URL: /starter/getting-started

---
title: Getting Started
description: Set up your local environment, run the CLI, and edit your first page.
icon: "rocket"
---

# Getting Started

## Install the CLI

```bash
# bun (recommended)
bun add -d tangly

# or npm
npm i -D tangly
```

Or grab a standalone binary:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://tangly.dev/install.sh | sh
```

## Run the dev server

From your project root (the directory holding `docs.json`):

```bash
tangly dev
```

Tangly opens [http://localhost:4321](http://localhost:4321) and watches MDX, `docs.json`, and theme files for changes.

## Edit a page

Every `.mdx` file in this project is a page. Open `introduction.mdx`, change a heading, save — the browser reloads.

Pages are wired into navigation by their slug in `docs.json`. See [Navigation](/content/navigation).

## Build for production

```bash
tangly build --out ./dist
```

Output is plain static HTML/CSS/JS. Drop `./dist` on Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, S3, or any static host.

## Useful commands

| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| `tangly init` | Scaffold a new project (you just ran this). |
| `tangly dev` | Run the dev server with HMR. |
| `tangly build` | Produce the static `dist/`. |
| `tangly preview` | Serve `dist/` locally. |
| `tangly check` | Validate `docs.json` + frontmatter. |
| `tangly migrate` | Convert a `mint.json` project to Tangly. |
| `tangly add` | Add a theme or component to your project. |

## Working with Claude Code or Cursor

This repo includes two skills you can install into your agent:

```bash
npx skills add tanglify
npx skills add tech-documentation
```

`tanglify` teaches the agent the Tangly CLI, schema, and conventions. `tech-documentation` teaches it how to write good docs (Diátaxis-grounded). Both make `tangly`-flavored work in an AI editor noticeably better.

<Note>
  `npx skills add <name>` pulls from the `skills/` directory in the Tangly repo. See [the skills folder](https://github.com/tanglydocs/tangly/tree/main/skills) for the full list.
</Note>