Multisite architecture
Run independent websites from one ApostropheCMS application. Each site has its own content, users, permissions, and configuration while sharing the same underlying platform.
Build and manage hundreds of websites from one platform
Apostrophe Assembly extends ApostropheCMS with multisite or multitenant architecture and centralized management tools. Create, customize, and operate independent websites from a single application, codebase, and development workflow.
What is Apostrophe Assembly?
Assembly is ApostropheCMS's multisite platform for organizations that need to operate many websites without maintaining separate CMS installations.
Combining three core capabilities
-
-
Multisite Dashboard
Manage your entire site portfolio from one centralized interface. Create new sites, configure settings, search across your platform, and manage your fleet without switching between separate CMS installations.
-
Shared development model
Build your components, templates, and integrations once. Every site benefits from improvements without duplicating development work.
A centralized dashboard for your entire website portfolio
Managing dozens or hundreds of websites shouldn't mean managing dozens or hundreds of CMS installations.
Assembly gives platform administrators one place to manage their entire site fleet.
From the Multisite Dashboard, you can:
Create and configure new sites
Manage site settings and domains
Search and organize sites
Manage platform-level settings
Monitor and maintain your site portfolio
Every site remains independent for editors and administrators while your development team maintains control over the platform.
Shared platform. Independent websites.
Assembly separates what belongs to the platform from what belongs to each individual site. Your development team maintains the shared foundation:
Components
Templates
Integrations
Business logic
Design system
Platform features
Each site manages its own:
Content
Users
Permissions
Media
Editorial workflows
Localization
Branding
This gives organizations the efficiency of a shared platform without forcing every website into the same experience.
Every site can have its own brand
A shared platform does not mean every site looks identical.
Assembly works with ApostropheCMS design tools to give each site its own visual identity while keeping developers in control of the available options.
Site administrators can customize:
Colors and palettes
Typography
Logos and brand assets
Widget styles
Page layouts
Navigation structures
Developers define the design system. Editors and administrators customize within your chosen boundaries.
The result is flexibility without the risks of unrestricted page builders that allow users to break accessibility, responsiveness, or brand consistency.
White-label the editing experience
Make ApostropheCMS feel like part of your product
For organizations delivering websites as part of their own platform, the editing experience matters as much as the public-facing site.
Assembly allows teams to customize the CMS experience to match their own product:
Brand the administration interface
Configure available tools and components
Create a focused editing experience for each audience
Give customers the capabilities they need without unnecessary complexity
Your customers manage their websites. Your team maintains the platform behind them.
How site isolation works
Independent sites, managed together
Every Assembly site has its own isolated content environment.
Editors working on one site cannot see or modify content from another site. Permissions are scoped per site, allowing users to have different roles across different websites.
For example:
A regional marketing team can manage only their regional site
A customer can manage their own website without accessing others
Platform administrators can manage the entire collection
Isolation is enforced at the data level, not just through the user interface.
What's shared vs. what's independent?
| Shared across sites | Independent per site |
|---|---|
| Components | Content |
| Templates | Users |
| Business logic | Permissions |
| Integrations | Media |
| Platform features | Editorial workflows |
| Design system | Branding |
Build once. Operate many.
Feature overview
Everything included in an Assembly license
Capability | Purpose |
|---|---|
Multisite + multitenant architecture | Run many independent websites from one application |
Dashboard | Manage your entire website portfolio centrally |
Shared component library | Build features and templates once and use them everywhere |
Styles Editor | Allow site-specific branding and customization |
White labeling | Create a branded editing experience |
Localization | Support multilingual websites across your platform |
Editorial workflow | Give each site its own publishing process |
Advanced permissions | Control access across complex organizations |
Signup | Empower users to easily create accounts on your sites |
AI-powered translations | Use the model you want to rapidly translate content (for review) |
AI-powered SEO assistant | Rapidly generate SEO metadata such as page titles and descriptions |
Hosting support (optional) | Operate and scale your platform confidently |
Operate your website fleet
Scale from one site to hundreds
Assembly is designed for organizations where maintaining separate websites becomes operationally expensive.
Instead of:
Separate CMS installations
Repeated configuration
Duplicate development work
Individual deployments
Teams get:
One platform
One development workflow
One component library
One operational model
Scalable deployments
Organizations like iCIMS use Assembly to power hundreds of customer career sites across dozens of languages from a single Apostrophe installation. Multiple sites can safely run in a single process, reducing operational costs.
Assembly powers iCIMS Career Sites
"The implementation has dramatically reduced change implementation time from days or weeks to just minutes, significantly improving operational efficiency. Customers now have unprecedented control with real-time management capabilities for their career sites."
Matteo Hernandez
Senior Product Manager
Frequently asked questions about Assembly
Separate CMS installations require separate infrastructure, deployments, configuration, and maintenance.
Assembly allows multiple websites to share the same platform foundation while keeping each site's content and users isolated.
Assembly is designed to support hundreds of websites from a single installation. In production, deployments are typically load-balanced over a minimum of two servers, then scaled to additional servers as needed. Depending on site complexity and traffic we typically see good results with 50 sites per server, balanced over two servers per site. Compare that to the cost and hassle of separate servers for every site.
Yes. Developers define the available customization options, and each site can configure its own branding through Apostrophe's design tools.
Yes. Developers control which components and features are available across the platform and can configure different site experiences as needed.
Each site has its own users and roles. Users can have different permissions on different sites, while platform administrators can manage the entire collection.
For more advanced requirements, Advanced Permissions extends the platform with additional controls.
Yes. Each site can manage its own languages, localization settings, and editorial workflows while sharing the same underlying platform architecture.
Cross-site content sharing is planned for future Assembly enhancements.
Assembly licenses start at five sites for $499 per month. Volume pricing is available. Hosting is separate, and self-hosting is also an option. For more information, see our License Pricing.
An Assembly license comes with it all
-
Localization
Run multilingual sites with independent language configurations across your platform.
-
Editing Tools
Give every site the same powerful in-context editing experience.
-
Design Tools
Create flexible, brand-safe customization options for every site.
-
Editorial Workflow
Give each site its own publishing process, approvals, and version history.
-
Advanced Permissions
Support complex organizations with granular access control.