Frequently asked questions

A database-free PHP CMS, created by Thierry Gustin and released under the MIT license. In a 480 KB archive, it brings together SEO, GEO, security, an AI assistant, an MCP connector, 6 themes, 12 art directions and a lightweight shop. For a complete tour, read Discover Éclair CMS.

Yes. The MIT license lets you use, modify and redistribute it, including for commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice. You only pay for your hosting and your domain name, plus, if you use them, the AI assistant's API and your payment provider's fees.

Freelancers, craftspeople, small businesses and nonprofits who want a fast site that ranks well, with no plugins to maintain; an agency can also use it for its clients (Scaling Éclair in an agency). To sell hundreds of products, a full e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop) will be a better fit.

Your content, settings and accounts are protected files in the data/ folder. There's nothing to create at your host, SQL injection is impossible and a backup comes down to two folders, data/ and media/. The details are in Files, folders and URLs.

There's no MySQL database and no plugins to update: SEO, GEO, security, caching and the AI assistant are built in. The archive weighs 480 KB, compared with about 35 MB for WordPress 7.1.4 (figure from the Éclair README, October 29, 2026). The trade-off: there's no plugin directory.

The official academy of Éclair CMS: four learning paths (Beginner, Intermediate, AI & MCP, Expert) with 34 lessons in all, hosting guides and reference documentation, in French, English and Spanish. The site itself is built with Éclair 1.8. Start with the learning paths.

PHP 8.1 or later (8.3 recommended) with the mbstring, json, dom, session and zlib extensions, an Apache or LiteSpeed server and an HTTPS certificate: almost any shared hosting will do. Nginx works too, with a few rules to copy over. Compare the offers in Choosing your hosting.

About 3 minutes once the files are uploaded: you open the site's URL and answer 4 questions. The walkthrough is in Install Éclair step by step.

For security, installation must be completed within 2 hours of the first visit. Delete the data/install-window.php file via FTP, then reload the page.

Yes, everything is detected automatically. If you plan to use the MCP connector, prefer the root of a domain or subdomain: some apps look for authorization there.

Make a backup, delete app/ and assets/ via FTP, upload the ones from the new version along with index.php and .htaccess, without touching data/ or media/, then clear the cache. The complete procedure is in Advanced security and maintenance.

Security › Download a backup creates a ZIP of data/ and media/. Without the zip extension, copy these two folders via FTP. Always store the backup outside your hosting.

Copy the whole folder to the new hosting, then change the address in Settings › General: internal links adapt, including in a subfolder. If you start again from a ZIP backup, paste your API keys again, because they aren't included in it.

Type / on an empty line, or click the + button to the left of a block. The 18 blocks and their fields are described in the Reference for the 18 blocks.

Yes, with Visual mode: at the top of the editor, switch from Blocks to Visual, click some text and type. Your public pages keep no trace of it. See Visual mode.

Yes. Each piece of content has its own language among 6 (French, Spanish, English, German, Italian, Portuguese), and you link its translations in the editor: the hreflang tags follow. The admin, for its part, is available in 7 languages. See Creating a multilingual site.

Yes, with the lightweight shop: one page per product and a Buy now button that leads to a Stripe, PayPal or Revolut Business payment link. There's no cart and there are no customer accounts, and the shop only opens once a legal notice and terms of sale are published. See Selling with the lightweight shop.

In the editor, Version history lists the last 20 versions. Restore loads the one you choose into the editor; then save to keep it.

Another administrator can reset it from Users. Otherwise, create the data/reset.php file (three lines) via FTP and log in within 24 hours: the steps are in Troubleshooting.

No. The AI assistant and the MCP connector are off by default, and Éclair works fully without them. You turn them on whenever you like, in Settings › AI assistant.

You pay the provider for what you use, with your own key: about $0.24 for a full post with Claude Opus 5.5, or $0.12 with Sonnet 5.5, according to the prices the official guide recorded on October 29, 2026. A monthly budget ($10 by default) caps spending. See Turning on the built-in AI assistant.

The assistant lives in the admin and uses your API key, paid as you go. The MCP connector lets Claude or ChatGPT work on your site from their own app, with your subscription, at no cost to the site. See Understanding the MCP connector.

No. It reads your content, creates drafts and suggests changes that you review. Publishing, deleting, and touching the settings, menus or accounts always take a human action.

According to the official guide (checked on October 30, 2026): Claude Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise; ChatGPT Business, Enterprise and Edu; ChatGPT Pro in read-only mode. These plans change quickly, so check in your app. See Connect Claude to your site.

According to their terms, checked on October 29, 2026 by the official guide, Anthropic doesn't train its models on data sent through the API, and neither does OpenAI by default. With the MCP connector, the terms of your subscription apply. Never send sensitive data.