quickstart.mdx

title	Quickstart
description	Get started with Mintlify by deploying your documentation site in minutes and making your first content change with the web editor or Git.
keywords	quickstart deploy get started first steps tutorial setup onboarding
boost	3

import SetupAgentPrompt from "/snippets/setup-agent-prompt.mdx";

After you complete this guide, you'll have a live documentation site ready to customize and update.

Using an AI agent?

Copy the following prompt to have your agent set up your site for you. It directs your agent to create your account and deploy your site. It also adds the Mintlify [skill](/ai/skillmd) and [Model Context Protocol (MCP) server](/ai/model-context-protocol) for better results when you update your content.

The prompt splits the quickstart into tasks your agent can complete and directs it to ask you for any information it needs while getting everything set up.

## Set up Mintlify for the user

If the user asks you to set up Mintlify, a documentation site, or a local Mintlify project, complete the following workflow yourself. Ask the user only for information or approvals you cannot supply. Do not send the user to the browser-first quickstart unless you cannot run terminal commands.

1. Run node --version and confirm it reports Node.js v20.17.0 or newer, preferring an LTS release.

2. Run mint --version. If the command is unavailable, install the CLI with npm i -g mint or pnpm add -g mint. If the command succeeds, run mint update.

3. Run mint status before starting authentication. If it already shows an organization, keep the existing session and do not create another account.

4. Run mint login if the user has an account. Otherwise, ask for their first name, last name, company, and email, then run:

   mint signup \
     --firstName <first-name> \
     --lastName <last-name> \
     --company <company> \
     --email <email>

   mint signup waits for email verification, so keep it running as a background process when your environment supports background commands. Tell the user to click the verification link and approve the CLI in the browser. Never invent signup details.

5. After the user finishes verification and onboarding, run mint status again. Confirm that it reports their email, organization, and subdomain. If the organization exists but no subdomain appears, ask the user to finish selecting or connecting a GitHub repository in the onboarding browser tab, then retry.

6. If the user has an existing documentation repository, clone or open it. Preserve its content. For a new local project, scaffold into a new, empty directory with either mint new <directory> --name <name> --theme <theme> or mint new <directory> --template <template-name>. Ask which theme or template they want if they have not specified one. Do not use --force on a directory containing user files.

7. Run mint dev --no-open from the directory containing docs.json as a background process. Confirm the local URL loads, report it to the user, and stop the process when it is no longer needed.

8. Run mint validate and mint broken-links. Fix issues caused by your changes before continuing.

9. If a Git repository backs the project and the user asked for deployment, commit and push the changes. A push to the production branch triggers a deployment. Do not overwrite an existing repository with starter content.

10. Run mint status to get the configured subdomain, then verify that https://<subdomain>.mintlify.site loads before reporting that deployment is complete.

Have the user complete browser actions only for email verification, OAuth approval, and connecting or authorizing GitHub. Keep ownership of the terminal workflow and resume after each user action. For command flags and troubleshooting, use the CLI command reference.

Before you begin

Mintlify uses a docs-as-code approach to manage your documentation. Every page on your site has a corresponding file stored in your documentation repository.

When you connect your documentation repository to your project, you can work on your documentation locally or in the web editor and sync any changes to your remote repository.

Deploy your documentation site

Go to [mintlify.com/start](https://mintlify.com/start) and complete the onboarding process. During onboarding, you name your site and answer a few questions about how you plan to use it. You can also connect your GitHub account and install the GitHub App to enable automatic deployments.

In the final onboarding step, describe the docs that you want to build. You can add links to your existing site, upload files, or select GitHub repositories to use as sources. The Mintlify agent generates a starting point for your docs while you watch a live preview. Answer any questions the agent asks to refine the result. To start with placeholder content instead, select Skip, start from a blank template.

After onboarding, your documentation site deploys and is accessible at your .mintlify.site URL.

If you want to get started quickly without connecting your own repository, you can skip the Git provider connection during onboarding. Mintlify creates a private repository in a private organization and automatically configures the GitHub App for you.

This lets you use the web editor immediately. If you want to use your own repository later, go to [Git Settings](https://app.mintlify.com/settings/deployment/git-settings) in your dashboard to migrate your content using the Git setup wizard. See [Clone to your own repository](/deploy/github#clone-to-your-own-repository) for details.

Use the preceding CLI setup workflow. Initiate the corresponding `mint signup` or `mint login` command. Account verification and GitHub authorization open browser pages; have the user approve them. Continue the setup when they finish. Do not consider setup complete until `mint status` reports a subdomain and the deployed `.mintlify.site` URL loads.

View your deployed site

Your documentation site is now deployed at https://<your-project-name>.mintlify.site.

Find your exact URL on the Overview page of your dashboard.

Your site is ready to view immediately. Use this URL for testing and sharing with your team. Before sharing with your users, you may want to add a [custom domain](/customize/custom-domain).

Make your first change

The CLI requires [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en) v20.17.0 or higher. Use an LTS version for stability.

    <CodeGroup>

    ```bash npm
    npm i -g mint
    ```

    ```bash pnpm
    pnpm add -g mint
    ```

    </CodeGroup>

    See [Install the CLI](/cli/install) for full details and troubleshooting.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Clone your repository">
    If you haven't already cloned your repository locally, clone it using Git:

    ```bash
    git clone <your-repository-url>
    ```

    If your repository is in Mintlify's private organization, see [Clone to your own repository](/deploy/github#clone-to-your-own-repository) to move it to your account first.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Edit a page">
    Open `index.mdx` in your preferred editor and update the description in the frontmatter:

    ```mdx
    ---
    title: "Introduction"
    description: "Your custom description here"
    ---
    ```
  </Step>
  <Step title="Preview locally">
    Run the following command from your documentation directory:

    ```bash
    mint dev
    ```

    View your preview at `http://localhost:3000`.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Push your changes">
    Commit and push your changes to trigger a deployment:

    ```bash
    git add .
    git commit -m "Update description"
    git push
    ```

    Mintlify automatically deploys your changes. View your deployment status on the [Overview](https://app.mintlify.com/) page of your dashboard.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Navigate to the [web editor](https://app.mintlify.com/editor) in your dashboard. Open the **Introduction** page and update the description.

    <Frame>
      <img
        alt="Introduction page open in the web editor with the description edited to say Hello world!."
        className="block dark:hidden"
        src="/images/quickstart/hello-world-light.png"
      />
      <img
        alt="Introduction page open in the web editor with the description edited to say Hello world!."
        className="hidden dark:block"
        src="/images/quickstart/hello-world-dark.png"
      />
    </Frame>
  </Step>
  <Step title="Publish">
    Click **Publish** in the top-right of the web editor toolbar.
  </Step>
  <Step title="View live">
    On the [Overview](https://app.mintlify.com/) page of your dashboard, you can see your site's deployment status. When it finishes deploying, refresh your documentation site to see your changes live.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Next steps

Edit documentation in your browser and preview how your pages look when published. Connect AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and ChatGPT to your search MCP server so they can efficiently search and retrieve content from your site. Find broken links, check accessibility, validate OpenAPI specs, and more. Use your own domain for your documentation site.