Introduction to PolyCMS — CMS for Perfex CRM
What is PolyCMS?
PolyCMS is a complete Content Management System module built exclusively for Perfex CRM. It transforms your CRM into a powerful blogging and content platform — without requiring WordPress, Joomla, or any external CMS installation.
Everything runs natively inside Perfex CRM: staff accounts, permissions, activity logs, and file management are all shared. There's no duplicate user management, no separate database, and no context switching between systems.
Why PolyCMS?
If you're running Perfex CRM and need a company blog, knowledge base, news section, or public-facing content portal, PolyCMS gives you everything in one place:
- Zero External Dependencies — No WordPress installation needed. Your blog lives inside your CRM.
- Native CRM Integration — Uses Perfex staff accounts and permissions. Content editors are managed through the same interface as your CRM team.
- WordPress-Like Extensibility — A familiar hooks and filters system allows developers to extend functionality without modifying core code.
- SEO-First Architecture — Every post and page supports Meta Title, Meta Description, Open Graph, Twitter Cards, Canonical URLs, and a live Google Search Preview.
- Production-Ready Security — XSS protection via HTMLPurifier, rate limiting on public endpoints, BASEPATH guards, and file upload validation are all built-in.
Core Feature Set
PolyCMS ships with a comprehensive set of features out of the box:
Content Management
- Post Management — Rich-text editor (TinyMCE), featured images, scheduling, visibility controls (Public, Private, Password Protected), reading time, views tracking, and bulk actions.
- Page Management — Standalone pages with custom templates, parent-child hierarchy, and dedicated SEO fields.
- Categories & Tags — Multi-level hierarchical categories (unlimited depth) and flexible tag system with auto-completion.
Media & Navigation
- Media Library — Grid/List view, directory browsing, drag-and-drop upload, lightbox preview, and safe deletion protections.
- Menu Builder — Drag-and-drop menu editor with nested sub-menus, custom URLs, CSS classes, and external link support.
Engagement & SEO
- Comments & Moderation — Approve, spam, reply, delete. Enable/disable comments per post.
- SEO Configuration — Meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter Cards, canonical URLs, focus keywords, and Google Search Preview.
- Permalink Settings — Configurable blog prefix (
/blog,/news,/articles), category base, and tag base.
Extensibility
- Plugin System — WordPress-like architecture. 5 bundled plugins: XML Sitemap, Google Analytics, Maintenance Mode, Banner Slider, MTOptimize.
- Theme System — Template hierarchy, Theme Options panel, ZIP upload. Bundled theme: Head Random.
- Widgets & Shortcodes — 9 built-in widgets, configurable Widget Areas, and shortcode engine for embedding dynamic content.
Tools & Administration
- Dashboard — Statistics, activity log, drag-and-drop widget layout.
- Backup & Restore — SQL snapshots of CMS tables only.
- Import/Export — JSON content migration and demo data generator.
- 16 Language Packs — English, Vietnamese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and more.
Architecture Overview
PolyCMS follows strict MVC architecture built on CodeIgniter (the same framework Perfex CRM uses). Key architectural decisions include:
- 16 dedicated database tables (prefixed with
blog_) — keeping CMS data completely isolated from CRM client data. - Hook/Filter system modeled after WordPress — developers register actions and filters to extend functionality.
- Theme template hierarchy —
single.php→category.php→tag.php→page.php→index.phpfallback. - Plugin sandboxing — Each plugin lives in its own directory with isolated settings, language files, and assets.
For a deeper technical dive, see the Architecture Overview.
System Requirements
| Requirement | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Perfex CRM | 3.0.0+ |
| PHP | 8.1+ |
| MySQL | 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+ |
| Web Server | Apache or Nginx with mod_rewrite |
| Disk | Writable uploads/ directory |
Getting Started
Ready to install? Follow these guides in order:
- Installation & Activation Guide — Download, upload, activate, and configure permissions.
- Quick Start: Your First Blog Post — Create a category, write a post, add images, and publish to your frontend.
For developers looking to extend PolyCMS:
- Hooks & Filters Reference — Complete API documentation for all available hooks.
- Building a Custom Plugin — Step-by-step plugin scaffold with sample code.
- Building a Custom Theme — Theme template hierarchy and scaffold guide.