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Publisher Architecture

Summary

Sky.Publisher is the public-facing SkyCMS component that serves published content to site visitors in either dynamic or static mode depending on deployment configuration.

Operating Modes

The Publisher's mode is determined at startup by the CosmosStaticWebPages configuration key:

Mode Config Value Description
Dynamic false (default) Full EF integration, real-time content from the database
Static true Serves pre-generated HTML from blob storage

Startup Decision

Program.cs
  └─ CosmosStaticWebPages == true?
       ├─ Yes → StaticWebsiteProxy.Boot()
       └─ No  → DynamicPublisherWebsite.Boot()

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flowchart TD
   Start[Program startup] --> Decision{CosmosStaticWebPages == true?}
   Decision -- Yes --> StaticBoot[StaticWebsiteProxy.Boot]
   Decision -- No --> DynamicBoot[DynamicPublisherWebsite.Boot]
   StaticBoot --> StaticRuntime[Static mode runtime]
   DynamicBoot --> DynamicRuntime[Dynamic mode runtime]

Dynamic Mode

In dynamic mode, the Publisher is a full ASP.NET Core application with database access, authentication, and real-time content rendering.

Services Registered

Service Purpose
Core services Logging, configuration, DI
CORS Cross-origin request handling
Database EF Core with ApplicationDbContext (tenant-filtered)
MediatR CQRS query dispatch
Storage context Tenant-scoped blob storage access
Rate limiting Abuse prevention on public endpoints
JSON serialization API response formatting
Response caching HTTP response cache headers
Distributed cache Redis or in-memory (configurable)
Identity ASP.NET Core Identity for authenticated content
OAuth providers Google, Microsoft/Entra ID sign-in
Data protection Cookie encryption, anti-forgery
Graph integration Azure AD group-based authorization
Forwarded headers Reverse proxy / load balancer support

How Content Is Served

  1. A visitor requests a URL (e.g., /docs/getting-started).
  2. DomainMiddleware resolves the tenant from the request host.
  3. The controller queries PublishedPage via ApplicationDbContext (tenant-filtered).
  4. The page content is rendered with its template/layout and returned.
  5. Response caching headers are set for CDN and browser caching.

Static Mode

In static mode, the Publisher is a lightweight proxy that serves pre-generated HTML files from blob storage. No database queries are needed for page rendering.

StaticProxyController endpoint

The main controller in static mode handles all incoming requests:

  1. Exact path lookup — Attempts to serve a file matching the request path from blob storage.
  2. SPA fallback — If no file is found, checks whether the site is a Single Page Application (SPA). If so, returns index.html instead of 404.
  3. Caching — Uses an in-memory cache with different TTLs:
  4. index.html: 10-second TTL (frequent updates)
  5. Other files: 5-minute TTL

SPA Detection

The controller queries the PublishedPage table for entries with ArticleType.SpaApp. If SPA pages exist, 404 responses for non-file paths fall back to the SPA entry point.

When to Use Static Mode

  • High-performance sites — No server-side rendering per request.
  • Edge/CDN hosting — Deploy static files to Cloudflare, Azure Static Web Apps, or S3.
  • Security — No runtime database access from the public-facing tier.
  • Cost — Minimal compute resources needed.

Controllers

PubController

Serves protected content and files through authenticated HTTP endpoints. Extends PubControllerBase (in Common) with publisher-specific logic.

StaticProxyController

Serves static files from blob storage in static mode. Handles SPA fallback routing and file caching.

Relationship to the Editor

The Publisher and Editor are separate applications that share:

  • Database — Both connect to the same ApplicationDbContext (via connection strings from IDynamicConfigurationProvider).
  • Blob storage — Both read/write to the same tenant-scoped storage containers.
  • Published pages — The Editor writes PublishedPage records; the Publisher reads them.
  • Static files — The Editor generates static HTML; the Publisher (in static mode) serves it.

The Publisher does not communicate with the Editor via HTTP. They are independently deployable.

Editor and publisher shared platform model

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flowchart LR
   Editor[Sky.Editor] --> Db[(ApplicationDbContext)]
   Publisher[Sky.Publisher] --> Db
   Editor --> Storage[(Tenant blob storage)]
   Publisher --> Storage
   Editor --> Pages[(PublishedPage records)]
   Publisher --> Pages
   Editor --> Cdn[Cdn purge services]
   Publisher --> Cdn

Health Checks

Endpoint Description
/healthz Returns 200 OK when the Publisher is running

Health check paths are excluded from DomainMiddleware — they respond without tenant context, which is critical for container orchestrators and load balancers.

Configuration

Key Type Default Description
CosmosStaticWebPages bool false Enable static proxy mode
Authentication expiry TimeSpan Configurable Session timeout for authenticated content
Cookie name string Configurable Authentication cookie identifier

Multi-Tenancy

Both modes support multi-tenancy:

  • Dynamic mode — Full tenant resolution via DomainMiddleware and IDynamicConfigurationProvider. Query filters isolate data per tenant.
  • Static mode — Tenant resolution determines which blob storage container to read from. Files are served from tenant-specific paths.
  • Storage context — Registered as scoped, retrieves tenant-specific connection strings per request.

See Also