basepl - An OS library based on Payload CMS to build faster
The challenge we faced
We have fallen in love working with Payload CMS for both our own projects and those of our customers. The freedom to create a highly customisable and individual CMS for your projects combined with the flexibility of an open source tool is simply fantastic. As an agency owner and developer, I can tell you that it's important to be comfortable with the framework you're working with. But individualism always comes with a trade-off...
Keep the beauty but be more efficient
Creating customised applications, websites and shops that are exactly what you need is great, but often time-consuming. Either you start from scratch (absolutely not recommended to do that) or you build back stuff from the current existing templates. Sure, if you have already built some projects, you can copy and paste code. But this is by no means a standardised and scalable solution. So we asked our team how we could keep the beauty of using a flexible CMS like Payload, but be more efficient with it. A good, familiar library came to mind - shadcn. That's how the idea for basepl was born.
What is basepl?
basepl is an open source library built on top of Payload CMS. It is designed to provide a set of templates and pre-built components that you can easily use and install from the command line. In addition, basepl provides a directory of plugins that you can use. You can also submit your own plugins to be featured on basepl.
Scalable templates
Yes, payload itself already provides them, but they don't meet our needs. So we want to provide starterkits for simple landing pages, websites, blogs, e-commerce stores and maybe in the future for apps and platforms. And best of all, the templates are easy to combine with the components.
Components via CL commands
The beauty of libraries like shadcn are the easy-to-use commands. So we thought we needed to do that for Basepl as well. Just install new blocks or whole components with a command in your CL. You can choose to install only fields, collections and blocks, or use ready-made components styled with shadcn instead.
A directory for plugins
Plugins are a great way to create solutions on top of Payload CMS. Compared to plugin marketplaces like Wordpress, there is a lot of catching up to do. That is why we want to give developers the opportunity to create their own plugins and present them in one place.
Let's establish a better CMS together
You have probably read this far because you like the CMS Payload and are a bit hooked by to the vision. Together, we can create a new standard for web applications and move these great tools forward. If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions feel free to join us on discord or contact me on X. We would love to have your support.
