# CMS implementation checklist

- Choose one core pattern first: Monolithic, Headless, Hybrid, or Self-hosted feature stack.
- Define the minimum content entities before choosing tools.
- Decide who can draft, review, publish, and rollback.
- Decide what happens after publish: cache invalidation, revalidation, search indexing, analytics.
- Write the failure plan for media upload, publish rollback, and comment moderation.
- Pick only the first external services you truly need.