Features

These pages cover the parts of Meridian a website uses beyond its content model and its templates: the media library, search, menus, forms, mail, newsletters, redirects, analytics, AI assistance and accessibility. Every feature here is in both bundles. engine-cms and engine-dmo behave the same for all of them, and the commands on these pages are written as engine-dmo; swap in engine-cms on a plain CMS install.

A feature is switched on in configuration, and engine-dmo check validates that configuration before the server starts. Most features also need a database (they store something) and some need an external service you bring: a search backend, a mail provider, an AI provider. Nothing on these pages needs a third-party service to boot: without a search backend the search page serves browse mode, without a mail provider development mail goes to the log, and without an AI provider the AI features do not appear.

Media library

Search

Navigation

Forms and submissions

Transactional mail

Newsletters

Redirects and URLs

Analytics

AI assistance

Accessibility

Where each feature is configured

Feature	Configuration	Admin screen	Command
Media library	`media:` and `storage:` in `engine.yaml`; `images.yaml`	Media	`engine-dmo media`
Search	`search:` in `engine.yaml`; `special.search` in `routes.yaml`; `search/synonyms.yaml`	Search index, Search synonyms, Insight search	`engine-dmo search`
Navigation	`nav:` in `site.yaml`; `seed/navigation/`	Navigation
Forms	`endpoints.yaml` per site; `forms:` and `endpoints:` in `engine.yaml`	Submissions
Transactional mail	`mail:` in `engine.yaml`; `mail:` in `site.yaml`; `templates/emails/`		`engine-dmo mail`
Newsletters	`newsletter:` in `engine.yaml`; a `subscribe` step in `endpoints.yaml`	Newsletter	`engine-dmo newsletter`
Redirects	`redirects:` in `routes.yaml`; the redirect table		`engine-dmo redirects`
Analytics	`analytics:` in `engine.yaml`; `analytics/dashboards.yaml`	Insight	`engine-dmo analytics`
AI assistance	`ai:` in `engine.yaml`; `ai/prompts/`	AI queue and the editor	`engine-dmo ai`
Accessibility	`accessibility:` in `site.yaml`; `accessibility.yaml`		`engine-dmo a11y`

Every key of every file is listed in the configuration reference, and engine-dmo config schema --file <kind> prints a file’s JSON Schema from the binary you are running. <kind> is the kind of file without .yaml (engine, site, routes, endpoints, dashboards, …) or a real path such as config/sites/main/site.yaml; a bare site.yaml is refused.

Common rules

Secrets are environment variables. A provider key, token or password in engine.yaml is a bare ${VAR} interpolation. A literal secret is refused (MRD-1004), and so is a secret with a default value.
Ids are written by the tooling. Endpoints, navigation slots, entered metrics and other configuration elements carry a stable id. Leave it out when you write the element and run engine-dmo check --fix, which writes one. See stable ids.
Every problem at once. engine-dmo check reports every configuration problem with its file, line and column, together, and exits 3 when any is an error. Template warnings (a layout without head(), a missing t() key) are printed above the summary but not counted in it, so 0 errors, 0 warnings can follow printed warnings: read every line, not only the last.
Permissions. Each admin screen needs a permission. The built-in roles hold the common ones; a project grants the rest in config/access/roles.yaml. Each page lists the permissions its feature uses.