Guide 00 · Developer docs

Core dna for site builders

Read this guide first. Core dna is hosted, so there is nothing to install; your repository holds only templates and front-end assets; and a new kind of page starts in the admin, with a layout. In half a day, from what the platform is to a page you built, deployed and rendered in Smarty or Twig.

L0

Unit 02 of 05 7 pages

From zero to a deployed change

Updated 23/10/2026 01:41

From nothing to a change deployed on a development site: the access to ask for, the template engine, the repository's shape, the build and its committed output, deploying by branch, and connecting your editor to the site's MCP server. For a developer's first day on a site.

Seven pages, in the order you will need them. Send the request on The access to ask for first, because access takes longest to arrive, and read the rest while you wait. Then find out which template engine the site uses before you open a single template, and learn the repository's shape.

Two things waste most first days, and two pages deal with them: not knowing which build runner a repository uses (Finding and running the build), and not realising that the build output is committed and served rather than compiled on the server (The build output is committed and served). Deploying a change shows what a push does. Connect your editor to the MCP server last: from then on you can ask the site about its own layouts and content, which makes every later unit faster.

In this unit

Read in order

01 The access to ask for Four things to ask for on your first day, and who usually grants each: a backend user on the development site, its hostname, the theme repository with its branch mapping, and the project's issue tracker. A request you can send once instead of four times. 02 Which engine a site uses Before you read or copy any template, find out whether the site renders in Smarty or Twig. The thirty-second check is the tags in any file under templates/; the setting behind them is Globals.template.engine. Why it matters, and where to look when a copied example fails. 03 The shape of a theme repo A theme repository holds templates, front-end source, the built files the site serves, and a few files served as they are. What each folder is for, which ones are generated, what the platform does with each, and how to read a repository you have not met. 04 Finding and running the build Core dna sites build their front end with webpack or with gulp, and the repository says which. How to tell in a minute from package.json and the build configuration, the commands to run, and why you run the production build once before changing anything. 05 The build output is committed and served The platform compiles nothing when you deploy: a site serves its built CSS and JavaScript exactly as committed. So you build before you push, never edit the built files, settle their merge conflicts by building again, and give every asset URL a cache-buster. 06 Deploying a change Deploying is pushing a branch. Every environment that follows that repository and branch makes its files match the branch and clears its caches. How branches map to environments, how to see what is deployed, and what to do when you push the wrong thing. 07 Connecting your editor to the MCP server Every site has an MCP server at /cdna-mcp, through which an AI assistant in your editor reads and changes the site's content and structure, acting as you. A .mcp.json with a development and a production entry, what the first connection does, and what to do if it fails.