Kast CMS

Kast — AI-Native Headless CMS

Overview

Kast is an open-source headless CMS designed around a simple idea: modern content systems should treat developers, editors, and AI agents as first-class users.

Instead of adding AI, SEO, or multilingual support as extensions later, Kast brings them into the core architecture.

The platform combines a NestJS API, Next.js admin interface, PostgreSQL and Prisma for structured content, Redis and BullMQ for background processing, and a built-in MCP server that allows AI agents to interact with the CMS through controlled permissions and audited operations.

Built for AI Agents

Kast includes a native Model Context Protocol server rather than treating AI as a separate integration layer.

AI agents can interact with content, content types, media, SEO operations, and other CMS capabilities through dedicated MCP tools.

Agent access is controlled through scoped tokens, permissions, and audit trails so AI automation can operate inside the same security model as human users.

SEO as Infrastructure

SEO is part of Kast's core content model rather than a plugin added after the CMS is installed.

Content can carry structured SEO metadata, redirects, social metadata, and validation information directly alongside the editorial workflow.

The goal is simple: publishing content and publishing search-ready content should be the same workflow.

Multilingual & RTL by Design

Kast was designed with multilingual and Arabic-first products in mind.

Content entries support localized versions, locale-specific slugs, and both LTR and RTL interfaces without treating RTL as a secondary compatibility layer.

This makes Kast suitable for products serving Arabic and international audiences from the same content system.

Developer-First Ecosystem

Kast provides more than a REST API.

The ecosystem includes:

• @kast-cms/sdk — official TypeScript client
• @kast-cms/plugin-sdk — plugin development toolkit
• create-kast-app — project scaffolding CLI
• Docker and self-hosting support
• Swagger API documentation
• First-party plugins for services such as Cloudflare R2, Meilisearch, Resend, Stripe, and Sentry

A new project can be scaffolded with:

npx create-kast-app my-site

Content Platform Features

Kast includes the core capabilities expected from a modern CMS:

• Dynamic content types and fields
• Draft and published content
• Scheduled publishing
• Content versioning
• Media management
• Content relations
• Localization
• Roles and permissions
• API and agent tokens
• Audit logs
• Webhooks
• Forms and menus
• Background job processing
• Plugin architecture
• REST API and TypeScript SDK

Architecture

Kast is structured as a TypeScript monorepo with a modular backend and independent developer packages.

The core stack combines:

API
NestJS + Prisma + PostgreSQL

Admin
Next.js + React + TypeScript

Background Processing
Redis + BullMQ

AI Interface
Built-in MCP server

Developer Access
REST API + @kast-cms/sdk

Deployment
Docker + self-hosted infrastructure

This architecture keeps the CMS portable while still providing the tooling expected from a modern developer platform.

Why I Built It

Most CMS platforms were designed before AI agents became active participants in software workflows.

Kast explores what a CMS looks like when AI control, SEO, multilingual content, RTL, developer experience, and self-hosting are architectural decisions rather than later additions.

The result is a CMS designed not only to store content, but to become a programmable content layer for websites, applications, developers, editors, and autonomous agents.

Closing Line

Built for developers. Ready for editors. Designed for AI agents.

Quick Links

GitHub
https://github.com/kast-cms/kast

Documentation
https://kastcms.com/docs

Website
https://kastcms.com