theDavid · The Digital Potter CMS
The CMS we built for our own clients.
Multi-tenant. Headless. Built around editorial control. theDavid powers every Digital Potter site — your marketing team writes, designers ship, engineers stay focused on shipping features.
Why we built it
Built for the way teams actually work.
We've shipped sites on WordPress, Webflow, and Squarespace. Each one got us 80% of the way there and bled us on the last 20%. So we built our own — and it's what powers every site we ship.
- 01
Editorial control
Your marketing or content team writes and ships without a developer in the loop. The editor is a familiar WYSIWYG, the section composer is opinionated, and there's no way to break the design.
- 02
Headless flexibility
Your frontend is custom Next.js. theDavid is just an API. We never trap you in a theme system or a no-code builder — your site can do anything Next.js can do.
- 03
You own the code
End the engagement and the frontend goes with you. theDavid is licensed; your custom frontend is yours. We've built this on purpose so the platform outlives the relationship.
Page composer
Pages built from sections, not freeform HTML.
Drag, drop, reorder. Each section is a designed component — hero, feature grid, gallery, testimonials, CTA, sixteen types in all. Editors get a controlled canvas; designers get a system that doesn't break under client edits.
- WYSIWYG content blocks with the editor your team already knows
- Sixteen pre-designed section types out of the box
- Drag-to-reorder, duplicate, hide — never lose work
- Per-page SEO, featured image, parent / child relationships
- Live preview before publishing
Multi-tenant by default
One platform. Many sites. Zero compromise.
Run a single CMS for your whole business — agency, multi-brand company, franchise. Each tenant has its own data, settings, users, and storefront. Super admins administer everything from one login; tenant admins only see their own.
- Tenant-scoped content, users, and settings — strict isolation
- Super-admin oversight across all tenants in one switcher
- Per-tenant branding, domains, and Stripe / Mailgun accounts
- Per-tenant pricing and module activation
- Cross-tenant search and reporting for super admins
Site Options
Every store-wide setting in one tab. Not fourteen.
Brand, SEO, navigation, social links, policies, integrations, taxes, shipping. All in one place. No more digging through plugin menus or remembering where the favicon lives.
- General settings, SEO defaults, and Site Structure routing
- Header, footer, sidebar, and mobile navigation editors
- Currencies, units, tax rules, shipping zones
- Stripe, Mailgun, Google Analytics, webmaster tool verification
- Sales channels, social links, refund / privacy / terms policies
Dashboard
Know what matters, every time you log in.
Sales, orders, traffic, customer growth, recent activity — visible the moment you sign in. Filter by week, month, quarter, year. Activity feed shows every change your team has made so nothing slips through.
- Storefront visits chart with trend indicators
- Sales, orders, paid transactions, new customer KPIs
- Activity feed: every nav change, page edit, content publish
- Latest registered customers list
- Time-range filters: week, month, quarter, year
Under the hood
Boring choices on purpose.
Each tool earns its place by being the best long-term option for the problem — not the trendiest. Everything ships production-ready.
Frontend admin
- Next.js 16 App Router
- React 19
- Tailwind CSS v4
- Tiptap rich-text editor
- TypeScript strict mode
API
- Express 5 + TypeScript
- Mongoose 9 / MongoDB
- JWT auth with role + tenant claims
- tenantGuard middleware on every admin route
- Slug-or-ObjectId tenant resolution
Integrations
- Stripe — checkout, subscriptions, webhooks
- Mailgun — transactional and notification email
- S3-compatible object storage for media
- Google Analytics + Search Console wiring
- Custom integrations on request
Operations
- Multi-tenant by ObjectId or slug
- Daily automated backups
- On-demand revalidation webhook
- Per-tenant rate limiting
- Audit log of every admin action
How theDavid compares
Not WordPress. Not a SaaS. Something better for our use case.
We tried each of these for years before building our own. Here's what we kept, what we threw out, and what we added that nobody else ships.
| Feature | WordPress | Contentful | Strapi | theDavid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-tenant native | Multisite plugin (clunky) | Spaces (extra cost) | Manual per project | Yes, day-one |
| Custom frontend | Theme system | Headless API | Headless API | Custom Next.js |
| Section composer | Gutenberg blocks | Manual content models | Manual content types | 16 pre-designed section types |
| Stripe payments | Plugin | Not built-in | Plugin | Native, your account |
| Email transport | Plugin | Not built-in | Basic | Native (Mailgun) |
| Hosting model | Self / managed (separate) | Vendor SaaS only | Self only | Managed by us, or self-host |
| Maintenance included | No (separate plan) | Vendor managed | No (DIY) | Yes, with retainer |
| Source code yours | Yes (PHP) | No (proprietary) | Yes (open source) | Frontend yours, CMS licensed |
Ready to craft your digital masterpiece?
Tell us about your business and the problem you're solving. We'll come back with a tailored proposal — no templates, no Frankenstein stack, just a plan built for you.