An Astro CMS for your Mac

Edit like Notion. Ship like code.

Open any Astro project on your Mac. Write, preview, and publish without the terminal. Your files stay in your repo. Nothing phones home.

Download for macOS See features

FIG. 01 · The Lumen editor, opened on a content collection. Frontmatter becomes a typed form. The Markdown body keeps its formatting.

Your writers shouldn't need a terminal. Your repo shouldn't need a database.

Headless CMSes lock your content in someone else's dashboard. You pay per editor, sync nothing, and the files in your repo become an export at best.

Lumen edits the files on your Mac. Your repo stays the source of truth. No account, no server, no sync. Your content was never not yours.

02 · What you get

Write. Edit. Publish.

title Welcome to Lumen
date 2026-05-09
draft
tags writing notes
01

Write, don't wrangle.

Tiptap-powered Markdown with inline images, links, and formatting. Click any heading or photo in the live preview to jump straight to editing it. Frontmatter becomes a typed form: strings, dates, toggles, image galleries, nested objects. Saves round-trip cleanly: key order preserved, no reformatting wars.

src/content
blog/24 entries
essays/12 entries
guides/detected
authors/5 entries
02

Your schema, learned at the door.

Lumen reads your project on open (collections, fields, references) by sampling the content already there. Hand-written Zod schemas in src/content.config.ts are honored as the source of truth. Add fields with a visual editor; migrate a legacy src/pages site into proper content collections in a click.

$ npm run dev
▲ Astro 4.21
┃ Local http://localhost:4321
ready in 184ms
›
03

Ship without the terminal.

A built-in dev server with live HMR, a real git UI (status, diff, log, branches), GitHub device-flow sign-in, and one-click Netlify deploys. Credentials live in the OS keychain. No shell-outs, no copy-pasting tokens, no juggling tabs.

03 · Relay

Invite a writer. They're editing in seconds.

Relay is the optional layer on top of Lumen: a hosted editor for the person on your team who shouldn't have to install Node, learn git, or touch a terminal.

  1. 01

    You stay in Lumen

    Open Lumen on your Mac the way you always do. Files in your repo. Real git. Real schema. Nothing changes.

  2. 02

    They get an email link

    Send a magic-link invite from inside Lumen. Your editor opens a hosted version of the same editor. No install, no signup tax, no per-seat math.

  3. 03

    Edits land in your repo

    Commits flow through Lumen back to your repo. Optimistic concurrency keeps two editors from clobbering each other. Your repo stays the master copy. It always was.

Also
  • Editors can clone the repo locally for true HMR if they want.
  • Configurable preview URLs per invite.
  • Invite & access management. Revoke any time.
  • No Lumen account required for the repo owner.
04 · Capabilities

Inside the box.

Every line below ships in the current build. Roadmap items aren't on this page. If it's listed, it works.

01

Editor

  • Rich Markdown editor (Tiptap) with inline images, links, and formatting
  • Click-to-edit on the live preview. Click any text or image to jump to it.
  • Typed frontmatter forms for every field: strings, dates, booleans, image galleries, nested objects, arrays
  • Draft / publish toggle in the editor
  • Round-trip-safe saves. Key order and JSON structure preserved.
  • Stale-content warnings when remote files change under you
  • Save shortcut (⌘S / Ctrl+S)
02

Collections & schema

  • Zero-config schema detection. Types inferred from your existing content.
  • Hand-written Zod schemas in src/content.config.ts are the source of truth
  • Visual schema editor: add fields, change types, drag to reorder
  • Collection templates: Minimal, Blog, Portfolio, Marketing, Documentation
  • Markdown, JSON, YAML, and .astro collections all supported
  • Singletons for single-file config collections
  • Legacy site converter. Migrate src/pages/ Markdown into proper collections.
03

Media

  • Image library browsing public/images/ with thumbnails
  • Nested folders. Create, organize, delete.
  • Upload to any folder via file picker
  • Image and image-gallery pickers wired into the editor
  • Supports JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF, SVG
04

Dev server & preview

  • One-click dev server. Auto-detects npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun.
  • Live HMR preview inside the app
  • Streaming build logs in a built-in dev console
  • WKWebView snapshot previews for site library cards
  • Click-to-edit overlay injected without modifying your source
05

Git & GitHub

  • Full git UI: status, staged / unstaged, diff viewer, log, branches, remotes
  • Native libgit2. No shell-out to system git.
  • One-click sync (pull → commit → push)
  • SSH agent + key auto-detection (id_ed25519, id_rsa, id_ecdsa)
  • HTTPS PATs stored in the OS keychain
  • GitHub device-flow sign-in. No embedded browser, no token pasting.
  • Create repos and pick installations from inside Lumen
06

Deploy

  • Netlify connect via PAT stored in the OS keychain
  • Create or link Netlify sites
  • One-click deploy with live progress: build → upload → processing
  • Deploy log viewer
07

Collaboration (Relay)

  • Invite editors via email magic links
  • Hosted editor for non-technical writers. No Node, git, or terminal.
  • Optional local clone + dev server for true HMR on the editor's machine
  • Optimistic concurrency keeps editors from clobbering each other
  • Configurable preview URLs per invite
  • List, revoke, and manage editor access
08

AI integration

  • Lumen MCP server exposes git and schema tools to AI agents
  • One-click connect to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Codex CLI
  • Auto-detects installed clients and writes their config
  • Bring your own model. No bundled keys, no per-word charges.
09

Site library & onboarding

  • Add, rename, remove sites; switch in a click
  • Cards with live preview snapshots, Astro version, collection count, git status
  • Scaffold new Astro sites from templates
  • Open in Finder / open in editor shortcuts
  • Setup wizard for git, Netlify, theme, and location
  • System doctor checks Node, Git, and package managers
10

Platform & UX

  • Native desktop app (Tauri 2, small bundle, native performance)
  • Local-first. No Lumen server required for solo use.
  • Light, dark, and system themes via CSS-variable tokens
  • Resizable split panes throughout
  • Accessible Radix UI primitives
  • Toast notifications for every action
  • Deep links (lumen://verify, lumen://redeem) for email & invite flows
vs. a typical headless CMS
Lumen
Lives on your computer
Reads your files directly
No account required
Your repo is the master copy
Free core. Pro features optional.
× Typical headless CMS
Lives on someone else's server
Locks content in their database
Sign-in, billing, per-editor seats
Their dashboard is the master copy
$X / editor / month
05 · Pricing

Free for most. Pro when you outgrow it.

Every core feature ships in both tiers. Pro adds capacity and publishing power, never the basics. No per-seat math. No editor billing.

Free
$0 forever

For a personal site, a portfolio, or a side project.

What's included
  • Up to 3 sites Manage three Astro projects from one app.
  • 1 device One signed-in Mac.
  • Full editing surface Editor, click-to-edit preview, schema tools, image library.
  • Git, GitHub & one Netlify connection Commit, push, and deploy from inside Lumen.
  • Bring your own AI Connect Claude, Codex, Gemini, or any MCP-compatible tool.
Download Free
Recommended
Pro
$99 first year · $79/yr after

For people who run multiple sites or work with editors.

Everything in Free, plus
Capacity
  • Unlimited sites Open as many projects as your disk can hold.
  • 3 devices Laptop, desktop, travel machine.
Relay collaboration
  • Invite non-technical editors via email magic links
  • Hosted editor. No Node, git, or terminal on their machine.
  • Optimistic concurrency, per-invite preview URLs, revoke any time
Desktop
  • Multiple Netlify sites with deploy log viewers
  • Advanced git workflows: branches, conflict resolution, log history
  • Side-by-side previews across multiple sites
  • Priority email support
AI-powered tools
  • Open commits, deploy, and bulk-edit via AI agents
  • Search and update content across every site at once
Get Pro
06 · FAQ

Questions, answered.

  • 01 What platforms does Lumen support?

    macOS 12 and later, universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel. Windows and Linux are on the roadmap, but we won't commit to a date until the Mac build is where we want it.

  • 02 Does Lumen need an account or send my data anywhere?

    Not for solo use. No telemetry, no analytics, no usage pings. Your content lives on your disk and your repo stays the source of truth. The only network calls are the ones you make: pulling, pushing, deploying, or inviting an editor via Relay.

  • 03 Does Lumen work with my existing Astro project?

    Yes. Open the folder and Lumen reads what's already there: collections, schemas, fields. If you have hand-written Zod schemas in src/content.config.ts, those win. If you have a legacy src/pages site, the migration tool will convert it into proper content collections in a click.

  • 04 What is Relay?

    Relay is the optional Pro layer that lets a non-technical editor (a copywriter, a marketing lead, a client) edit your site through a hosted version of the Lumen editor. No Node, no git, no terminal on their end. You invite them by email, their edits commit back to your repo, and your repo stays the master copy.

  • 05 Which hosts can I deploy to?

    Netlify ships in the box with one-click deploys and a streaming log viewer. Vercel and Cloudflare are on the near-term roadmap. If you'd rather push to your own infrastructure, the built-in git workflow gets it there.

  • 06 How does the AI integration work?

    Lumen runs an MCP server that exposes structured git and schema tools to any MCP-compatible client: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex CLI, and more. One click connects them. You bring your own model and pay your model provider; we don't charge per word or bundle keys.

  • 07 What counts as a "site"?

    Any local Astro project folder you've added to Lumen's library. Free covers up to three. Pro is unlimited.

  • 08 What happens if my Pro subscription lapses?

    Lumen falls back to Free-tier limits. Existing sites and content keep working as-is. You just won't be able to add a fourth site, activate a second machine, or send new Relay invites until you renew. We won't lock you out of your own files.

  • 09 Is Lumen open source?

    No. Lumen is a proprietary native app. The local-first architecture means the source of truth is still your repo. We're not the bottleneck if we ever go away.

Ready when you are

Open a folder. Start writing.

One download. No account. No setup. Point Lumen at an Astro project and start editing.

Download LumenSee pricing