Using the CMS

30 April 2026 Ace Strategies Reviewed by Editorial Team 7 min read How-To Guide Beginner Updated 30 April 2026
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The KMS is powered by Sveltia CMS — a git-backed content management system that commits changes directly to the repository. This guide covers everything from logging in to troubleshooting.

Accessing the CMS

Navigate to /admin/ on the Ace Strategies website. Authenticate with your GitHub account — the CMS uses GitHub OAuth to verify your identity and permissions.

Access Requirements

You must have write access to the kamirostami-lab/aces-prime GitHub repository. Contact the platform administrator if you receive an authentication error.

The Dashboard

After login, you'll see the Sveltia interface with three main areas:

1. Collections Sidebar (Left)

Lists all content types you can edit. The KMS collections are:

Collection What It Contains File Location
Knowledge Base All KMS articles src/content/knowledge/
News & Insights Public news articles src/content/news/
Case Studies Client case studies src/content/cases/
Team Members Staff profiles src/content/team/
Newsletters Newsletter archive entries src/content/newsletters/
Site Settings Global site configuration src/_data/site.json
Homepage Homepage hero and CTA content src/_data/homepage.json

Stick to Your Lane

Only edit collections you've been trained on. Accidental changes to Site Settings or Homepage content affect the live site immediately.

2. Entry List (Centre)

Shows all entries in the selected collection. Key controls:

  • Search bar at the top — filter entries by title
  • New Entry button — creates a new article with default front matter
  • Entry cards — click to open an article for editing
  • Status indicators — draft articles show a different visual treatment

3. Editor Pane (Right, when an entry is open)

The editing interface. This guide focuses on this area.

The Editor

When you open an article, you'll see the editor pane split into two sections:

Front Matter Fields (Top)

Form fields corresponding to each front matter property. Most are straightforward, but a few deserve attention:

Status Selector : The most important field. Controls visibility. Options: : - Draft — In progress. Hidden on production. : - Review — Ready for editorial check. Hidden on production. : - Published — Live on the site. Visible to all members. : - Archived — Retired. Hidden from the index.

Category & Subcategory : Category is a dropdown of the ten practice areas. Subcategory is a free-text field for finer-grained labelling (e.g., "State Budget" within "Government Relations").

Tags List : Click "Add" to create new tags. Tags appear as filterable chips on the knowledge base index. Use lowercase, hyphen-separate multi-word tags (e.g., sa-budget not SA Budget).

Related Articles : Each entry has a title and url field. The URL should be the full path from the domain root (e.g., /staff/knowledge/glossary/). Related articles appear in a grid at the bottom of the published article. Never link to /alliance/members/knowledge/... — that's the separate IAA library.

Featured Image : Click the image field to open the media library. Upload new images or select existing ones. Images are stored in src/assets/repository/images/uploads/.

Image Sizes

Featured images display at full article width on desktop. Use images at least 1200px wide. The CMS does not automatically resize — optimise images before uploading.

Body Editor (Bottom)

A rich-text Markdown editor where you write the article content. Features:

  • Toolbar — Bold, italic, headings, lists, links, images, blockquotes, code blocks
  • Markdown mode — Toggle between rich-text and raw Markdown view
  • Drag-and-drop images — Drop images directly into the editor to upload

Use Raw Markdown for Complex Content

Tables, callouts, and wikilinks are easier to write in raw Markdown mode. Toggle to rich-text mode to preview the rendered output.

Uploading and Managing Media

Uploading Images

  1. Click any image field in the front matter, or use the image button in the body editor toolbar
  2. The media library opens showing previously uploaded files
  3. Click "Upload" or drag files into the upload area
  4. Select the uploaded image — it's inserted into your article

Media Library

All uploaded files live in src/assets/repository/images/uploads/. In the media library you can:

  • Browse existing images
  • Search by filename
  • Delete unused images (use cautiously — deleting an image referenced by a published article breaks the image on the live site)

Supported Formats

  • Images: JPG, PNG, WebP, SVG
  • Documents (for download links): PDF, DOCX
  • Maximum file size: 10MB per file

Saving and Committing

Sveltia is git-backed — every save creates a commit:

  1. Click Save (or press Cmd+S / Ctrl+S)
  2. The CMS writes your changes to the file and commits to the repository
  3. If the site is configured for continuous deployment, the commit triggers an automatic rebuild

Commit Messages

Sveltia generates commit messages automatically (e.g., "Update Knowledge Base: Article Title"). You cannot customise commit messages through the CMS.

Unsaved Changes

If you navigate away with unsaved changes, the CMS warns you. Always save before closing — there is no autosave.

Managing Entries

Creating a New Article

  1. Select Knowledge Base in the collections sidebar
  2. Click "New Knowledge Base"
  3. Fill in the front matter and body
  4. Click Save

The new article is created with status: draft by default.

Duplicating an Article

There's no direct "duplicate" function. Instead:

  1. Open the article you want to duplicate
  2. Select all body content (Cmd+A / Ctrl+A) and copy
  3. Create a new article
  4. Paste the body content and adjust the front matter

Deleting an Article

  1. Open the article
  2. Click the Delete button (usually a trash icon or in the three-dot menu)
  3. Confirm the deletion

Deletion Is Permanent

Deleting an article removes the file from the repository. It can be recovered via Git history, but this requires command-line access. Archive the article instead of deleting if you might need it later — change status to archived.

Working Across Multiple Articles

Quick Switching

  • Click any entry in the entry list to switch between articles
  • Unsaved changes trigger a warning before switching
  • Save your current article first, then open the next

Searching for Articles

Use the search bar at the top of the entry list to filter by title. This searches only the currently selected collection. To search across all collections, use the site-wide search on the public website (powered by Pagefind).

Finding Your Drafts

Drafts appear in the entry list with a visual indicator (a coloured dot or label depending on the CMS theme). You can also use the built-in knowledge base drafts collection — drafts are listed separately in development builds.

Troubleshooting

"Authentication Failed" Error

Cause: Your GitHub account doesn't have write access to the repository, or your OAuth token has expired.

Fix: Log out of GitHub in your browser, clear the site cookies for acestrategies.au, and log in again. If the issue persists, contact the platform administrator to verify your repository permissions.

Changes Not Appearing on the Site

Cause: The production build hasn't run yet, or the article status is draft.

Fix:

  1. Verify the article status is published in the CMS
  2. Wait 2-5 minutes for the automatic build to complete
  3. Check the Cloudflare Workers dashboard for build status
  4. If the article still doesn't appear, save the article again in the CMS to trigger a new build

Image Not Displaying

Cause: The image path is incorrect, or the file wasn't uploaded to the correct directory.

Fix:

  1. Verify the image path starts with /assets/repository/images/uploads/
  2. Check the media library — if the image appears there, re-select it in the article
  3. Ensure the filename has no spaces or special characters
  4. Use WebP format for best performance

"Merge Conflict" Error

Cause: Two people edited the same file simultaneously, or the local Git state diverged from the remote.

Fix: This requires command-line Git access. Pull the latest changes from the repository, resolve conflicts manually, and push. Contact the platform administrator if you're not comfortable with Git.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Cmd+S / Ctrl+S Save current article
Cmd+B / Ctrl+B Bold (in body editor)
Cmd+I / Ctrl+I Italic (in body editor)
Cmd+K / Ctrl+K Insert link (in body editor)
Esc Close editor / dismiss modal

Next Steps