Introduction to Pico CMS

Pico CMS is an open-source, lightweight content management system designed for simple, fast static sites. With Pico you can ship pages without a database or a heavy application server.

Main features

1. Lightweight: Small footprint—well suited to shared hosting or modest servers.

2. Easy to use: Simplicity is a core goal; Markdown-first authoring keeps day-to-day work predictable.

3. Markdown: Pico uses Markdown for content. You write in plain text and the site renders HTML.

4. Customizable: Themes and Twig templates let you adjust layout and styling without fighting the core.

5. Extensible: Plugins add contact forms, integrations, and other behavior as needed.

6. No database: Fewer moving parts in setup and backups.

7. SEO-friendly: Clean URLs and meta tags support sensible defaults for search engines.

Getting started (high level)

1. Server: A web server with PHP support.
2. Download: Get Pico from the official site.
3. Install: Unpack and upload to your host.
4. Configure: Edit config/config.yml for your site.
5. Author: Add Markdown under content/.
6. Theme: Adjust or replace files under themes/.
7. Publish: Deploy the generated static output or serve PHP directly, depending on your hosting model.

Pico is a strong fit for personal blogs and small sites where you want to focus on writing instead of infrastructure. Its minimal surface area matches how this project is maintained today.