Skip to content

Simplify quickstart page #1929

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Closed
wants to merge 2 commits into from
Closed

Simplify quickstart page #1929

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
2 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
a298008
Update quickstart.mdx
mintlify-development[bot] Nov 27, 2025
b669820
Update quickstart.mdx
mintlify-development[bot] Nov 27, 2025
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
334 changes: 84 additions & 250 deletions quickstart.mdx
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,21 +4,13 @@
keywords: ["quickstart","deploy","get started","first steps"]
---

After completing this guide, you will have a live documentation site ready to customize and expand.

<Info>
**Prerequisites**: Before you begin, [create an account](https://mintlify.com/start) and complete onboarding.
**Prerequisites**: [Create an account](https://mintlify.com/start) and complete onboarding.
</Info>

## Getting started

After you complete the onboarding process, your documentation site automatically deploys to a unique URL with this format:
## Your documentation site

```
https://<your-project-name>.mintlify.app
```

Find your URL on the Overview page of your [dashboard](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/).
After onboarding, your site deploys to `https://<your-project-name>.mintlify.app`. Find your URL on the [dashboard](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/) Overview page.

<Frame>
<img
Expand All @@ -34,19 +26,12 @@
/>
</Frame>

Your site's URL is available immediately. Use this URL for testing and sharing with your team while you are setting up your docs site.

### Install the GitHub App
## Connect GitHub

Mintlify provides a GitHub App that automates deployment when you push changes to your repository.
Install the GitHub App to automate deployments when you push changes:

Install the GitHub App by following the instructions from the onboarding checklist or your dashboard.

1. Navigate to **Settings** in your Mintlify dashboard.
2. Select **GitHub App** from the sidebar.
3. Select **Install GitHub App**. This opens a new tab to the GitHub App installation page.
4. Select the organization or user account where you want to install the app.
5. Select the repositories that you want to connect.
1. Go to **Settings** > **GitHub App** in your dashboard.
2. Select **Install GitHub App** and choose your organization and repositories.

<Frame>
<img
Expand All @@ -62,253 +47,102 @@
/>
</Frame>

<Info>
Update the GitHub App permissions if you move your documentation to a different repository.
</Info>

### Authorize your GitHub account

1. Navigate to **Settings** in your Mintlify dashboard.
2. Select **My Profile** from the sidebar.
3. Select **Authorize GitHub account**. This opens a new tab to the GitHub authorization page.

<Info>
An admin for your GitHub organization may need to authorize your account depending on your organization settings.
</Info>

## Editing workflows

Mintlify offers two workflows for creating and maintaining your documentation:

<Card title="Code-based workflow" icon="terminal" horizontal href="#code-based-workflow">
For users who prefer working with existing tools in their local environment. Click to jump to this section.
</Card>

<Card title="Web editor workflow" icon="mouse-pointer-2" horizontal href="#web-editor-workflow">
For users who prefer a visual interface in their web browser. Click to jump to this section.
</Card>

## Code-based workflow

The code-based workflow integrates with your existing development environment and Git repositories. This workflow is best for technical teams who want to manage documentation alongside code.

### Install the CLI

<Info>
**Prerequisite**: The CLI requires [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en) v20.17.0 or higher through v24. LTS versions are preferred.
</Info>

To work locally with your documentation, install the Command Line Interface (CLI), called [mint](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mint), by running this command in your terminal:

<CodeGroup>

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

Then authorize your account under **Settings** > **My Profile** > **Authorize GitHub account**.

Check warning on line 50 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L50 

Avoid first-person pronouns such as 'My'.

```bash pnpm
pnpm add -g mint
```
## Make your first edit

</CodeGroup>
Choose your preferred workflow:

### Create a new project
<Tabs>
<Tab title="Web editor">
1. Select **Editor** in your dashboard sidebar.
2. Open `index.mdx` and change the title to "Hello World".

Check warning on line 59 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L59 

Commas and periods go inside quotation marks.
3. Select **Publish** to deploy your changes.

Run `mint new` to create a new documentation project. See the [CLI installation guide](/installation#create-a-new-project) for details on the command and flags.
<Frame>
<img
alt="The Mintlify web editor"
src="/images/quickstart/web-editor-light.png"
className="block dark:hidden"
/>

### Edit the documentation
<img
alt="The Mintlify web editor"
src="/images/quickstart/web-editor-dark.png"
className="hidden dark:block"
/>
</Frame>

After setting up your project, you can start editing your documentation files. For example, update the title of the introduction page:
<Tip>
Type <kbd>/</kbd> in the editor to access formatting tools and components.
</Tip>

1. Navigate to your documentation repository.
2. Open `index.mdx` and locate the top of the file:
For more details, see the [web editor documentation](/editor).
</Tab>
<Tab title="Code-based">
Install the CLI ([Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en) v20.17.0+ required):

Check warning on line 83 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L83 

Use parentheses judiciously.

Check warning on line 83 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L83 

Use 'command-line tool' instead of 'CLI'.

```mdx index.mdx
---
title: "Introduction"
description: "This is the introduction to the documentation"
---
```

3. Update the `title` field to `"Hello World"`.

```mdx index.mdx {2}
---
title: "Hello World"
description: "This is the introduction to the documentation"
---
```

### Preview the changes

To preview the changes locally, run the following command:

```bash
mint dev
```

Your preview is available at `localhost:3000`.

<Frame>
<img
src="/images/quickstart/mintlify-dev-light.png"
alt="Mintlify Dev"
className="block dark:hidden"
/>
```bash
npm i -g mint
```

<img
src="/images/quickstart/mintlify-dev-dark.png"
alt="Mintlify Dev"
className="hidden dark:block"
/>
</Frame>
Create a project and preview locally:

### Push the changes
```bash
mint new
mint dev
```

When you are ready to publish your changes, push them to your repository.
Edit `index.mdx` to change the title, then push to deploy:

Mintlify automatically detects the changes, builds your documentation, and deploys the updates to your site. Monitor the deployment status in your GitHub repository commit history or the [dashboard](https://dashboard.mintlify.com).
```mdx index.mdx
---
title: "Hello World"
description: "This is the introduction to the documentation"
---
```

After the deployment completes, your latest update will be available at `<your-project-name>.mintlify.app`.
<Frame>
<img
src="/images/quickstart/mintlify-dev-light.png"
alt="Mintlify Dev"
className="block dark:hidden"
/>

<Card title="Jump to adding a custom domain" icon="arrow-down" horizontal href="#adding-a-custom-domain">
Optionally, skip the web editor workflow and jump to adding a custom domain.
</Card>
<img
src="/images/quickstart/mintlify-dev-dark.png"
alt="Mintlify Dev"
className="hidden dark:block"
/>
</Frame>

## Web editor workflow
For more details, see the [CLI installation guide](/installation).
</Tab>
</Tabs>

The web editor workflow provides a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) interface for creating and editing documentation. This workflow is best for people who want to work in their web browser without additional local development tools.
## Add a custom domain

### Access the web editor
Go to [Domain Setup](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/settings/deployment/custom-domain) in your dashboard and add a CNAME record with your DNS provider:

1. Log in to your [dashboard](https://dashboard.mintlify.com).
2. Select **Editor** on the left sidebar.
| Record Type | Name | Value | TTL |
| ----------- | ------------------- | -------------------- | ---- |
| CNAME | docs (or subdomain) | cname.vercel-dns.com | 3600 |

Check warning on line 129 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L129 

Use parentheses judiciously.

<Info>
If you have not installed the GitHub App, you will be prompted to install the app when you open the web editor.
</Info>

<Frame>
<img
alt="The Mintlify web editor in the visual editor mode"
src="/images/quickstart/web-editor-light.png"
className="block dark:hidden"
/>

<img
alt="The Mintlify web editor in the visual editor mode"
src="/images/quickstart/web-editor-dark.png"
className="hidden dark:block"
/>
</Frame>

### Edit the documentation

In the web editor, you can navigate through your documentation files in the sidebar. Let's update the introduction page:

Find and select `index.mdx` in the file explorer.

Then, in the editor, update the title field to "Hello World".

<Frame>
<img
alt="Editing in Web Editor"
src="/images/quickstart/web-editor-editing-light.png"
className="block dark:hidden"
/>

<img
alt="Editing in Web Editor"
src="/images/quickstart/web-editor-editing-dark.png"
className="hidden dark:block"
/>
</Frame>

<Tip>
The editor provides a rich set of formatting tools and components. Type <kbd>/</kbd>

in the editor to open the command menu and access these tools.
</Tip>

### Publish your changes

When you're satisfied with your edits, select the **Publish** button in the top-right corner. Your changes are immediately deployed to your documentation site.

<Tip>
Use branches to preview and review changes through pull requests before deploying to your live site.
</Tip>

For more details about using the web editor, including using branches and pull requests to collaborate and preview changes, see our [web editor documentation](/editor).

## Adding a custom domain

While your `<your-project-name>.mintlify.app` subdomain works well for testing and development, most teams prefer using a custom domain for production documentation.

To add a custom domain, navigate to the [Domain Setup](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/settings/deployment/custom-domain) page in your dashboard.

<Frame>
<img
src="/images/quickstart/custom-domain-light.png"
alt="Custom Domain"
className="block dark:hidden"
/>

<img
src="/images/quickstart/custom-domain-dark.png"
alt="Custom Domain"
className="hidden dark:block"
/>
</Frame>

Enter your domain (for example, `docs.yourcompany.com`) and follow the provided instructions to configure DNS settings with your domain provider.

<Table>
| Record Type | Name | Value | TTL |
| ----------- | ------------------- | -------------------- | ---- |
| CNAME | docs (or subdomain) | cname.vercel-dns.com | 3600 |
</Table>

<Info>
DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate, though changes often complete much sooner.
</Info>
For detailed instructions, see [custom domains](/customize/custom-domain).

## Next steps

Check warning on line 133 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L133 

'Next steps' should use sentence-style capitalization.

Congratulations! You have successfully deployed your documentation site with Mintlify. Here are suggested next steps to enhance your documentation:

<Card title="Configure your global settings" icon="settings" horizontal href="organize/settings">
Configure site-wide styling, navigation, integrations, and more with the `docs.json` file.
</Card>

<Card title="Customize your theme" icon="paintbrush" horizontal href="customize/themes">
Learn how to customize colors, fonts, and the overall appearance of your documentation site.
</Card>

<Card title="Organize navigation" icon="map" horizontal href="organize/navigation">
Structure your documentation with intuitive navigation to help users find what they need.
</Card>

<Card title="Add interactive components" icon="puzzle" horizontal href="/components/accordions">
Enhance your documentation with interactive components like accordions, tabs, and code samples.
</Card>

<Card title="Set up API references" icon="code" horizontal href="/api-playground/overview">
Create interactive API references with OpenAPI and AsyncAPI specifications.
</Card>

## Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues during the setup process, check these common troubleshooting solutions:

<AccordionGroup>
<Accordion title="Local preview not working">
Make sure you have Node.js v19+ installed and that you run the `mint dev` command from the directory containing your `docs.json` file.
</Accordion>
<Accordion title="Changes not reflecting on live site">
Deployment can take up to a few minutes. Check your GitHub Actions (for code-based workflow) or deployment logs in the Mintlify dashboard to ensure there are no build errors.
</Accordion>
<Accordion title="Custom domain not connecting">
Verify that your DNS records are set up correctly and allow sufficient time for DNS propagation (up to 48 hours). You can use tools like [DNSChecker](https://dnschecker.org) to verify your CNAME record.
</Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>
<CardGroup cols={2}>
<Card title="Configure settings" icon="settings" href="organize/settings">
Set up site-wide styling, navigation, and integrations.
</Card>
<Card title="Customize theme" icon="paintbrush" href="customize/themes">
Customize colors, fonts, and appearance.
</Card>
<Card title="Organize navigation" icon="map" href="organize/navigation">
Structure your documentation for easy discovery.
</Card>
<Card title="Add components" icon="puzzle" href="/components/accordions">
Use interactive components like accordions and tabs.
</Card>
</CardGroup>