A flat-file website engine for building business websites fast. Write content in Markdown, manage everything from the browser — no database, no setup, no dependencies to install.
Comes with a browser-based admin panel so you can publish and update without touching a file manager or FTP client.
Live demo: puropixel.com/blog
| Homepage | Post |
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Admin panel
Most business websites don't need one. A database adds a server requirement, a backup strategy, a migration step, and a point of failure — for content that is just text.
Dispatch stores everything as plain .md files. You can read them, edit them, back them up with a zip, or move them to another host in minutes.
Content
- Markdown articles and static pages with YAML front matter
- Product catalog with price, stock status, and external buy links
- Visual editor with live preview, side-by-side mode, and autosave
- No raw YAML — front matter fields are form inputs
- Featured image upload directly from the editor
- Auto-generated excerpts and reading time
Admin panel
- Create, edit, and delete articles, pages, and products from the browser
- Media library — upload, preview, copy URL, delete
- Site settings editor — name, tagline, hero banner, credentials
Publishing
- Customizable homepage hero banner with image, text, and CTA button
- Clean URLs (
/post/slug,/store,/product/slug,/page/slug,/archive) - RSS feed at
/feed.xml - Pagination on the homepage
- Static pages auto-populate the navigation menu
- Store link appears in navigation only when products exist
Technical
- No database — all content is plain
.mdfiles - PHP 7.4+, no Composer, no framework
- Bootstrap 5, fully responsive
- Safe Markdown rendering via Parsedown
- CSRF protection on all admin forms
- Path traversal protection on all file operations
- Upload the files to any PHP 7.4+ web server with
mod_rewriteenabled. - Make sure the server can write to
posts/,pages/,products/,assets/uploads/, andconfig.php. - Set your site URL and name in
config.php:'site_url' => 'https://yoursite.com', 'blog_name' => 'My Business',
- If Dispatch lives in a subdirectory (e.g.
/mysite/), update two settings to match:config.php:'base_path' => '/mysite/',.htaccess:RewriteBase /mysite/
- Go to
yoursite.com/adminand log in with the default credentials:- Username:
adminPassword:demo
- Username:
- Change your password immediately in Settings after first login.
Security: The default password is public knowledge. Change it before the site is reachable.
If your server runs Nginx instead of Apache, create a server block like this. The rewrite rules mirror what .htaccess does for Apache.
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
root /var/www/dispatch;
index index.php;
# If installed in a subdirectory, adjust root and the location blocks below.
# Deny access to hidden files (.htaccess, .git, etc.)
location ~ /\. {
deny all;
}
# Serve real files and directories directly; otherwise rewrite
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrites;
}
location @rewrites {
rewrite ^/sitemap\.xml$ /sitemap.php last;
rewrite ^/robots\.txt$ /robots.php last;
rewrite ^/feed\.xml$ /feed.php last;
rewrite ^/admin/?$ /admin.php last;
rewrite ^/post/([^/]+)/?$ /post.php?slug=$1 last;
rewrite ^/page/([^/]+)/?$ /page.php?slug=$1 last;
rewrite ^/store/?$ /store.php last;
rewrite ^/product/([^/]+)/?$ /product.php?slug=$1 last;
rewrite ^/tag/([^/]+)/?$ /archive.php?tag=$1 last;
rewrite ^/category/([^/]+)/?$ /archive.php?category=$1 last;
rewrite ^/archive/?$ /archive.php last;
return 404;
}
# Pass PHP files to PHP-FPM
location ~ \.php$ {
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock; # adjust to your PHP-FPM socket
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
error_page 404 /404.php;
error_page 500 /500.php;
}Adjust
fastcgi_passto match your PHP-FPM socket or TCP address (e.g.127.0.0.1:9000).
| Section | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Posts | List, create, edit, delete articles |
| Pages | List, create, edit, delete static pages |
| Products | List, create, edit, delete store products |
| Media | Upload images, copy URLs, delete files |
| Settings | Edit all site config from the browser |
Each article, page, or product is a .md file with a front matter block at the top.
Articles and pages:
---
title: My Article Title
date: 2026-01-15
slug: my-article-title
categories: News, Updates
tags: php, web
image: https://example.com/image.jpg
excerpt: Short summary shown on the homepage.
---
Your Markdown content here.Products:
---
title: Product Name
slug: product-name
price: 29.99
currency: USD
buy_url: https://buy.stripe.com/your-link
stock: In Stock
image: https://example.com/product.jpg
excerpt: Short product description.
---
Full product description in Markdown.slugis used in the URL and auto-generated from the title if left blankexcerptis auto-generated if omittedimagefalls back to the default image inconfig.php- Set
stocktoOut of Stockto disable the buy button
├── admin.php — admin panel (login, CRUD, media, settings)
├── feed.php — RSS 2.0 feed
├── index.php — homepage with hero banner and article grid
├── post.php — article renderer
├── page.php — static page renderer
├── store.php — product listing
├── product.php — single product page
├── archive.php — article archive with tag/category filters
├── 404.php — not found page
├── 500.php — server error page
├── sitemap.php — auto-generated XML sitemap
├── robots.php — dynamic robots.txt
├── config.php — site config and admin credentials
├── .htaccess — URL routing (Apache)
├── includes/
│ ├── functions.php — shared helpers
│ ├── header.php — header and navigation
│ └── footer.php — footer partial
├── libs/
│ └── Parsedown.php — Markdown parser
├── assets/
│ ├── css/style.css — styles
│ └── uploads/ — uploaded media
├── posts/ — article Markdown files
├── pages/ — static page Markdown files
└── products/ — product Markdown files
MIT — uses Parsedown by Emanuil Rusev.