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Viglet Shio CMS: Installation Guide

Viglet Shio CMS (https://viglet.org/shio) is an open-source headless CMS (https://github.com/openviglet/shio-ce) that lets you model content, query it via GraphQL, and build websites using JavaScript with native caching and search.

Installing Java​

Shio CMS requires Java.

note

Shio CMS only supports Java 21.

During installation, Shio CMS reads the JAVA_HOME and PATH variables to install the necessary services. Therefore, you must modify the variables as specified here:

  • On Windows:

    • Set the JAVA_HOME system variable to point to the JAVA location.
    • Attach the PATH system variable with %JAVA_HOME%/bin.

  • On Unix:

    • Create an environment variable called JAVA_HOME.
    • Provide the JAVA bin path in the PATH variable.

Shio CMS Requirements​

The information below describes the resource modes available to run Shio CMS.

note

Use a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768 for optimum clarity.

Hardware Requirements​

MinimumRecommended
Single 1.5 GHz processor, 1 GB available memoryDual 2 GHz processors with Hyper-Threading enabled, 2 GB available memory

In addition, the following is required:

  • 1GB of disk space for software.
  • A compatible version of a database.

Installing and Configuring Databases​

Shio CMS supports multiple database platforms, each with specific unique requirements to maximize effectiveness with Shio CMS.

Shio CMS Database Table Requirements​

Shio CMS uses multiple tables in multiple databases (also called database schemas by some vendors such as Oracle). You must create new databases / schemas that will contain the sets of tables described below.

Oracle Database Requirements​

This section describes configuration requirements for an existing database.

To set up an Oracle database:

  1. Install and configure a single database instance for use by Shio CMS.
  2. Create a database schema to contain the Shio CMS system tables.
  3. Configure the Shio CMS admin user for the database. For Oracle, the database user with the grant of the CONNECT and RESOURCE roles. Make sure the user has UNLIMITED TABLESPACE and CREATE VIEW privileges.

Microsoft SQL Server Database Requirements​

When creating the Shio CMS database, use the following options:

  • You must install the Database Engine feature and Management Tools are recommended.
  • Set the Collation configuration variable to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS or Latin1_General / Case-sensitive / Accent-Sensitive.
  • Set authentication mode to mixed mode.
  • Shio CMS system user cannot be sa.

Configuring the SQL Server Database and Schemas​

note

The database and usernames provided are examples only.

To create the SQL Server database:

  1. Select Databases > New Database.
  2. Enter the database name (eg shio) and the size of the data and log files according to the environment.
  3. Go to the Options page and set the following values:
    • Collation = Latin1_General_CS_AS or SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS
    • Miscellaneous > Allow Snapshot Isolation = True
    • Miscellaneous > Is Read Committed Snapshot On = True
USE master
GO
ALTER DATABASE shio
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
GO
ALTER DATABASE shio
SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON
GO
ALTER DATABASE shio
SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON
GO
ALTER DATABASE shio
SET MULTI_USER
GO

  1. Under Security > Logins, select New Login:

    • Enter the Login name (for example, shio)
    • Deselect the Enforce Password Expiration option
    • Set the Default database

  2. On the User Mapping page:

    • Default user = shio
    • Default schema = shio
    • Select the option for db_owner

PostgreSQL Database Requirements​

Installing and configuring the PostgreSQL Database​

To install the PostgreSQL database:

  1. Navigate to https://www.postgresql.org/docs/manuals/ and follow the instructions.

To configure the PostgreSQL instance, open postgresql.conf and set:

max_connections = 10
max_prepared_transactions = 10
shared_buffers = 512MB
autovacuum = off
important

The autovacuum daemon must be re-enabled after installing and configuring Shio CMS.

Configuring the Shio user, database, and schemas​

important

When you create a database table in PostgreSQL, the field name must be lowercase.

  1. Create a user:
CREATE USER shio PASSWORD <password> with createuser;
  1. Create the database:
CREATE DATABASE shio_db;
ALTER DATABASE shio_db OWNER TO shio;
  1. Log in and create the schema:
$psql -U shio -d shio_db
CREATE SCHEMA shio;
ALTER SCHEMA shio OWNER TO shio;
ALTER USER shio SET SEARCH_PATH = shio;

Installing Shio CMS​

Option 1 — Docker (fastest)​

docker pull openviglet/shio:2026.1
docker run -p 2710:2710 openviglet/shio:2026.1

Option 2 — JAR download​

Go to https://viglet.org/shio/download/ and click on "Download Shio CMS" button to download the viglet-shio.jar executable.

Copy the viglet-shio.jar to /appl/viglet/shio/server:

mkdir -p /appl/viglet/shio/server
cp viglet-shio.jar /appl/viglet/shio/server

Option 3 — Build from source​

git clone https://github.com/openviglet/shio-ce.git
cd shio
mvn clean package -pl shio-app
cp shio-app/target/viglet-shio.jar /appl/viglet/shio/server/

Database​

By default, Shio uses H2 as its embedded database, but if you prefer another database you can create an external properties file and reference it at startup using --spring.config.additional-location.

Create /appl/viglet/shio/server/viglet-shio.properties:

MySQL​

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mariadb://localhost:3306/shio
spring.datasource.username=shio
spring.datasource.password=shio
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect

Oracle Database​

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521/shio
spring.datasource.username=shio
spring.datasource.password=shio
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle10gDialect

PostgreSQL​

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/shio
spring.datasource.username=shio
spring.datasource.password=shio
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQL94Dialect

Then start Shio CMS referencing the properties file:

java -Xmx1g -Xms1g -jar viglet-shio.jar \
  --spring.config.additional-location=file:/appl/viglet/shio/server/viglet-shio.properties

Creating Shio CMS Service on Linux​

As root, create a /etc/systemd/system/shio.service file with the following lines:

[Unit]
Description=Viglet Shio CMS
After=syslog.target

[Service]
User=viglet
Group=viglet
WorkingDirectory=/appl/viglet/shio/server
ExecStart=/appl/java/jdk21/bin/java -Xmx1g -Xms1g \
  -jar /appl/viglet/shio/server/viglet-shio.jar \
  --spring.config.additional-location=file:/appl/viglet/shio/server/viglet-shio.properties
SuccessExitStatus=143

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Spring Boot 4

Starting with Spring Boot 4, JAR files are no longer directly executable (./viglet-shio.jar). You must launch Shio CMS using java -jar explicitly. The .conf file pattern used in older versions is no longer supported — use --spring.config.additional-location to load external properties instead.

Enable and start the service:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable shio.service
systemctl start shio.service

Other useful commands:

systemctl stop shio.service
systemctl restart shio.service
systemctl status shio.service

Accessing the Shio Console​

Shio provides remote access through its Web application interfaces at: http://localhost:2710.

By default the login/password are: admin/admin

Appendix A: Installation Modes​

Simple​

Minimal setup using an embedded H2 database. Suitable for local development and evaluation only — not for production.

Prerequisites:

  1. Linux server
  2. Java 21
  3. 50 GB HDD
  4. 2 GB RAM

Target Audience: Development and testing environments.

Docker Compose​

Shio CMS and its dependencies installed via Docker Compose, including:

  • MariaDB — Shio CMS system tables
  • Nginx — reverse proxy on port 80
  • Shio CMS

Prerequisites:

  1. Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose installed
  2. 50 GB HDD
  3. 4 GB RAM

Target Audience: Teams that want a complete environment without manual service installation. Suitable for QA and production.

Kubernetes​

Shio CMS and its dependencies deployed via Kubernetes manifests (available in the k8s/ directory), including:

  • MariaDB — Shio CMS system tables
  • Nginx — reverse proxy
  • Shio CMS

Prerequisites:

  1. Linux server with Kubernetes, or a cloud Kubernetes service (GKE, EKS, AKS)
  2. 100 GB storage
  3. 4 GB RAM

Target Audience: Cloud deployments requiring horizontal scaling and infrastructure-as-code.

Manual Installation​

Each service installed individually following this guide:

  • MariaDB — Shio CMS system tables
  • Shio CMS

Prerequisites:

  1. One to two Linux servers
  2. 50–100 GB storage per server
  3. Minimum 2 GB RAM per server

Appendix B: Docker Compose​

You can start Shio CMS using MariaDB and Nginx.

mvn clean package -pl shio-app
docker-compose up
note

If you have problems with permissions on directories, run chmod -R 777 volumes

Docker Commands​

Shio​

docker exec -it shio /bin/bash

MariaDB​

docker exec -it shio-mariadb /bin/bash

Nginx​

docker exec -it shio-nginx /bin/bash
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