From a blank page
to your first letter.

Get started.

Start at Create your newsletter to choose an example or write your own design brief. Copy the prompt into your AI coding tool and review the result. For the standard theme, choose Deploy default Caveat on that page.

1. Connect your Git account and add Prisma Postgres during deployment.
2. Set two different private values, at least 32 characters each, for BETTER_AUTH_SECRET and CAVEAT_SETUP_KEY. Save them in your password manager.
3. Open your deployed website. Enter your setup key, name, email, and a password of at least 12 characters.
4. Give your publication a name, description, and author. Start writing.

Your Vercel web address works immediately. A custom domain and email sending can come later.

npm install
npm run dev

Find your setup key.

The setup key proves you own this installation. You use it once to create the owner account. After that, sign in with your email and password.

Running locally

Open the .env file in your Caveat project. Copy the value after CAVEAT_SETUP_KEY=, leaving out any surrounding quotes.

Deployed on Vercel

Open your project’s Settings → Environment Variables and find CAVEAT_SETUP_KEY. Use the value you saved during deployment. If you change it, redeploy before using it.

The setup key is private. Do not put it in a public post or share it with readers. Once an owner exists, the key cannot create another account.

Write and publish.

Open Posts → New post. Add a title and write in the editor. Use the toolbar for headings, lists, links, and emphasis. Wait for All changes saved before closing the page.

Edit in place

Your writing is formatted as you type, using your chosen reading style. Click straight into a heading or paragraph to edit it.

Publish to website

Make the saved version public on your site and RSS feed. This does not send an email.

Send newsletter

Preview the saved draft as an email, send yourself a test, and confirm the recipient count before sending.

Edits to a published post stay private until you publish again. Website publishing and newsletter sending are separate decisions.

Make it yours.

In Settings, change your publication name, description, author, and accent colour. Under Reading typeface, try a font in the live preview and choose Save changes to apply it to the website.

Browse 100 Google Fonts, including Lora, Inter, Newsreader, and DM Sans, or keep one of the two original styles. Start with Recommended, search by name, or filter by category. Preview a typeface and select Use, then save your settings. The choice also appears in the editor as you write.

Email uses a familiar reading font for compatibility with inboxes. Your website font selection does not change email typography.

Your styles are editable.

Fonts and the accent colour are available in Settings. For a different visual style, edit src/themes/custom.css. For a different layout, edit the React components in your own project.

Choose from six example blogs, then select Use this design to personalise a prompt. You can also write your own design brief. Add your publication name, author, and the changes you want. Choose whether you are starting a new site or editing an existing one.

The prompt asks your AI coding tool to initialise Caveat with npm create caveat@latest when needed, then change the public layout, fonts, colours, and branding. It keeps your posts, subscribers, sign-in, and email sending intact. Copying it does not run AI or deploy a site: paste it into your coding tool and review the local result first.

Share a design with other writers.

Submit an example on GitHub with a name, design description, screenshots or a preview link, your creator credit, and any asset licences. An idea is welcome before the code is ready.

For a working contribution, fork the Caveat repository and add an entry to src/lib/examples.ts with a unique slug, your credit, a font, a palette, and three fictional stories. The gallery, create-page chooser, prompt, homepage, and story routes all use that entry.

Add scoped layout rules to src/app/examples/examples.css. Check desktop, mobile, keyboard navigation, and the build, then open a pull request with screenshots. See CONTRIBUTING.md in the project for the full workflow.

Community submissions are reviewed before joining the gallery. Approved examples ship with Caveat and credit their creators.

Add a component to your letter.

1. In a post, place the cursor where you want the block.
2. Choose Insert component in the editor toolbar.
3. Pick a callout, pull quote, button, link card, or divider. Edit its fields and choose Insert into draft.
4. Wait for All changes saved. Review the formatted draft or email as usual.

To change an existing block, click it, then choose Edit component. A selected block can be removed with Backspace or Delete. Undo works too.

Components are stored with the draft and exported with the post. They render to static HTML for both your website and email. A button opens a link; an interactive React widget does not run in an inbox.

Browse previews in the component library. The first five blocks are by Caveat; community contributions are welcome.

Connect email when you are ready.

1. Create a Resend account and verify the domain you will send from.
2. In Caveat, open Settings → Letters to your readers.
3. Enter a Resend API key with full access and your sending address, such as letters@yourdomain.com.
4. Save changes. If verification is still pending, finish it in Resend, then save again to check.

Once email is connected, readers can subscribe on your website. Open Subscribers to see your list. Resend handles subscriber contacts, delivery, and unsubscribe links.

Before sending, use Send me a test to check the email in your own inbox. A test goes only to your sign-in email address.

If a send result is uncertain, use Check status and inspect the existing broadcast in Resend. Do not create a duplicate to retry. This release supports one newsletter send per post.

Keep your data.

Export your posts as JSON from Posts and your subscriber list as CSV from Subscribers. Subscriber export requires a working Resend connection.

Posts and settings live in your Prisma database; contacts live in your Resend account. Redeploying against the same database preserves your writing. Keep backups through your database provider as well as your exports.

A few ways to get unstuck.

Found something that needs fixing? Open an issue on GitHub