The setup wizard's new look, and the editor siteaccess #

This page is for anyone who installs Exponential, and for administrators who want a simpler admin for their editors. On 2026-10-01 and 2026-10-02 the setup wizard got a new look, and it now installs three siteaccesses instead of two: the site, the admin, and the editor, an administration interface for people who edit content but do not administer the site.

The three siteaccesses #

The editor siteaccess (settings/siteaccess/editor) is made from the installed admin one. Compared with the admin:

• its SiteName is "Editor" and it has its own SiteURL;
• it carries the admin's extension settings; ExtensionSettingsSiteAccess=admin makes extensions' admin settings apply there too;
• it shows the content tabs only: Dashboard, Content structure, Media, Users, Store, Tags, Newsletter;
• it has no developer toolbar and no Layouts node tab;
• the modules behind the hidden tabs answer 404: setup, visual, explayouts_ui, explayouts_ui_api, git_manager, xrowextract, bccie, syndication, audit, oauthadmin, class, role, section, state, workflow, trigger, package and rss (site administration, not editing; blocking state also blocks state/assign, so editors set object states in the admin, and role keeps role assignments in the admin too);
• the site's service worker stays out of it, as it does of the admin (/editor joins /admin);
• the wizard gives it a right sidebar that starts with Bookmarks.

design/editor has no templates of its own. It is the design of the editor siteaccess, and a README describes what makes it an editor's administration. Put templates there only where the editor must look different.

Install with the wizard #

1. Site access step: the wizard names the three siteaccesses and the hostname convention.
2. Site details step: fill the required Editor path, port or hostname field. It is prefilled with editor, 8082 or edit.<host> and checked like the admin field. The Database field lists only SQLite database files found in var/storage/sqlite3 (a file with the "SQLite format 3" header, or an empty file), instead of every file, SQL dumps included.
3. Finished page: you see the user, admin and editor sites, each with its address, and the Exponential multisite picture.

The look: one white card on a dark slate page with a soft orange glow (setup3.css, loaded after setup.css and setup2.css, overrides only), the progress bar as a slim orange bar under the logo, Help and Summary in a side panel. The footer reads "Exponential Copyright © 1998-2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x", and the links point to exponential.earth.

Fixes of the same change:

• The wizard no longer logs "Language 'eng-GB' does not exist or is not used!" on every page (the setup siteaccess only).
• Velocity's warm-up never takes the wizard's lease. With CheckValidity=true, each warm-up render used to count as the wizard's first page and locked everyone out with "The site is being set up" for half an hour after a restart.

Install with the Kickstarter #

kickstart.ini names the editor like the admin siteaccess. kickstart.ini-dist carries the three settings, commented, after the admin ones.

The default never equals the site's or the admin's value: two siteaccesses on one port or host would make one of them unreachable. exp:install takes --editor-access, --editor-port and --editor-host, and refuses a value that collides.

Add an editor siteaccess to an existing installation #

Nothing changes for an installation made earlier. To get an editor siteaccess:

1. Copy settings/siteaccess/editor and design/editor from a fresh installation.
2. Set its SiteName, SiteURL and SiteDesign. The design list in the editor's site.ini.append.php (AdditionalSiteDesignList[]) names admin4l, admin4, admin3, admin2, admin.
3. Map it like the admin siteaccess in site.ini, block [SiteAccessSettings].
4. Clear the caches: php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-all --allow-root-user.

Related pages #

• Hidden admin tabs, admin links follow permissions, the admin4 design
• Install in one command, Kickstarter CLI, Kickstarter CLI reference
• Upgrade checklist of 1-2 October 2026
• 6.0.15 changelog
• History: October 2026, January 2024, second half