Public forms mean: a visitor fills out a form on your website (contact, newsletter, job application), and that data is saved as an entry in a Birkly collection. You can then see and manage it in the admin, and optionally trigger automations (e.g. email or Slack).

Step 1: Create a collection

Create a collection that matches what you want to collect. For a contact form, for example:

| Field label | Type | Required? | Key (example) | |-------------|--------|-----------|----------------| | Name | Text | Yes | name | | Email | Email | Yes | email | | Message | Textarea | Yes | message |

Give the collection a name (e.g. “Contact submissions”) and a handle (e.g. contact). The handle is used in the submit URL.

Step 2: Allow public submissions

In the collection’s Settings (or Edit collection):

• Find Entry method (or “Who can create entries”).
• Set it to Public API (or “Public submit” / “Allow public submissions”).
• Enable rate limiting if available (e.g. 5 submissions per IP per hour) to reduce spam.
• If your Birkly has CAPTCHA or honeypot, turn them on for extra protection.
• Choose whether new submissions are saved as Draft (you review and publish) or Published. For contact forms, Draft is usually better so you don’t list them publicly.

Step 3: Add a form on your website

Your form must send a POST request to Birkly’s submit endpoint. Exact URL and format depend on your version; typical pattern:

• Endpoint: Something like https://your-cms.com/api/public_submit.php?collection=contact or https://your-cms.com/api/public/collections/contact/entries
• Method: POST
• Body: Field names should match the collection’s field keys (name, email, message). Format may be form-encoded or JSON—check your API docs.

Example: simple HTML form

<form action="https://your-cms.com/api/public_submit.php?collection=contact"
      method="post">
  <label>Name <input type="text" name="name" required></label>
  <label>Email <input type="email" name="email" required></label>
  <label>Message <textarea name="message" required></textarea></label>
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

If your Birkly uses a different URL or requires a token/CSRF field, the admin or “Public forms” / “Secure integration” docs will say how to add it.

Example: submit with JavaScript (fetch)

document.querySelector('form').addEventListener('submit', async (e) => {
  e.preventDefault();
  const form = e.target;
  const data = {
    name: form.name.value,
    email: form.email.value,
    message: form.message.value
  };

  const res = await fetch('https://your-cms.com/api/public/collections/contact/entries', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify(data)
  });

  if (res.ok) {
    alert('Thank you! We’ll get back to you.');
    form.reset();
  } else {
    alert('Something went wrong. Please try again.');
  }
});

Replace the URL and field names with what your API expects. Some setups require an API key in a header or a one-time token from a “secure form” endpoint—see your docs.

After submission

• New entries appear in the admin under that collection. You can reply, export, or delete them.
• You can add Automation (e.g. “When an entry is created in Contact, send a Slack message or email”) so your team is notified. See Automation overview and Webhooks.

Security checklist

• Never put admin login or API keys that have admin rights in the browser.
• Use HTTPS for your site and the submit URL.
• Enable rate limiting and CAPTCHA (or honeypot) if available.
• Rely on server-side validation in Birkly for required fields and formats (e.g. email).