# Refinery CMS

Open source content management system built as a Ruby on Rails application, with a visual editor for site owners.


Source: https://findsoftware.frbit.cloud/refinery-cms/
Last reviewed: 2026-10-26
Listed since: 2026-10-26

## Record

### Links

- repository: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms
- docs: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/tree/main/doc/guides
- x: https://twitter.com/refinerycms
- forum: https://groups.google.com/g/refinery-cms

### Identity

- status: active
- maintainer: Resolve Digital
- maintainerType: unknown
- parent: unknown
- firstRelease: 2009
- hqCountry: unknown

### Kind

- category: cms
- hosting: ruby
- language: ruby
- runtime: ruby
- runtimeMin: ruby 3.2
- basedOn: rails

### Content

- contentStore: database
- databases: sqlite, mysql, postgres
- adminUi: yes
- headlessApi: unknown
- templating: erb
- i18n: yes

### Rendering and deploy

- runsAs: always-on
- renderingModes: unknown
- installMethod: gem install refinerycms

### License

- licenseModel: open-source
- license: MIT

### Releases

- currentMajor: 4
- latestReleaseDate: 2026-05-11

### Adoption

- githubStargazers: 3906
- packagistDownloads: not applicable
- npmWeeklyDownloads: not applicable
- contributors: 333
- pluginCount: unknown
- packagistMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- ecosystemsMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- httpArchiveSites: unknown
- wordpressActiveInstalls: unknown
- dependentRepos: unknown
- dependentPackages: unknown

### Sources

- urls: https://api.github.com/repos/refinery/refinerycms (read 2026-10-26)
- urls: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/readme.md (read 2026-10-26)
- maintainer: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/refinery/refinerycms/main/license.md (read 2026-10-26)
- language: https://api.github.com/repos/refinery/refinerycms (read 2026-10-26)
- runtime: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/1%20-%20Getting%20Started/1%20-%20Installation%20Prerequisites.md (read 2026-10-26)
- runtimeMin: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/1%20-%20Getting%20Started/1%20-%20Installation%20Prerequisites.md (read 2026-10-26)
- runtimeMin: https://rubygems.org/api/v1/versions/refinerycms.json (read 2026-10-26)
- category: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/readme.md (read 2026-10-26)
- basedOn: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/1%20-%20Getting%20Started/2%20-%20Getting%20Started.md (read 2026-10-26)
- runsAs: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/7%20-%20Hosting%20and%20Deployment/4%20-%20Docker-deploy-to-DigitalOcean.md (read 2026-10-26)
- installMethod: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/1%20-%20Getting%20Started/2%20-%20Getting%20Started.md (read 2026-10-26)
- databases: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/1%20-%20Getting%20Started/1%20-%20Installation%20Prerequisites.md (read 2026-10-26)
- contentStore: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/1%20-%20Getting%20Started/2%20-%20Getting%20Started.md (read 2026-10-26)
- adminUi: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/readme.md (read 2026-10-26)
- i18n: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/2%20-%20Refinery%20Basics/7%20-%20Translate%20Refinery.md (read 2026-10-26)
- templating: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/blob/main/doc/guides/2%20-%20Refinery%20Basics/3%20-%20Overriding%20views.md (read 2026-10-26)
- license: https://api.github.com/repos/refinery/refinerycms (read 2026-10-26)
- currentMajor: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/releases/tag/v4.1.0 (read 2026-10-26)
- latestReleaseDate: https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms/releases/tag/v4.1.0 (read 2026-10-26)
- firstRelease: https://rubygems.org/api/v1/versions/refinerycms.json (read 2026-10-26)
- githubStargazers: https://api.github.com/repos/refinery/refinerycms (read 2026-10-26)
- contributors: https://api.github.com/repos/refinery/refinerycms/contributors (read 2026-10-26)

## Notes

Refinery CMS is an open source content management system built as a Ruby on Rails web application. It is installed as a RubyGems package. The back end offers a visual editor for pages, and site content is kept in a database, with SQLite as the default and MySQL and PostgreSQL as the other options named in the prerequisites guide. Templates are ERB views that a site can override.

## Worth knowing

The README says the project website is not currently live, and the repository's guides are the reference for installation and hosting. Some guides say they were written for earlier Refinery and Rails versions.

The Docker deployment guide runs the application as a container on a server, so it needs a long-running process on the host.

---

Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attributes are recorded, never scored; absent means unknown.
Credit, in full: FindSoftware, CC BY 4.0