Guide for invited closed-alpha testers of Birkly. If you do not have an invite, request access at the Birkly website waitlist.
Closed alpha means Birkly is feature-complete enough for real self-hosted trials but not a public beta. Expect rough edges. Your job: use the CMS on your own server, report bugs and ideas via in-admin Feedback, and read Help for docs. We ship fixes from your reports before open beta.
What is in this alpha
| Area | What to test | |------|----------------| | BYOAI | Connect your provider (OpenAI, Claude, Ollama, …), assign a role, try chat read/write and approval queue | | MCP | Optional: connect Claude Desktop with a per-connection MCP key | | Automation | Enable the automation plugin; create a webhook or scheduled workflow | | User plugin | Registration, login, collection permissions | | ContentEditor | Block components (callout, quote, CTA, table, image) — save and reload entries | | Feedback | Submit bug/idea from the admin Feedback widget; confirm it appears in Feedback admin |
Getting started
- Install Birkly on a server or local PHP (see Getting started).
- Complete onboarding (project name, first admin user).
- Open Help (sidebar) for contextual docs — links open full Birkly-Docs topics.
- Enable plugins you need under Settings → Plugins (Automation, User Management).
- Connect AI under Settings → AI Connections — start with Ollama locally if you have no API key.
Reporting issues
Use Feedback in the admin (not only email) so we capture:
- Your message and category (bug / idea / other)
- Optional screenshot
- Page URL, CMS version, and browser info
We use this data only to improve the alpha (see website Privacy Policy for retention). Include steps to reproduce for bugs.
What not to expect yet
- Production SLA or 24/7 support
- Polished dark mode / full responsive admin rework
- Plugin marketplace
- Managed hosting from us — you self-host