Create your first course

A course in Cedarras is a set of lessons, optionally grouped into sections. Students get in through a Kit tag. Here's how to build one from start to finish.

Before you start: connect Kit

Your account must be connected to Kit to create or edit courses. If it isn't, you'll see a banner at the top of every page. An admin can press Connect Kit.com there, or Connect on Settings → Kit.com. If you installed Cedarras from the Kit App Store, you're already connected.

Create the course

Go to Courses and press New course (or Create your first course). Only admins can create courses. Fill in:

Name - what students see.
Slug - filled in from the name, and you can adjust it. It becomes part of the course's web address, like app.cedarras.com/learn/your-account/your-course. Pick it with care. Saving the course never changes it, so links you share keep working. If you really must change it later, there's a Change course slug box at the bottom of the course's Details page, but every existing link to the course stops working.
Description - a short summary, up to 5,000 characters.
Image - optional. JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 MB. 1600 × 900 works best; other sizes are cropped to fit.
Kit tags - at least one is required. Press Add tag to search your Kit tags, or type a new name and choose Create tag to make one in Kit. This tag is how students get into the course (see below).

Press Create course. You land on the course's Content page.

The course tabs

Content - the outline of sections and lessons.
Details - name, description, image, Kit tags, and the Live switch.
Files - files you've uploaded for this course.
Analytics - how students are moving through the course.
Rules - admins only. Send progress back to Kit. See How Cedarras works with Kit.

Analytics and Rules depend on your plan. If your plan doesn't include one, its tab is marked Upgrade.

Add sections and lessons

On the Content page, press Add section to make a section, or Add top-level lesson for a lesson that isn't in a section. Inside a section, press Add lesson. Sections are optional; a short course can be just lessons.

Each lesson has a type, chosen when you create it. You can't change the type later, so if you need a different one, make a new lesson.

Video - a link to a video on YouTube, Vimeo, Descript or Mux.
Text - written content, in Markdown.
Video + text - a video plus written content.
Resource list - a list of links and files.
Quiz - questions students answer. See Quizzes and grading.

After you create a lesson, Cedarras opens it so you can fill it in. Press Save lesson when you're done. Use the arrows on the Content page to reorder things.

Resources on a lesson

Any lesson can have resources: links, or files you upload. Each one is an External link or an Uploaded file. On most lessons you can add up to 10, placed above or below the lesson's content. A resource list lesson has no limit. Resources are saved with the lesson when you press Save lesson.

Hidden until you're ready

New sections and lessons start hidden. Students can't see them until you show them. Click the eye icon next to an item on the Content page, or tick Visible to students in the lesson editor.

A hidden section hides every lesson in it, even lessons that are set to visible.

The whole course also has a Live switch, on the Details tab. Until a course is live, students can't open it at all, even if they're enrolled. Turn it on when the course is ready.

Preview as student

Press Preview as student on the Content or Details page (or Preview lesson in the lesson editor) to open the course in a new tab, exactly as a student sees it. Nothing you do in a preview is saved. It works before the course is live, and Show hidden content lets you check hidden items too.

How students get in

A student is a Kit subscriber who has one of the course's tags. To let someone in, add the course's tag to them in Kit, by hand or with a Kit automation.

When the tag is added, Cedarras makes them a student and sends them an enrollment email. If they're new to Cedarras, the email has a link to set a password. If they already have a login, it tells them the course is waiting.

Subscribers who already had the tag when you added it to the course become students too, but they don't get an email. An admin can send one from the Students tab with Resend email. Only active subscribers become students. More in Students and enrollment.

Next step: your own domain

Optional, but nice: admins can serve courses from your own domain, and, depending on your plan, with your own colors and site icon. Start from Settings → Custom Domains. See Use your own domain.