If you’ve ever worked with traditional CMS platforms or earlier versions of Kentico, you might expect a lengthy, click-heavy setup process. But with Xperience by Kentico, things have changed—dramatically.

Now, it takes just 3 simple .NET CLI commands to get a fully functioning MVC-based application up and running. Whether you’re a .NET Core developer trying XbK for the first time, or a seasoned Kentico dev exploring the new architecture, this streamlined process gets you building faster than ever.

1. Install the Project Templates

dotnet new install kentico.xperience.templates

This command installs the official Xperience by Kentico templates into your environment, allowing you to scaffold an entire solution with a single command.

2. Scaffold the MVC Project

dotnet new kentico-xperience-mvc -n NameOfProject

Replace NameOfProject with whatever you'd like your solution folder and project to be named. This command generates:

  • A ready-to-run ASP.NET Core 8 MVC site
  • Pre-configured XbK integration
  • Default routing, configuration, and content retrieval

No need to piece together startup logic or wire up services manually—Xperience takes care of that.

3. Configure the Database

dotnet kentico-xperience-dbmanager -- -s “ServerName” -d “DatabaseName -a “KenticoAdministrationPassword” --license-file “\location\of\license.txt”

This command:

  • Creates the database schema
  • Seeds initial data
  • Applies the license file
  • Sets up the CMS admin account

If your SQL Server is running locally, "ServerName" might be localhost or localhost\SQLEXPRESS.

Why This Matters

Xperience by Kentico was rebuilt from the ground up to embrace .NET Core fully. That means:

  • No more Web Forms
  • No more admin UI in the same project as your frontend
  • Clean separation of concerns
  • Real developer freedom

This new installation workflow reflects that philosophy: clean, quick, and powerful.

What's Next?

After installation, open your solution, run the application, and log into the Xperience Admin UI using the credentials you configured.

From there, you can start building:

  • Page types
  • Page templates
  • Widgets
  • Components
  • Content modeling strategies

All within a modern, headless-ready DXP that feels native to ASP.NET Core developers.

In my recent work with Kentico Xperience on a SaaS portal, I encountered a tricky issue that prevented the creation of new website channels. Despite numerous attempts to troubleshoot the problem myself, I could not get the admin console to load properly, and I kept receiving the message: “No website channel is running on this domain.”

 

After reaching out to Kentico support, their team dove into the issue. At first, they found no clear answers from the error logs. My local deployment was working perfectly fine, yet the SaaS environment failed to cooperate.

 

What made this issue even more puzzling was that my front-end website loaded without errors, but the admin console refused to display anything. This misalignment between the environments raised questions about middleware collisions or deeper system-level conflicts.

 

Kentico’s support team ran through an extensive debugging process. At one point, they even reviewed the entire source code, comparing it line by line. Finally, they identified the culprit: the order of middleware registrations in my Program.cs file.

 

In particular, there was a middleware conflict between app.UseKenticoCloud() and app.UseKentico(). The app.UseKentico() call was registered too early, which led to collisions that blocked the creation of new channels in the admin portal.

 

The fix was surprisingly simple but easily overlooked: changing the order of middleware registration. By moving the app.UseKentico() call to follow app.UseKenticoCloud(), I was able to resolve the issue. Kentico support also flagged a minor database inconsistency, advising me to ensure that the database is updated before deploying any new packages in the future.

 

After applying the recommended changes, I deployed a fresh package to the SaaS environment, and everything worked smoothly. This solution saved me a great deal of time and frustration, and I owe thanks to the Kentico support team for their thorough investigation and excellent communication throughout the process.

 

If you’re working with Kentico SaaS and run into mysterious issues, don’t forget to check your middleware registration order—it could save you some headaches!