NewsPilot Documentation
Documentation for NewsPilot - AI Powered Laravel News, Blog & Magazine CMS. This version is prepared in HTML markup format without separate header and footer sections.
1 Product Overview
NewsPilot is a complete publishing CMS for news, blog and magazine websites. It includes editorial workflow, AI writing tools, multilingual content, SEO tools, reader portal, newsletter, ads, logs and privacy tools.
AI Powered
Generate articles, SEO content and ideas using AI provider integrations.
Editorial Workflow
Manage draft, review, approval, scheduling and publishing process.
Reader Engagement
Offer bookmarks, reading list, reactions, comments and highlights.
2 Server Requirements
| Requirement | Recommended Version |
|---|---|
| PHP | PHP 8.3 or higher |
| Framework | Laravel 13 |
| Database | MySQL 8 or higher |
| Composer | Composer 2 |
| Node.js | Node.js 22+ with NPM |
| Web Server | Apache / Nginx with document root set to public/ |
Required PHP Extensions
- BCMath
- Ctype
- cURL
- DOM
- Fileinfo
- JSON
- Mbstring
- OpenSSL
- PDO
- PDO MySQL
- Tokenizer
- XML
- Zip
3 Installation Guide
Upload the project files, configure the environment, install dependencies and prepare production assets.
Step 1
Upload files and point your domain to the public/ folder.
Step 2
Create a MySQL database and user from your hosting panel.
Step 3
Copy .env.example to .env and update credentials.
Step 4
Install composer and npm dependencies, then run migrations and build assets.
cp .env.example .env composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev php artisan key:generate php artisan migrate --force php artisan db:seed php artisan storage:link npm install npm run build php artisan optimize:clear
APP_DEBUG=false in production and ensure storage/ and bootstrap/cache/ are writable.4 Basic Configuration
APP_NAME="NewsPilot" APP_ENV=production APP_DEBUG=false APP_URL=https://your-domain.com DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT=3306 DB_DATABASE=your_database_name DB_USERNAME=your_database_user DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password DEMO_MODE=false SEED_DEMO_DATA=false SEED_NEWSPILOT_DEMO=false
Settings Areas
General
Site basics, timezone and platform preferences.
Branding
Logo, favicon, colors and visual identity settings.
SEO
Default meta, search visibility and optimization settings.
5 Main Modules
Posts & News
Create articles, news, videos, galleries and shorts.
Pages
Manage About, Contact, Privacy and other static pages.
Categories
Hierarchical content organization with flexible layouts.
Tags
Topic-based grouping and search-friendly classification.
Media Library
Centralized image and asset management system.
Comments
Moderate reader comments and engagement.
Newsletter
Subscribers and public signup widgets.
RSS Imports
Manage import sources and feed workflows.
Advertisement
Ad zones and creatives for monetization.
SEO Tools
Meta manager, redirects, sitemap and robots support.
Logs
Activity log, login log and AI usage tracking.
GDPR
Data export and account deletion request workflow.
6 AI Setup & Usage Guide
NewsPilot includes built-in AI-powered tools for article writing, content rewriting, SEO automation, tags, summaries, slugs and image prompt generation. AI features are available from the Admin Panel and inside the post creation/editing workflow.
Available AI Features
AI Article Generation
Generate long-form articles from a topic, title or custom prompt.
AI Rewrite
Improve existing content for clarity, readability and tone.
AI SEO Meta
Generate SEO meta title and meta description for posts.
AI Tags
Generate relevant tags and topic ideas for articles.
AI Summary
Create short summaries or excerpts from article content.
AI Slug
Generate SEO-friendly URL slugs from post titles.
AI Image Prompt
Create image prompts for featured images or creative visuals.
Prompt Templates
Manage reusable prompts for writing, SEO, translation and content ideas.
Usage Reports
Track AI provider usage, feature usage, status, cost and errors.
Step 1: Open AI Provider Settings
Login as admin and go to:
Admin Panel → Settings → AI Providers
From this page, the admin can configure AI provider credentials and AI behavior.
Step 2: Add API Keys
- Add your OpenAI API key if you want to use OpenAI.
- Add your Gemini API key if you want to use Gemini.
- API keys are stored in encrypted settings fields.
- Only authorized admin users should manage AI provider keys.
Step 3: Select Default Provider & Model
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Default Provider | Select the main AI provider, such as OpenAI or Gemini. |
Model Selection | Select the AI model supported by your API provider account. |
Fallback Chain | Configure fallback providers if the primary provider fails. |
Usage Limits | Control monthly usage or cost limits to prevent unexpected API cost. |
Feature Toggles | Enable or disable AI-related features depending on your business needs. |
Step 4: Use AI Inside Post Editor
Open the post create or edit page:
Admin Panel → Posts → Create Post Admin Panel → Posts → Edit Post
Inside the post editor, the admin or author can use AI writing tools while creating or editing articles.
- Generate Article with AI
- Rewrite Content
- Generate SEO Meta Title
- Generate SEO Meta Description
- Generate Tags
- Generate Summary
- Generate Slug
- Generate Image Prompt
How to Generate an Article with AI
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Go to Admin Panel → Posts → Create Post. |
| 2 | Enter the topic/title or writing instruction. |
| 3 | Click the AI generate button inside the editor. |
| 4 | Review the generated title, content, excerpt, tags and SEO fields. |
| 5 | Edit the content if needed, then save as draft, submit for review or publish. |
How to Use AI SEO Generator
AI SEO tools help generate optimized metadata for posts.
- Open a post create/edit page.
- Go to the SEO section.
- Click generate for meta title, meta description, tags or slug.
- Review the AI output before saving the post.
AI Prompt Templates
Prompt templates help maintain consistent AI output quality for writing, SEO, translation assistance, content improvement and idea generation.
Admin Panel → AI → Prompt Templates
AI Usage Reports
Admin can monitor AI usage, provider status, token/cost tracking and recent errors from:
Admin Panel → AI → Usage Reports
AI Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Reason / Fix |
|---|---|
| AI is not generating content | Check API key, selected provider, selected model, server internet access and provider account balance/quota. |
| Fallback or dummy response appears | API key may be missing or invalid. Update the correct key from Settings → AI Providers. |
| AI request failed | Possible reasons include invalid API key, provider rate limit, wrong model name, insufficient provider balance or provider service issue. |
| High AI cost | Configure usage limits, role quotas and monthly cost ceiling from AI settings. |
7 Cron Job & Scheduler
* * * * * php /path-to-project/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1
| Command | Purpose | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
posts:publish-scheduled | Publish scheduled posts automatically. | Every minute |
accounts:process-deletions | Process expired deletion requests. | Hourly |
logs:prune | Remove old login and activity logs. | Daily |
exports:cleanup | Delete expired data export files. | Daily |
8 Roles & Permissions
NewsPilot uses Spatie Laravel Permission for RBAC.
- Super Admin, Admin, Manager, Employee and Author roles
- Permission groups for organized access control
- Assign roles and permissions from admin panel
- Permission-based menus and features
9 Visitor Portal
Dashboard
Personal stats, recommendations and recent activity.
My Library
Bookmarks, reading list, history and highlights.
Engagement
Comments, reactions and recommendations.
Following
Follow authors, topics and users.
Notifications
Manage in-app notifications and preferences.
Privacy
Profile settings, security, sessions and data tools.
10 Public Frontend
- Home page with breaking news, hero and latest articles
- Post details with reading actions and related posts
- Category, tag and author pages
- Search page
- Newsletter and ad placements
- Multi-language URL structure
- SEO metadata and schema output
11 Update Guide
composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev php artisan migrate --force npm install npm run build php artisan optimize:clear php artisan config:cache php artisan route:cache php artisan view:cache
.env file while updating.12 Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Fix |
|---|---|
| Blank page or 500 error | Check storage/logs/laravel.log and run php artisan optimize:clear. |
| Logo or uploads not showing | Run php artisan storage:link and check storage permissions. |
| CSS/JS not loading | Run npm run build and upload production assets. |
| Scheduled posts not publishing | Configure the Laravel scheduler cron job. |
| AI not working | Verify provider API key, default provider and quota settings. |
13 Support Policy
For support, contact through the CodeCanyon support tab with purchase code and issue details.
Support Includes
- Bug reports related to original product files
- Installation guidance based on documentation
- Clarification about existing features
- Basic configuration help
Support Does Not Include
- Custom feature development
- Third-party plugin customization
- Unrelated server management
- Unsupported hosting environment issues