Tiny CMS.Real sites.

Edit HTML and PHP pages in the browser.
Store content as readable JSON.
Get nibbly Explore features

nibbly — a nibble is half a byte. Small, fast, no bloat.

Small by design. Powerful by default.

nibbly stays out of your way.
No bloat, no lock-in, just files.
0 package installs
0 database tables
≈3.8 MB Core code¹
PHP 8.1+ runtime
See architecture →

Plain files. Human readable and diff friendly.

No database. Just files and a little PHP.

No lock-in. Your content, your server.

Easy to move. Copy, upload, done.

nibbly Beaver nibbly Beaver

Build faster.
Ship cleaner.
Keep control.

nibbly is a flat-file CMS that puts you in charge of your content.

Get nibbly → Learn more
Editable page preview Editable page preview

Automatic backups

Daily snapshots.
Restore in seconds.

Backup safe with dated snapshots Backup safe with dated snapshots

Media library

Organized files.
Simple uploads.

Media library tiles Media library tiles

Multilingual

Built-in translations.
One content,
many languages.

Globe illustration Globe illustration Language selector buttons Language selector buttons

Clean URLs

Pretty links.
No query strings.

Pretty URL example Pretty URL example Ugly URL example Ugly URL example

Security basics

CSRF protection.
Input sanitization.
File allowlist.

Security document and checklist Security document and checklist
4/8   THE VIBE

The CMS for vibe coding

AI can build the site. nibbly makes it editable, file-based, and ready to upload.

Tell your AI: "Build me a site with nibbly." The result is a working CMS, not a prototype that needs a backend, a database, or a DevOps engineer.

No npm install. No webpack. No Docker. nibbly is plain PHP and JSON files. Your AI writes them, you upload them. Done.

Any shared hosting with PHP works. No Node servers, no managed databases, no cloud functions. The cheapest hosting plan is enough.

FTP the folder to your server. There's even a deploy script — just enter your FTP credentials and hit go. Backup means copying that same folder.

nibbly Beaver coding
5/8 HOW IT WORKS

Up and running in three steps

Your files. Your hosting. Your editable website.

  1. Upload

    Upload nibbly to PHP hosting with Apache and mod_rewrite. PHP 8.1 is the language minimum; use a supported PHP version in production. See the documentation for required extensions.

  2. Configure

    Open /admin/setup.php in your browser. The wizard creates your admin account and configuration. Configure optional email delivery in Dashboard → Settings.

  3. Edit

    Open your site, log in, and click on any text to edit it. Changes save instantly with automatic backups.

Content you can actually read

No opaque database blobs. Your content lives in clean JSON files that you can open in any text editor, commit to Git, or copy to another server with a simple drag and drop.
  • One JSON file per page
  • Human-readable structure
  • Version-controllable with Git
  • Copy to deploy — no migrations
content/pages/en_home.json 
{
  "page": "en_home",
  "lang": "en",
  "sections": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "title": "Welcome",
      "content": "<p>Your content here.</p>"
    },
    {
      "type": "card",
      "image": "assets/images/photo.jpg",
      "title": "A Feature",
      "content": "Card description."
    }
  ]
}
6 / 8   COMPARISON

Skip the
machinery.

For small editorial sites,
less infrastructure means more control.
DATABASE CMS Content + database.
Flexible ecosystem.
APP FRAMEWORK Build for production.
Static export optional.
FLAT-FILE CMS Content in JSON.
No database service.
Database MySQL / MariaDB Optional JSON files
Production build Not required Required Not required
Backup scope Files + database Source + app data Site folder
Architecture

Small enough to understand. Complete enough to use.

The entire CMS fits in a single directory. No hidden magic, no framework abstractions. Every file has a clear purpose.
~/my-website/
  • admin/ Admin panel & API
  • content/ JSON content storage
  • includes/ PHP templates
  • css/ Stylesheets
  • js/ Vanilla JavaScript
  • assets/images/ Uploaded media
  • .htaccess Clean URLs & security
  • index.php Your homepage
≈3.8 MB Core code¹
0 package installs
<5 min Time to Deploy
∞ Possibilities

Ready to nibble?

Grab the code, upload the folder, start editing.

MPL-2.0 licensed.
No subscription. No database bill.

Start on GitHub Documentation

personal
included

client work
included

commercial
included

¹ About 3.8 MB of uncompressed core code (admin, api, cli, includes, css and js), measured for the local 1.6.1 source on 6 September 2026. Excludes content, media, fonts and backups; not a download or total installation size.