EmDash

EmDash is a content management system built on Astro. Netkeel installs and builds it for you from its Blog template, keeps it running, and stores its database and media in the website’s own files, so they are backed up with the website.

Set it up

Create a server and choose EmDash under 2 Application. EmDash needs at least 2 GB of memory to build, so only sizes with enough memory are shown. A server can hold as many EmDash websites as it has room for.
When the server is Online, add a website to it, with your domain or with No domain yet? Start without one. There is nothing extra to choose.
Netkeel installs and builds EmDash on its own. This takes a few minutes. Open the website and go to Hosting › EmDash to follow it.

If the setup fails, the card says why. Click Install again to retry.

Create the administrator

When EmDash is installed, the Create the administrator card appears.

Click Open setup. EmDash’s setup opens in a new tab.
Type the site’s name, then your email address.
Create a passkey on this device when your browser asks. The first account becomes EmDash’s administrator.

Only a browser opened from the Open setup button can finish the setup.

Open the admin

Click Open admin on the EmDash card. The admin address is also shown under Admin.

Use a sign-in link when you move to a new domain or lose your passkey.

Under Sign-in link, click Create sign-in link.
Click Sign in to EmDash.

The link signs you in once as EmDash’s first administrator, within 15 minutes, and opens its security settings so you can add a passkey.

Start, stop and restart

The Status card shows whether EmDash is Running, Starting, Stopped, Failed or Not set up, with its Uptime, Memory, Restarts and number of Administrators. It refreshes every 10 seconds while the page is open.

Start starts EmDash when it is stopped, and Restart restarts it.
Stop stops it. The website shows an error page, and scheduled publishing waits, until you start EmDash again.

Recent log shows EmDash’s latest output. Click Refresh to read it again.

Update EmDash

The EmDash card shows the Version you run and the Latest version Netkeel offers. When a newer one is available, click Update to that version and confirm.

Netkeel takes a backup first. EmDash is then installed and built again on the new version while the website shows a short unavailable page. If the new version doesn’t start within two minutes, the previous version and its data are put back automatically.

Install again

Install again installs the packages again, builds the website from its current files and restarts EmDash. Your content, media and settings are kept. Use it after a failed setup, after you change the project’s files, or when the build is broken.

Plugins

Add plugins in the project’s astro.config.mjs, then click Install again to build the website with them. Plugins run inside EmDash with the website’s permissions, so add only plugins you trust. Plugins from the EmDash marketplace can’t be installed.

Backups

EmDash’s database (data/emdash.db) and media (data/uploads) are in the website’s files, so the website’s automatic backups include them. EmDash stops for a moment while a backup is taken.

Who can do what

The Owner and Super admins open the setup, create sign-in links, install EmDash again and update it. Collaborators with access to the website see its status and log, and can start, stop or restart it. See Team members.

What is not available yet

EmDash runs on Node.js with settings Netkeel manages, so the website has no Node.js app section, no environment variables editor and no PHP. It has no Databases section either: its database is part of its files. Deploying from Git, staging, cloning, moving to another server and import and export are not available for EmDash websites yet.