feat(create-ideal-cms): make scaffolded projects installable

apps/cms/CLAUDE.md

@@ -111,8 +111,11 @@ so a deeply nested field inside a block can overflow and make `payload migrate:c
 - `@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-scheduling` — scheduled publishing on serverless
 - `@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-translator` — AI translation (OpenAI provider)
 - `@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-ab` — A/B testing with middleware-driven variant rewrites
+- `@fr-private/payload-plugin-releases` — batch content publishing (`releases` + `release-items` collections); scheduled releases not wired (built-in poller disabled via `schedulerInterval: false`)
 - MCP plugin — exposes content tools to AI agents
 
+Plugins from the private `@fr-private` scope are registered in `src/lib/plugins/private.ts` (spread into the list as `...privatePlugins`), and their client surface is re-exported from `src/lib/plugins/visual-editing/client.ts` so no component imports `@fr-private/*` directly. Both files exist to be **replaced wholesale** by `create-ideal-cms`, which strips the private scope when scaffolding a project — keep the private-scope imports confined to them.
+
 A plugin's **app-side wiring** (config, adapters, provider components) lives under `src/lib/plugins/<name>/` — e.g. `lib/plugins/ab/` (middleware adapter, cookies, variant data) and `lib/plugins/analytics/` (GA4 provider). The published feature itself lives in the monorepo `packages/payload-plugin-<name>/`.
 
 ## Key Patterns

apps/cms/package.json

@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
     "@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-scheduling": "workspace:*",
     "@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-seo": "workspace:*",
     "@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-translator": "workspace:*",
+    "@fr-private/payload-plugin-releases": "^0.1.1",
     "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing": "^1.0.2",
     "@payloadcms/db-postgres": "3.84.1",
     "@payloadcms/live-preview-react": "3.84.1",

apps/cms/src/app/(frontend)/[locale]/layout.tsx

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { getMessages } from "next-intl/server";
 import { draftMode } from "next/headers";
 import React from "react";
 
-import { VisualEditing } from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing/client";
+import { VisualEditing } from "@/lib/plugins/visual-editing/client";
 
 import { Providers } from "@/lib/context";
 import { AnalyticsProviderClient } from "@/lib/plugins/analytics/AnalyticsProviderClient";

apps/cms/src/components/shared/Media/index.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { withVisualEditingPath } from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing/client";
+import { withVisualEditingPath } from "@/lib/plugins/visual-editing/client";
 import type { StaticImageData } from "next/image";
 import React, { Fragment } from "react";
 import type { ElementType, Ref } from "react";

apps/cms/src/components/shared/RichText/index.tsx

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import {
   ListJSXConverter,
   RichText as RichTextReact,
 } from "@payloadcms/richtext-lexical/react";
-import { withVisualEditingPath } from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing/client";
+import { withVisualEditingPath } from "@/lib/plugins/visual-editing/client";
 import { Check } from "lucide-react";
 import { Image } from "@/components/image";
 

apps/cms/src/lib/plugins/index.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import {
   createOpenAIProvider,
   createSyncRunner,
 } from "@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-translator";
-import { visualEditingPlugin } from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing";
 import { nestedDocsPlugin } from "@payloadcms/plugin-nested-docs";
 import { redirectsPlugin } from "@payloadcms/plugin-redirects";
 import { vercelBlobStorage } from "@payloadcms/storage-vercel-blob";
@@ -40,6 +39,7 @@ import { revalidateRedirects } from "@/lib/hooks/revalidateRedirects";
 import type { Page } from "@/payload-types";
 
 import { mcpPluginConfig } from "./mcp";
+import { privatePlugins } from "./private";
 
 const resolveAnalyticsPagePath = async (ref: string, req: PayloadRequest): Promise<string> => {
   const { defaultLocale } = I18N_CONFIG;
@@ -372,26 +372,7 @@ export const plugins: Plugin[] = [
     },
   }),
 
-  visualEditingPlugin({
-    adminBasePath: "/admin",
-    skipCollections: [
-      "users",
-      "media",
-      "categories",
-      "authors",
-      "testimonials",
-      "header",
-      "footer",
-      "document-embeddings",
-      "redirects",
-      "presets",
-      "comments",
-      "comment-reads",
-      "ab-experiments",
-      "payload-mcp-api-keys",
-    ],
-    skipGlobals: ["site-settings"],
-  }),
+  ...privatePlugins,
 
   mcpPluginConfig,
 ];

apps/cms/src/lib/plugins/private.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { contentReleasesPlugin } from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-releases";
+import { visualEditingPlugin } from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing";
+import type { Plugin } from "payload";
+
+// Plugins published to the private `@fr-private` npm scope. They are grouped
+// here — instead of inline in `index.ts` — so `create-ideal-cms` can replace
+// THIS FILE with an empty list when scaffolding a project for someone without
+// access to that scope (see packages/create-ideal-cms/src/stubs.ts).
+export const privatePlugins: Plugin[] = [
+  visualEditingPlugin({
+    adminBasePath: "/admin",
+    skipCollections: [
+      "users",
+      "media",
+      "categories",
+      "authors",
+      "testimonials",
+      "header",
+      "footer",
+      "document-embeddings",
+      "redirects",
+      "presets",
+      "comments",
+      "comment-reads",
+      "ab-experiments",
+      "payload-mcp-api-keys",
+    ],
+    skipGlobals: ["site-settings"],
+  }),
+
+  contentReleasesPlugin({
+    // Batch content publishing: group document changes into a release and
+    // publish them together. Scoped to the same collections as our other
+    // content plugins.
+    enabledCollections: ["page", "posts"],
+    // Scheduled releases are not wired up (no cron endpoint / schedulerSecret),
+    // so disable the built-in setInterval poller — it is pointless here and
+    // unreliable on serverless. Releases are published manually.
+    schedulerInterval: false,
+  }),
+];

apps/cms/src/lib/plugins/visual-editing/client.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// Client-side surface of the visual-editing plugin, re-exported through the
+// app so frontend components never import `@fr-private/*` directly.
+//
+// The package is published to a private npm scope, so `create-ideal-cms`
+// replaces THIS FILE with inert no-op equivalents when scaffolding a project
+// (see packages/create-ideal-cms/src/stubs.ts). Keep the exported surface
+// minimal and keep the stub in sync with it.
+export {
+  VisualEditing,
+  withVisualEditingPath,
+} from "@fr-private/payload-plugin-visual-editing/client";

packages/create-ideal-cms/src/index.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import pc from "picocolors";
 import { collectAnswers } from "./prompts.js";
 import type { Answers, PackageManager } from "./prompts.js";
 import { fetchTemplate } from "./scaffold.js";
+import type { PluginVersions } from "./scaffold.js";
 import { applyTransforms } from "./transforms.js";
 
 function parseCliArgs(): { name?: string; ref?: string; fromLocal?: string } {
@@ -125,8 +126,9 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
 
   const s = spinner();
   s.start(`Fetching template from ${describeSource(answers)}`);
+  let pluginVersions: PluginVersions;
   try {
-    await fetchTemplate(answers.targetDir, answers.source);
+    pluginVersions = await fetchTemplate(answers.targetDir, answers.source);
     s.stop("Template fetched");
   } catch (err) {
     s.stop("Template fetch failed");
@@ -136,7 +138,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
 
   s.start("Applying configuration");
   try {
-    await applyTransforms(answers);
+    await applyTransforms(answers, pluginVersions);
     s.stop("Configuration applied");
   } catch (err) {
     s.stop("Configuration failed");

packages/create-ideal-cms/src/scaffold.ts

@@ -1,20 +1,35 @@
 import { downloadTemplate } from "giget";
-import { copyFile, mkdir, readdir, readlink, rm, symlink, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import {
+  copyFile,
+  mkdir,
+  readdir,
+  readFile,
+  readlink,
+  rm,
+  symlink,
+  writeFile,
+} from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 
 export type TemplateSource = { kind: "github"; ref: string } | { kind: "local"; path: string };
 
+/** Maps published package name -> version, harvested from the template before pruning. */
+export type PluginVersions = Record<string, string>;
+
+// Every `packages/<PLUGIN_DIR_PREFIX>*` directory is pruned: users consume the
+// plugins as published npm packages instead of workspace source. Matching by
+// prefix rather than an explicit list means a newly added plugin can never be
+// forgotten here and leak into scaffolded projects.
+const PLUGIN_DIR_PREFIX = "payload-plugin-";
+
+// `apps/cms` is the only app a scaffolded project gets. Everything else under
+// `apps/` is a source-monorepo sandbox or demo (`dev`, `multi-tenancy-demo`, …)
+// and is pruned by exclusion, so new sandboxes can't leak into output either.
+const KEPT_APP = "cms";
+
 const PRUNE_PATHS = [
-  // Plugin source — users consume them as published npm packages instead.
-  "packages/payload-plugin-ab",
-  "packages/payload-plugin-comments",
-  "packages/payload-plugin-presets",
-  "packages/payload-plugin-scheduling",
-  "packages/payload-plugin-translator",
   // The CLI itself — its source lives inside the monorepo and must not bleed into scaffolded projects.
   "packages/create-ideal-cms",
-  // The plugin dev sandbox app — only useful inside the source monorepo.
-  "apps/dev",
   // Release machinery — not relevant downstream.
   ".releaserc.json",
   ".github",
@@ -23,6 +38,10 @@ const PRUNE_PATHS = [
   "docs",
   "CLAUDE.md",
   ".cursor",
+  // Agent config: repo-specific skills/subagents, plus `.claude/worktrees/`,
+  // which holds entire extra checkouts of this monorepo.
+  ".claude",
+  ".agents",
   // Lockfile gets regenerated by the user's package manager.
   "bun.lock",
   // Any caches / build artifacts that may have slipped through.
@@ -45,6 +64,10 @@ const LOCAL_COPY_SKIP = new Set([
   ".git",
   ".DS_Store",
   ".test-output",
+  // Pruned anyway, but skipped up front so `.claude/worktrees/` — which can hold
+  // several full checkouts of this monorepo — is never copied in the first place.
+  ".claude",
+  ".agents",
 ]);
 
 const MIGRATION_STUB = `// Regenerated by create-ideal-cms.
@@ -91,7 +114,57 @@ async function resetMigrations(targetDir: string): Promise<void> {
   await writeFile(join(dir, "index.ts"), MIGRATION_STUB);
 }
 
-export async function fetchTemplate(targetDir: string, source: TemplateSource): Promise<void> {
+/**
+ * Lists `packages/payload-plugin-*` dirs and reads each one's published name +
+ * version. Must run BEFORE the prune — the versions are the only reason those
+ * directories are fetched at all. Dirs without a readable `package.json` (stray
+ * build artifacts) contribute nothing but are still returned for pruning.
+ */
+async function collectPluginPackages(
+  targetDir: string
+): Promise<{ dirs: string[]; versions: PluginVersions }> {
+  const packagesDir = join(targetDir, "packages");
+  let entries: string[];
+  try {
+    entries = (await readdir(packagesDir, { withFileTypes: true }))
+      .filter((e) => e.isDirectory() && e.name.startsWith(PLUGIN_DIR_PREFIX))
+      .map((e) => e.name);
+  } catch {
+    return { dirs: [], versions: {} };
+  }
+
+  const versions: PluginVersions = {};
+  await Promise.all(
+    entries.map(async (name) => {
+      try {
+        const pkg = JSON.parse(
+          await readFile(join(packagesDir, name, "package.json"), "utf-8")
+        ) as { name?: string; version?: string; private?: boolean };
+        if (pkg.name && pkg.version && pkg.private !== true) versions[pkg.name] = pkg.version;
+      } catch {
+        // No package.json / unparsable — not a real workspace package, prune only.
+      }
+    })
+  );
+
+  return { dirs: entries.map((name) => join("packages", name)), versions };
+}
+
+/** Every `apps/*` dir except the one app a scaffolded project keeps. */
+async function collectExtraAppDirs(targetDir: string): Promise<string[]> {
+  try {
+    return (await readdir(join(targetDir, "apps"), { withFileTypes: true }))
+      .filter((e) => e.isDirectory() && e.name !== KEPT_APP)
+      .map((e) => join("apps", e.name));
+  } catch {
+    return [];
+  }
+}
+
+export async function fetchTemplate(
+  targetDir: string,
+  source: TemplateSource
+): Promise<PluginVersions> {
   if (source.kind === "local") {
     await copyLocal(source.path, targetDir);
   } else {
@@ -103,9 +176,18 @@ export async function fetchTemplate(targetDir: string, source: TemplateSource):
     });
   }
 
+  const [{ dirs, versions }, extraApps] = await Promise.all([
+    collectPluginPackages(targetDir),
+    collectExtraAppDirs(targetDir),
+  ]);
+
   await Promise.all(
-    PRUNE_PATHS.map((path) => rm(join(targetDir, path), { recursive: true, force: true }))
+    [...PRUNE_PATHS, ...dirs, ...extraApps].map((path) =>
+      rm(join(targetDir, path), { recursive: true, force: true })
+    )
   );
 
   await resetMigrations(targetDir);
+
+  return versions;
 }