# Quickstart (/quickstart)
Related: [Introduction](/index.md), [AI-native documentation](/ai-native.md), [Credit pricing](/credits.md), [Product updates](/changelog.md), [What is Mintlify?](/what-is-mintlify.md), [Migrate to Mintlify](/migration.md)
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 [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.
{/* vale off */}
Get my documentation live on a published Mintlify site. You are successfully done when you give me the live URL and confirm it loads. Tell me clearly whenever a step needs my input—do everything else yourself. If this prompt was pasted before (for example, after a restart), continue from where things left off instead of starting over. If you don't have terminal or command execution access, tell me to follow the manual steps at [mintlify.com/start](https://mintlify.com/start) instead. Everything below requires running commands and requires Node.js v20.17.0+ (LTS versions recommended).
1. Ask for my existing content that will be used for my Mintlify site. This may be a local folder or a repo. Verify the source before building: echo back exactly what you're reading and list its top-level contents so I can confirm it's right. If you can't access something I named (private repos return 404, same as nonexistent), stop and ask. Never substitute a different source.
2. Check whether `mint` is installed with `mint --version`. If it's missing, install it with `npm i -g mint` (or `pnpm add -g mint`). If it's already installed, run `mint update` instead of reinstalling.
3. Run `mint status`. If it already shows an organization, skip to step 7.
4. Needs me: If `mint status` shows I'm not logged in, ask me directly whether I already have a Mintlify account. Don't guess.
* If I have one: run `mint login`. You need me for browser steps and to approve access.
* If I don't: ask me for my first name, last name, company, and email if I haven't given them already—never invent these. Run `mint signup --firstName [firstName] --lastName [lastName] --company [company] --email [email]` as a background task since it blocks until I click a verification link that can take several minutes.
5. Needs me: I'll check my email and click the verification link. That opens a browser tab that automatically finishes the rest of account creation/logging in. I must approve the CLI, then connect a GitHub repository or let Mintlify host one. Tell me clearly this step is mine, then wait for it before continuing.
6. Run `mint status` again to confirm an organization and subdomain now exist. The subdomain isn't provisioned until I select or connect a repository during the step 5 browser flow — so if `mint status` shows my organization but no subdomain yet, that almost always means I haven't finished the repo step, not that anything is broken. Don't treat it as an error or poll blindly: wait until I confirm I've completed onboarding, then re-run `mint status`. Provisioning can still lag a few seconds after that, so retry a few times before concluding something is wrong.
7. Needs me: ask for the URL of the repository connected to my Mintlify project — `mint status` doesn't expose it, so you can't look it up yourself. Clone it once I give it to you.
8. Check what's in that repo. If I connected my own existing docs repo, my content is already there — don't overwrite it. If Mintlify created the repo, it contains starter template content — replace that with my actual docs content from step 1. Only use `mint new [directory]` if I want a different theme or template than what's in the repo — scaffold it locally, then use its output in place of the seeded content.
9. Preview with `mint dev`, which generally starts on `http://localhost:3000` unless that port is in use. It blocks until stopped, so run it as a background task. Verify the preview loads, then stop it before continuing.
10. Commit and push your changes. Mintlify deploys automatically on push.
11. Needs me: If I want a custom domain, run `mint add-domain `. It prints the DNS records I need to add with my domain provider. Tell me the DNS records, since only I can configure them at my registrar. Make it clear that this is a step I must complete.
12. Confirm my site is live: fetch `https://.mintlify.site` (find the subdomain via `mint status`) and confirm it loads. If I added a custom domain in step 11, also fetch that domain and confirm it loads before calling this step done—DNS propagation can lag, so retry a few times before treating a failed fetch as an error.
13. Set yourself up to keep working here: install the [Mintlify skill](https://mintlify.com/docs/ai/skillmd.md) with `npx skills add https://mintlify.com/docs`, then register the [admin MCP server](https://mintlify.com/docs/ai/model-context-protocol.md) at `https://mcp.mintlify.com` for your specific tool. For example, `claude mcp add --transport http mintlify https://mcp.mintlify.com` for Claude Code or fetch https\://mintlify.com/docs/ai/mintlify-mcp.md for instructions for Claude, Cursor, Codex, or ChatGPT. Do this step yourself—don't ask me to run these commands.
14. Needs me: the first admin MCP tool call opens a browser window for OAuth login. Approve it there. Most tools don't load newly added MCP servers mid-session — if the Mintlify tools don't show up, tell me to restart you and we'll pick up from here.
15. If any command fails in a way not covered above, stop and tell me the exact error rather than guessing or retrying blindly. If it looks like something's wrong on Mintlify's end rather than in what you're doing, check https\://status.mintlify.com or point me to https\://mintlify.com/docs/contact-support.
{/* vale on */}
## Before you begin [#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 [#deploy-your-documentation-site]
Go to [mintlify.com/start](https://mintlify.com/start) and complete the onboarding process. During onboarding, you'll connect your GitHub account, create or select a repository for your documentation, and install the GitHub App to enable automatic deployments.
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.
## View your deployed site [#view-your-deployed-site]
Your documentation site is now deployed at `https://.mintlify.site`.
Find your exact URL on the **Overview** page of your [dashboard](https://app.mintlify.com/).
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 [#make-your-first-change]
The CLI requires [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en) v20.17.0 or higher. Use an LTS version for stability.
npm
pnpm
```bash
npm i -g mint
```
```bash
pnpm add -g mint
```
See [Install the CLI](/cli/install) for full details and troubleshooting.
If you haven't already cloned your repository locally, clone it using Git:
```bash
git clone
```
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.
Open `index.mdx` in your preferred editor and update the description in the frontmatter:
```mdx
---
title: "Introduction"
description: "Your custom description here"
---
```
Run the following command from your documentation directory:
```bash
mint dev
```
View your preview at `http://localhost:3000`.
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.
Navigate to the [web editor](https://app.mintlify.com/editor) in your dashboard.
Open the **Introduction** page and update the description.
Click **Publish** in the top-right of the web editor toolbar.
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.
## Next steps [#next-steps]
Edit documentation in your browser and preview how your pages look when published.
Find broken links, check accessibility, validate OpenAPI specs, and more.
Use your own domain for your documentation site.