FAQ

General

Does njin run on Node.js?

No. njin is built on Bun and requires Bun 1.3.0 or newer.

Is njin free to use?

Yes. njin is open source under the MIT license.

Do I have to use the admin panel?

No. The admin panel is a convenient front for the REST API, but every model is also available through the API directly, and your own code can call a model's methods (read, create, update and so on) without either.

Can an AI agent build my site?

Yes. Every project includes CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md, which describe the framework so that a coding agent can add models and pages without reading the framework's source. See Building with a coding agent.

Can an AI agent manage my content?

Yes. Agents that support MCP can connect to the /mcp endpoint of your site, for example http://localhost:3000/mcp. The admin panel lists connected apps under Connected apps, where you can narrow or revoke their access at any time. See Managing content over MCP.

Content and data

Which databases does njin support?

SurrealDB, SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB.

SurrealDB is the default. It runs embedded in your project (stored in the data/ folder), so you do not need to run a database server. To use another database, pass its adapter in config.ts:

import sqliteAdapter from "@njinlabs/njin/adapters/sqlite";

export default defineConfig({
  adapters: { db: sqliteAdapter({ path: "data/app.db" }) },
});

The PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB adapters are @njinlabs/njin/adapters/postgres and @njinlabs/njin/adapters/mysql. When you set adapters.db, the db setting is ignored.

Where are uploaded files stored?

In the uploads/ folder by default. To store files elsewhere, such as S3, R2 or MinIO, use the S3 adapter from @njinlabs/njin/adapters/s3. See Configuration.

Can I have drafts and publishing?

Yes. Add draftable: true to a model. See Draft and publish.

Can my site be multilingual?

Yes, with i18n in config.ts and i18n: true on a model. Decide this when you create the model: converting a model that already has data to i18n is not supported. See Languages.

How do I control who can edit what?

With access groups and grants, for example post:*:own to let a group manage only the posts its members created. See Access control.

Development

I changed config.ts and nothing happened.

njin reads config.ts at startup. Restart the dev server after changing it. Templates and styles reload on their own.

Why does the server fail with a database lock error?

The embedded database can be opened by only one process at a time. Make sure no other njin dev or njin start is running for the same project folder.

How do I update njin?

Run bunx njin update inside the project. It updates @njinlabs/njin and the admin panel. bunx njin update --admin updates only the admin panel. See Updating njin.

Deployment

How do I deploy?

bunx njin build writes a production build to ./out, and bunx njin start runs the project in production mode from source. See Building and deploying.

Can I serve pages as static HTML?

Yes. List page routes under static in config.ts. They are rendered on the first request in production and then served from a cached HTML file. See Static page caching.