README

Jambo API

Open-source headless CMS — Symfony 8 · PHP 8.4 · React 19

Website · Documentation · Demo · Roadmap

What is Jambo API?

Jambo API is a fully open-source, self-hosted headless CMS built on Symfony 8 and PHP 8.4. It exposes your content via REST and GraphQL APIs, ships with an AI-powered Studio to design schemas by chat, native End User authentication, a built-in MCP server for AI agent integration, and a complete admin panel — all in a single deployable PHP application.

Part of the Jambostack ecosystem alongside jambo-workbench (AI site builder, Node.js).

Why Jambo API?

	Jambo API	Strapi v5	Directus	Payload v3
Backend stack	Symfony 8 / PHP 8.4	Node.js	Node.js	Next.js / TS
Multi-project (single install)	✅ native	❌ one instance = one project	❌	❌
AI Schema Studio (chat-based)	✅ native	❌	❌	❌
MCP Server (AI agents)	✅ v2.0 native	❌	✅ extension	✅ plugin
End Users (dedicated front-end auth)	✅ separate table + JWT	✅ Users & Permissions	⚠️ same user table	✅ per-collection auth
Content Versioning	✅ open source	❌ Enterprise only	✅ open source	✅ open source
Multi-locale	✅ native	✅ native (v5)	✅ native	✅ native
GraphQL	✅ native	✅ free plugin	✅ native	✅ native
Full-text Search	✅ Meilisearch	❌ no native	❌ no native	❌ no native
Webhooks	✅ native	✅	✅	✅
Audit logs	✅ open source	❌ Enterprise only	✅ open source	❌ Enterprise only
PDF export	✅ native	❌	❌	❌
License	AGPL v3	MIT	Apache 2.0	MIT

Feature Overview

Content Management

📋 Collections — flexible EAV model, 15+ field types: text, longtext, richtext (Lexical editor), slug, email, password, number, decimal, boolean, date, datetime, time, color, json, enumeration, media, relation
🌍 Multi-locale — native i18n on every collection (en, fr, es, ar built-in)
📜 Content Versioning — full history of every entry, diff & restore
🗂 Collection Templates — reusable schema blueprints
📊 Column Settings — customizable list views per collection
🔍 Full-text Search — Meilisearch integration with real-time indexing

API

⚡ REST API — paginated, filterable, locale-aware endpoints
🔗 GraphQL — full schema with query, cache invalidation
📖 OpenAPI / Swagger — auto-generated docs (Nelmio + Swagger UI)
🔑 API Tokens — per-project token management, role-based permissions

AI & Automation

🤖 AI Studio — design and modify your content schema by chatting with an AI (OpenAI, Claude/Anthropic, DeepSeek, Ollama — via Symfony AI Bundle)
🔌 MCP Server v2.0 — connect any AI agent (Claude, Cursor…) directly to your CMS via Model Context Protocol: exploration, content CRUD, schema management, media, end users, AI tools
🧠 AI Content Service — AI-assisted content generation within entries

Users & Security

👤 Admin Users — roles, permissions, project members, invitations
👥 End Users — front-end user authentication with custom fields, JWT (lcobucci/jwt), registration, password reset
🛡 Rate Limiter — API protection against abuse
🔒 Captcha — bot protection on public forms

Media & Assets

🖼 Media Library — file upload, metadata, VichUploader
🎨 Image Transform — resize, crop, format conversion (Intervention Image v4)
📄 PDF Export — generate PDFs from content (DomPDF)

DevOps & Integrations

📬 Webhooks — event-driven triggers on content changes (per-collection)
📧 Email / Mailer — SMTP configuration per project, email logs
📦 Messenger — async jobs via Symfony Messenger (Doctrine transport)
🚀 Deployments — deployment tracking and management
📊 Audit Logs — complete history of every admin action
🏗 Project Templates — bootstrap new projects from templates

Admin Panel

🎨 Built with React 19 + Inertia.js + Tailwind CSS 4 + shadcn/ui
Rich text editor: Lexical (bold, italic, lists, links, code blocks, markdown)
Drag & drop fields: @hello-pangea/dnd
Charts: Recharts
Dark mode — emerald-based design system

Tech Stack

Backend


Language	PHP 8.4
Framework	Symfony 8.0
ORM	Doctrine ORM 3 + Migrations
Database	MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite (via Doctrine ORM)
Search	Meilisearch
AI	Symfony AI Bundle (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Ollama)
Auth	Symfony Security + lcobucci/jwt 5.5
Media	VichUploader + Intervention Image 4
Queue	Symfony Messenger (Doctrine transport)
PDF	DomPDF 3
GraphQL	webonyx/graphql-php 15
API Docs	Nelmio API Doc + Swagger PHP

Frontend


Framework	React 19 + Inertia.js 3
Build	Webpack Encore + TypeScript 5.9
Styles	Tailwind CSS 4 + shadcn/ui + Radix UI
Rich text	Lexical
Charts	Recharts
UI extras	Stimulus 3, Hotwire Turbo, nanostores, sonner

Getting Started

Requirements

PHP 8.4+ with extensions: ctype, iconv
Composer
MySQL 8+, PostgreSQL 14+, or SQLite (via Doctrine ORM)
Node.js 18+ + npm (for assets)
Optional: Meilisearch (for full-text search), Symfony CLI

Installation

# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/jambostack/jambo-api.git
cd jambo-api

# 2. PHP dependencies
composer install

# 3. JS dependencies & build
npm install
npm run build

# 4. Environment
cp .env .env.local

Edit .env.local:

APP_ENV=prod
APP_SECRET=your-secret-here
DATABASE_URL="mysql://user:password@127.0.0.1:3306/jambo?serverVersion=8.0.32&charset=utf8mb4"
MAILER_DSN=smtp://user:pass@smtp.example.com:587
MEILISEARCH_HOST=http://localhost:7700
MEILISEARCH_KEY=your-meilisearch-key
APP_HOSTNAME=yourdomain.com

# 5. Database
php bin/console doctrine:database:create
php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate

# 6. Load fixtures (default admin + system permissions)
php bin/console doctrine:fixtures:load --append
# Default credentials: admin@jambostack.site / admin1234

# 7. Start
symfony serve
# or: php -S localhost:8000 -t public/

Open http://localhost:8000 and log in with the default credentials above. Change the password immediately.

Docker (coming soon)

docker compose up -d

API Reference

# List published entries
GET /api/{project-uuid}/{collection}?locale=en&limit=20&offset=0

# Get single entry
GET /api/{project-uuid}/{collection}/{entry-uuid}

# Authentication
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN

GraphQL endpoint: GET/POST /api/{project-uuid}/graphql

OpenAPI docs: /api/docs

Example response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "uuid": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-...",
      "locale": "en",
      "status": "published",
      "title": "Hello World",
      "slug": "hello-world",
      "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
      "updated_at": "2026-01-15T12:00:00+00:00"
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 42, "page": 1, "limit": 20 }
}

MCP Server (AI Agent Integration)

Connect any AI agent directly to your Jambo API via Model Context Protocol:

MCP endpoint: https://your-jambo.com/mcp
Version: 2.0.0 — JamboApi CMS

Available tool categories:

Exploration — browse projects, collections, schema
Content — list, create, update, delete entries
Schema — manage collections and fields
Media — upload, query assets
End Users — manage front-end users
AI Tools — content generation, search, versioning, image processing

Project Structure

jambo-api/
├─ assets/js/            # React 19 frontend (Inertia.js)
│  ├─ components/        # UI components (shadcn/ui, Radix)
│  ├─ layouts/           # App shell
│  └─ pages/             # Inertia pages (Content, Media, Studio…)
├─ config/               # Symfony configuration
├─ migrations/           # 32 Doctrine migrations
├─ src/
│  ├─ Controller/        # 24 controllers (API, pages, MCP…)
│  ├─ Entity/            # 28 Doctrine entities
│  ├─ Mcp/               # MCP Server v2.0
│  ├─ Repository/        # Data access layer
│  ├─ Service/           # 16 business services
│  └─ EventSubscriber/   # 6 subscribers (webhooks, audit, search…)
├─ templates/            # Twig base templates
└─ translations/         # i18n — en, fr, es, ar

Ecosystem

jambostack/
├─ jambo-api          ← You are here · Symfony 8 / PHP 8.4 · AGPL v3
├─ jambo-workbench    ← AI site builder · Node.js / Vite / React · MIT
└─ jambo-mobileapp    ← Mobile app (coming soon)

Roadmap

REST API + GraphQL + OpenAPI/Swagger
AI Schema Studio (multi-provider via Symfony AI Bundle)
MCP Server v2.0
End Users + JWT authentication
Content versioning
Webhooks + Audit logs
Meilisearch full-text search
Multi-locale (en, fr, es, ar)
PDF export, Image transform
Project templates, Collection templates
Docker one-click install
Jambo Cloud (managed hosting)
Plugin/extension system

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md first.

git clone https://github.com/jambostack/jambo-api.git
cd jambo-api
git checkout -b feat/your-feature
composer install && npm install && npm run dev
# Make your changes, write tests, then:
git commit -m "feat: description"
# Open a Pull Request on GitHub

License

Jambo API is open source under the GNU AGPL v3 License.

You can use, modify and distribute Jambo API freely. If you run a modified version as a public SaaS, you must publish your source code under AGPL v3.

For a commercial license (closed-source, white-label): contact@jambostack.site

Built with ❤️ · jambostack.site

jambostack / jambo-api

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