Site identity — name, preview URL, description, timezone, and the small but important defaults that control how the admin presents your site.
Where it is
Settings → General (/admin/settings?tab=general) — the default landing tab.
Fields
| Field | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Site name | Shown in the admin header, browser tab, and as the <title> fallback on pages without a custom meta title |
| Site description | Default meta description when a page doesn't specify one. Also used in OG tags and in llms.txt |
| Preview URL | The base URL the admin uses to build preview links. Point it at your production URL once deployed, or at a localhost dev server during development. Preview URLs are constructed as previewSiteUrl + urlPrefix + / + slug |
| Timezone | Used for scheduled publishes, backup times, link-check schedules, and Lighthouse cadence displays |
| Default locale | The fallback locale for documents without an explicit locale field |
| Locales | Comma-separated list of enabled locales (e.g. en, da, de). Adds a locale selector to every document and wires i18n into sitemap hreflang |
| Purge trash | One-click action that permanently deletes all trashed documents regardless of retention period. Used when you need to reclaim disk or hard-delete sensitive content |
Preview URL — the one you'll change most
The single field worth checking often. Common values:
- Local dev:
http://localhost:3001(or whichever port your site's dev server uses) - Production Next.js site:
https://example.com - Static site on GitHub Pages:
https://youruser.github.io/repo
When Preview URLs 404, the cause is almost always:
- Wrong
urlPrefixon the collection — if the collection ispostswithurlPrefix: '/blog', a doc with slughellopreviews atpreviewSiteUrl + /blog/hello, which only works if your frontend serves that path - A collection using a category URL pattern (
urlPattern: '/:category/:slug') where thecategoryfield hasn't been set on the document - i18n locale prefixes — multilingual sites with
/da/,/en/need the build to output redirect HTML at the CMS-expected path (see i18n docs)
Timezone
Stored as an IANA zone identifier (Europe/Copenhagen, America/New_York, etc.). Affects:
- Scheduled publish/unpublish — set a time, CMS interprets it in this zone
- Backup cron times (Settings → Backup)
- Link checker cron times (Settings → Automation)
- Display of
updatedAt/createdAttimestamps in lists
If editors in different zones collaborate, pick the site's primary audience zone, not the first editor's.
Locales
The locales field unlocks i18n. Set it to a comma-separated list (en, da, de). Every collection page then shows a locale switcher and the document editor has a "Translate to…" action.
See i18n for the full i18n mechanics — this field just turns it on.
Related
- Site settings overview — wider primer
- i18n — multi-language setup
- Trash — 30-day retention and how purge works