Most developers don’t wake up thinking:
“You know what the world needs? Another CMS.”
And yet… here we are.
The Problem with Existing CMS (From a Developer’s POV)
I’ve worked with a lot of CMS platforms over the years — from WordPress to headless setups.
They all work… until you try to do something slightly different.
That’s when things get messy:
- You fight plugins instead of building features
- You bend your architecture around the CMS
- You inherit years of legacy decisions you didn’t sign up for
At some point, I realized:
I wasn’t building products — I was working around the CMS.
The “What If” Question
So I started asking:
What if a CMS was built the way we build modern Laravel apps today?
- Not constrained by legacy.
- Not pretending to be everything for everyone.
Just:
- Clean architecture
- Developer-first
- Extensible by design
- Actually enjoyable to work with
Why Laravel + Filament?
If you’re in the Laravel ecosystem, this part will make sense.
Laravel gives you:
- Structure without being restrictive
- A clean service layer
- First-class DX
Filament gives you:
- A powerful admin panel out of the box
- Forms, tables, actions — already solved
- A consistent UI layer
Together, they solve 80% of what a CMS needs.
The remaining 20%?
That’s where things get interesting.
The Hard Parts (That No One Talks About)
Building a CMS isn’t about CRUD.
It’s about abstractions.
1. Content as Blocks (Not Fields)
What I wanted:
Flexible, composable content blocks
But that introduces problems:
- How do you store them?
- How do you version them?
- How do you render them cleanly?
2. Editor Experience vs Developer Control
There’s always tension between:
- Giving non-tech users flexibility
- Keeping developers sane
Too flexible → chaos
Too strict → unusable
Finding that balance is harder than it sounds.
3. Plugin Architecture
I didn’t want:
“Just hack it into the codebase”
I wanted:
A system where features can be dropped in cleanly
Which means:
- Discovery
- Registration
- Isolation
- Extensibility points
I ended up building TallCMS, an open-source CMS powered by Laravel + Filament.
Current features:
- Block-based page builder
- Pages & posts
- Publishing workflow (draft → scheduled → published)
- Revision history
- Media library
- Menu builder
- Plugin architecture
Still early. Still evolving.
Unexpected Lessons
1. Frameworks Matter More Than You Think
Working within Laravel + Filament constraints actually made things better.
It forced:
- Consistency
- Reusability
- Less over-engineering
2. Agentic Coding Is Powerful… But Dangerous
I’ve been experimenting with AI-assisted development.
What I learned:
Without structure → chaos
With a clear plan → massive acceleration
I now always:
- 1. Generate a plan
- 2. Review it
- 3. Execute in controlled steps
3. CMS Is a Systems Problem
It’s not:
“Build pages”
It’s:
“Design a system that lets others build anything”
That shift changes everything.
Where This Is Going
I’m still exploring:
- Better block composition
- AI-assisted content creation
- Multi-site architecture
- Developer experience improvements
Curious What Others Think
If you’ve ever:
- Built your own CMS
- Fought with one
- Or are happily using one
I’d love to hear:
What’s the one thing your CMS does really well — or really badly?
Closing
I’m building this as an open-source project called TallCMS.
Not trying to replace everything.
Just trying to make something that feels right for modern Laravel developers.
If you’re curious, happy to share more.
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