Where it is

Settings → Beam (/admin/settings?tab=beam).

A beam is a single-file archive of a complete @webhouse/cms site. Think of it like a git bundle for CMS state: portable, reproducible, and useful for moving a site between environments or sharing a site template with a collaborator.

What goes in a beam

• Content — every document JSON file (content/*/.json)
• Site config — cms.config.ts (as text)
• Settings — _data/site-config.json, backups config, deploy config (secrets redacted)
• Schema — generated webhouse-schema.json
• Agents — _data/agents/ (prompts, budgets, locale config)
• Brand voice — _data/brand-voice.json + locale caches
• Team — _data/team.json (member list; not password hashes — those live on the account, not the site)
• Event log — last 500 entries
• Media manifest — filenames + EXIF + AI-analysis for every media asset

What's NOT in a beam

• Uploaded binaries — images, videos, PDFs stay where they are. A beam references them; it doesn't embed them. Export media separately if you need to move a site to a new host
• Node modules — the target environment has its own
• Secrets — API keys, passwords, webhook signing secrets are redacted to REDACTED_BY_BEAM. You re-enter them on import
• Generated build output — dist/, .next/, public/uploads/*-400w.webp

Exporting

Click Export site as .beam. The CMS generates a signed archive and streams it to you as {site-id}-{YYYY-MM-DD}-{short-hash}.beam. Size is usually 50 KB – 5 MB depending on content.

The beam is signed so later imports can verify it wasn't tampered with. The signing key is site-specific; swap the site and the signature breaks, which is what you want.

Importing

Two entry points:

1. This tab — import into this site. Overwrites current content, config, settings. Backs up the existing state to a timestamped folder first (safety net).
2. /admin/sites/new → Beam tab — create a new site from a beam. Lets you rename the site, change the organization, keep or regenerate the schema.

On import the CMS:

1. Verifies the archive signature
2. Backs up the current state (if importing into an existing site)
3. Writes content + config + settings to disk
4. Re-registers the site in the registry
5. Prompts you to paste redacted secrets (API keys) before first deploy

Use cases

• Migrate from dev to prod — export from the dev machine, import to the production host
• Template a site — build a showcase site, beam it, share with a client to seed their own site
• Time-travel — keep a rolling set of beams as a coarse-grained backup over full snapshots
• Collaborator handoff — "here's a beam, spin up a fresh site from it"

Relationship to backups

Backups (Settings → Backup) store incremental snapshots with cloud sync. Beams are one-shot, full-site portable archives meant to be moved.

Related

• Backup settings — scheduled snapshots
• WordPress migration — import from external WP sites
• Framework consumers — what webhouse-schema.json is used for