Birkly offers two ways to bootstrap site content and public pages: Ops-hosted starter packs during onboarding and marketplace template packs sold as offers. Both populate collections and files under project/ — your public site folder.
Starter packs are curated demo content and sample sites served from Birkly Ops during the setup wizard — blog, shop, business, and docs templates plus a blank option. Template packs on the marketplace are provider-published offers that install collections and project/ site files after purchase. Themes change visual styling; template packs include structure and content.
Beginner
Ops starter packs (onboarding)
When you first set up Birkly, the onboarding wizard offers starter templates:
| Starter | What you get | |---------|--------------| | Marsk | Flagship slow-living journal — blog, gallery, about pages, and editorial demo site | | Start blank | Empty content and project folder |
Legacy starters (blog, shop, business, docs) remain available via Ops for staff but are not shown in the default onboarding picker.
Marsk example
The Marsk pack (marsk) is the recommended onboarding demo:
- Complete CMS deploy and open the admin onboarding wizard.
- Choose Marsk — the wizard downloads the pack from Ops (
GET /api/ops/v1/starters/marsk/download). - Collections installed:
blog,about,gallery,site_elements. - Public site files extract to
project/—index.html,blog.html,post.html,about.html,gallery.html, pluscss/marsk.cssandjs/marsk.js. - Browse
/project/index.htmlto preview; edit posts in Content → Blog.
# Verify Marsk is published on Ops (stable channel)
curl -s 'https://ops.birkly.cloud/api/ops/v1/starters?channel=stable' | jq '.starters[] | select(.id=="marsk")'Choosing a starter
- Complete CMS deploy and open the admin.
- Follow the onboarding wizard (or revisit from Help).
- Pick Marsk or choose Start blank.
- Wait for download and extraction to finish.
- Explore collections in Content and preview the public site.
Availability depends on Ops catalog settings — some starters may show as "coming soon" until the platform publishes a release.
Marketplace template packs
Providers can publish template pack offers on the marketplace. These are products you buy or get for free through checkout, then install via Plugins → Marketplace like any other offer.
Template packs typically include:
- Pre-defined collections and sample entries
- HTML, CSS, and JS for the public site in
project/ - Optional plugin dependencies declared in the offer manifest
Themes vs template packs
| Type | What changes | |------|--------------| | Theme | Visual styling — colors, typography, layout tokens | | Template pack | Content structure plus site files — collections, pages, demo entries |
A template pack may bundle a theme, but they are separate offer types on the marketplace.
After install
- Edit content in Content like any other collection.
- Customize public site files in
project/(or via your deployment workflow). - Remove demo entries you do not need; starter content is a starting point, not permanent.
Advanced Users
Project folder (project/)
Public site files live under project/ (P36). Legacy demo-website/ paths migrate on demand. Template packs and starters extract into this folder plus content/collections/.
Ops starter API
| Endpoint | Purpose | |----------|---------| | GET /api/ops/v1/starters?channel={channel} | Catalog with onboarding_enabled flags | | GET /api/ops/v1/starters/{id}/download | Signed zip download |
CMS resolves catalog URL from starters_catalog_url in platform config, BIRKLY_OPS_STARTERS_URL, or derived from the Ops feedback relay URL. Default: https://ops.birkly.cloud/api/ops/v1/starters.
Marketplace template pack install
Offer type template_pack in the offer manifest. Install flow:
- License activation (if paid).
- Permission consent (if the pack includes a plugin component).
- Extract collections and
project/files per pack manifest. - Record installed version for updates.
See API reference for registry endpoints used during install.
Local fallback
If Ops is unreachable, onboarding falls back to bundled catalog metadata and local demo-content/ when present. Production sites should ensure Ops connectivity or choose Start blank.
Custom starters (platform)
Birkly Ops staff manage starter pack versions, featured flags, and onboarding visibility. Starters are not provider-published marketplace offers — they are platform-curated content.