi-Tenant Mode: Enable strict tenant isolation with automated tenantId row partitioning.

Security & Bootstrap Gating

Once setup completes:

isSetupComplete() returns true.
The handleSystemState hook redirects any navigation to /setup directly to /login.
All /api/setup/* API routes fail closed with 403 Forbidden.

Caution

Once finalized, database connection parameters live securely in config/private.ts (or environment variables). You cannot re-run the setup wizard without manually resetting configuration.

Next Steps

Review the Security Architecture for authentication and CSRF details.
Discover how to build content models with Collections Guide.