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The Content Management Service (CMS) is a full CRUD API for creating and managing content. It is strictly a server-side API — never call it from a browser or expose its credentials publicly.
This quickstart covers creating and publishing content. To fetch content for your frontend, see the Fetch Content (CDS) quickstart.

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Prerequisites

You need three values from the Publive Dashboard:
ValueWhere to find it
API KeyDashboard → Configurations → API Developer Hub → View API Credentials
API SecretSame location as above
Publisher IDVisible in your Dashboard URL

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Step 1: Build your auth token

The CMS uses HTTP Basic Auth. Encode your key and secret: 
echo -n 'YOUR_API_KEY:YOUR_API_SECRET' | base64
Store the result as environment variables: 
export PUBLIVE_AUTH="dXNlcjpwYXNz"
export PUBLIVE_PUBLISHER_ID="12345"
The CMS API key has write access. Store it only in server-side environment variables — never in client-side code, public repositories, or build artifacts.

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Step 2: Create a category

Every published post requires a primary_category. Create one first: 
curl -X POST \
  "https://cms.thepublive.com/publisher/${PUBLIVE_PUBLISHER_ID}/category/" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic ${PUBLIVE_AUTH}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Technology",
    "english_name": "Technology"
  }'
Response: 
{
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Technology",
  "english_name": "Technology",
  "slug": "technology",
  "parent_category": null
}
Note the id from the response — you’ll need it when creating posts.

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Step 3: Create a draft post

Create a post in Draft status. Drafts are not publicly visible via the CDS: 
curl -X POST \
  "https://cms.thepublive.com/publisher/${PUBLIVE_PUBLISHER_ID}/post/" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic ${PUBLIVE_AUTH}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "My First API Post",
    "english_title": "My First API Post",
    "type": "Article",
    "status": "Draft",
    "primary_category": 42,
    "content": "<p>This post was created via the Publive CMS API.</p>"
  }'
Response: 
{
  "id": 9001,
  "title": "My First API Post",
  "slug": "my-first-api-post",
  "type": "Article",
  "status": "Draft",
  "primary_category": {
    "id": 42,
    "name": "Technology",
    "slug": "technology"
  },
  "created_at": "2026-04-15T10:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-04-15T10:00:00Z"
}

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Step 4: Publish the post

Update the post status from Draft to Published using a PATCH request: 
curl -X PATCH \
  "https://cms.thepublive.com/publisher/${PUBLIVE_PUBLISHER_ID}/post/9001/" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic ${PUBLIVE_AUTH}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "status": "Published"
  }'
If your organisation uses an approval workflow, submit for review first by setting status to Approval Pending. An approver then publishes the post. See Approval Flows for details.

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Step 5: Verify via CDS

Confirm the post is publicly available by fetching it from the CDS: 
curl -X GET \
  "https://cds.thepublive.com/publisher/${PUBLIVE_PUBLISHER_ID}/post/9001/" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic ${PUBLIVE_AUTH}"
A successful response means the post is live and being served to your frontend.

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Step 6: Schedule or backdate (optional)

Publish at a future time by setting scheduled_at instead of status: Published: 
curl -X PATCH \
  "https://cms.thepublive.com/publisher/${PUBLIVE_PUBLISHER_ID}/post/9001/" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic ${PUBLIVE_AUTH}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "status": "Scheduled",
    "scheduled_at": "2026-05-01T09:00:00Z"
  }'
To backdate a migrated post, set published_at to a past timestamp along with status: Published.

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Content state machine

Posts move through these states. Only valid transitions are accepted by the API: 
Draft → Approval Pending → Published
Draft →                    Published
Draft →                    Scheduled → Published
Published → Draft
See State Management for the complete transition table and access control rules.

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What’s next?

Fetch Content (CDS)

Serve your published content to a frontend

Editorial Workflows

Set up maker-checker and approval flows

CMS API Reference

Full endpoint reference for all CMS routes

JavaScript SDK

Use the official SDK for typed CMS operations