> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stage.systems/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Stage works

> You edit the live site, on the live site, and publish when you are ready. The two-minute version.

Stage has one unusual property: **there is no separate editing screen.** The admin shows your actual site and lets you click straight into the text. What you see while editing is what visitors will see after you publish.

## The loop

1. Open `/admin` on your site and sign in.
2. Switch on **Edit**. The page does not change, but text and images become clickable.
3. Click a headline and type. Click an image and pick another.
4. Press **Publish**. The site rebuilds and visitors see the change.

Nothing goes live until you publish. Until then, only you see your changes.

## What is on a page

A page is made of **sections**: a hero, a list of features, a quote, a grid of logos. Each section has fields, and every field is one of two kinds.

| Kind          | Example                         | What you can do                                           |
| ------------- | ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| **One thing** | A title, an intro, an image     | Edit it in place                                          |
| **A list**    | Logos, cards, slides, questions | Add, reorder and remove items, and edit each one in place |

Which sections and fields exist is part of your site's design. Stage makes the content editable. It does not change the layout.

<Tip>
  **Want a new section or page?** Send a **Request** from the bottom bar. It goes to the team who built the site, with a pin on the exact spot. See [Edit mode](/editing/edit-mode#requests).
</Tip>

## Beyond pages

* **Articles** are your blog or news. They have drafts, so you can write for as long as you like before anything shows, and they can be scheduled.
* **Forms** are multi-page questionnaires you build in place. Every response lands in your Inbox.
* **The media library** holds every image and video on the site.
* **Shared content** appears in several places at once. Edit it anywhere and every copy updates.

## Campaigns and numbers

Stage also posts to your social channels. A **campaign** is a set of posts about one thing. Every link in a post back to your site carries a short code. When someone taps it, Stage counts the click and remembers which post brought them for 30 days. Their page views, time on the site and any form they fill in count toward that post. That report is the **funnel**: clicks, visits, engaged, enquiries.

## What Stage does not do

* It does not let you change the design or layout. That is built for your site.
* It does not slow your site down. Visitors get plain pages with no editing code in them.
* It does not track people across sites or store their address. See [What is counted](/analytics/what-is-counted).

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" href="/getting-started/quickstart">
    Make one edit and publish it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Opening the admin" href="/getting-started/opening-the-admin">
    Sign in, roles, and the layout of the screen.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>