Docs / Getting Started / Introduction

Introduction to Admin

A comprehensive guide to building, configuring, and scaling modern administrative interfaces with the Admin platform.

What is Admin?

Admin is a powerful, modular framework designed to help developers build secure, scalable, and maintainable administrative panels and dashboards. It provides a unified API, flexible configuration system, and a rich plugin ecosystem that accelerates development cycles.

ℹ️ Note

Admin v3.x introduces breaking changes from v2.x. If you're migrating, please review the Migration Guide before proceeding.

Installation & Setup

Get started in minutes using your preferred package manager. Admin supports Node.js 18+ and runs on major cloud providers.

bash 
# Using npm
npm install @admin/core @admin/ui

# Using yarn
yarn add @admin/core @admin/ui

# Using pnpm
pnpm add @admin/core @admin/ui

After installation, initialize the configuration file:

bash 
npx admin init

Quick Start

Create your first admin module in under 5 minutes. Below is a minimal example demonstrating routing, authentication, and data fetching.

javascript 
import { AdminApp, createRouter, authMiddleware } from '@admin/core';

const app = new AdminApp({
  name: 'My Dashboard',
  theme: 'modern',
});

const router = createRouter([
  {
    path: '/users',
    component: 'UserList',
    middleware: [authMiddleware('admin')],
    permissions: ['users:read', 'users:write'],
  },
  {
    path: '/settings',
    component: 'SettingsPanel',
    middleware: [authMiddleware('superadmin')],
  },
]);

app.use(router);
app.start(3000);
✅ Success

Visit http://localhost:3000 to see your admin panel running. The default credentials are admin:admin.

Authentication

Admin supports multiple authentication strategies out of the box: API keys, OAuth 2.0, SAML, and JWT-based sessions. All strategies are configurable via the auth object in your configuration file.

API Key Authentication

Include your API key in the request header for programmatic access:

http 
GET /api/v1/dashboard HTTP/1.1
Host: api.admin.io
Authorization: Bearer sk_live_51M7x9a2K...
Content-Type: application/json

Session Management

Sessions expire after 24 hours of inactivity by default. Configure sliding expiration and secure cookie policies in admin.config.js.

API Endpoints

All API routes are prefixed with /api/v1. Below are the core resource endpoints:

Method Endpoint Description
GET /api/v1/users List all users with pagination
POST /api/v1/users Create a new user account
PUT /api/v1/users/:id Update user profile details
DELETE /api/v1/users/:id Permanently delete a user

All endpoints support JSON responses and return standard HTTP status codes. Check the Error Handling section for code reference.

Configuration

Admin uses a flat configuration structure. Override defaults by creating admin.config.js in your project root:

javascript 
export default {
  server: {
    port: process.env.PORT || 3000,
    host: '0.0.0.0',
    cors: {
      origin: ['https://myapp.com'],
      credentials: true,
    },
  },
  database: {
    driver: 'postgresql',
    url: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
    pool: { min: 2, max: 10 },
  },
  security: {
    rateLimit: { max: 100, window: '15m' },
    csrf: true,
    helmet: true,
  },
  logging: {
    level: 'info',
    format: 'json',
    file: './logs/admin.log',
  },
};
⚠️ Security Warning

Never commit sensitive credentials like DATABASE_URL or API keys to version control. Use environment variables or a secrets manager.