Deployment

Accent CMS supports two deployment models. Which one you choose depends on how frequently your content changes, whether you need on-demand features like media processing or plugins, and your hosting budget.

Two Deployment Models

Dynamic Server

Run Accent CMS as a long-lived process that renders pages on-the-fly:

accent serve --production

The dynamic server provides:

• Instant content updates (edit a markdown file, refresh the browser)
• On-demand image resizing and format conversion
• Full WASM plugin support at runtime
• Server-side caching with automatic invalidation

The --production flag requires a valid Standard or Pro license. All features work without a license in dev mode (accent serve), so you can evaluate everything before purchasing.

Static Build

Generate a directory of HTML, CSS, and assets that any web server can host:

accent build --output ./public --base-url https://example.com

The static build:

• Works with no license key (free)
• Produces files deployable to any CDN or static hosting provider
• Requires a rebuild and redeploy when content changes
• Runs plugins at build time only (no runtime plugin execution)
• Pre-processes all media at build time

Decision Guide

	Dynamic Server	Static Build
License	Standard or Pro	None (free)
Hosting	VPS, Docker, any server with a process manager	CDN, static host, any web server
Content updates	Instant (edit file, refresh)	Requires rebuild and redeploy
Plugins	Full runtime WASM plugin support	Plugins run at build time only
Media processing	On-demand image resizing	Pre-processed at build time
Best for	Dynamic sites, frequent updates, interactive features	Documentation, blogs, landing pages, portfolios

Both models produce the same HTML output. A site that works with the dynamic server will produce identical pages when built statically, so you can switch between them without changing your content or templates.

Local Preview with serve-static

After building your site, use serve-static to preview the output locally before deploying:

accent build --clean
accent serve-static
# Visit http://127.0.0.1:4403

Add --tls to preview over HTTPS with a self-signed certificate, which is useful for testing service workers, mixed-content policies, or any feature that requires a secure context:

accent serve-static --tls
# Visit https://127.0.0.1:4403

TLS Support

Both serve and serve-static support HTTPS via the --tls flag. Two modes are available:

• Self-signed (no --cert/--key): generates an ephemeral certificate for localhost and 127.0.0.1. Available with no license. Browsers will show a certificate warning, which is expected for local development.
• Custom certificates (--cert + --key): loads user-provided PEM files. Requires a Standard or Pro license.

# Self-signed TLS (no license required)
accent serve --tls

# Custom certificates (Standard or Pro)
accent serve --tls --cert /etc/ssl/cert.pem --key /etc/ssl/key.pem

Deployment Guides

Production Server

Set up Accent CMS as a production service with reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy), process management (systemd, Docker), license configuration, and performance tuning. Requires a Standard or Pro license.

Static Site Build

Generate a static HTML site and deploy to Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, GitHub Pages, Vercel, or any web server. Free; no license required.