# Quick Start

This walks through a site with Markdown guides and an API reference, running on your machine.


## Before you start {#before-you-start}


- Node.js 22.22.2 or later, 24.15 or later, or 26
- An OpenAPI spec or an MCP server snapshot, if you have one; a site can start with Markdown alone


## Create the project {#create-the-project}








**With init**

```bash
npx sourcey init
npm install
npx sourcey dev
```

`init` asks for the project's name and a theme, and offers an API reference from any OpenAPI spec or Doxyfile it finds. It writes `sourcey.config.ts`, example pages, a `package.json` with `dev` and `build` scripts, and a `.gitignore`. Inside an existing project it suggests a `docs/` folder, so the docs live beside the code. See [sourcey init](https://sourcey.com/docs/cli/cli-init.md).






**Other installs**

Sourcey also ships through Homebrew (`brew tap sourcey/tap && brew install sourcey`), Docker (`sourcey/sourcey` on Docker Hub) and Nix (`nix run github:sourcey/sourcey`). See [Install](https://sourcey.com/docs/install.md). The rest of this guide runs `npx sourcey`; use your install's command in its place.






## The config {#the-config}


`sourcey.config.ts` names the site's tabs and the pages each holds. `init` wrote one; this one adds an API reference:

```ts
import { defineConfig, markdown, openapi } from "sourcey";

export default defineConfig({
  name: "My Project",
  theme: {
    colors: { primary: "#0066cc" },
  },
  navigation: {
    tabs: [
      {
        tab: "Documentation",
        slug: "",
        source: markdown({
          groups: [
            { group: "Getting Started", pages: ["introduction", "quickstart"] },
          ],
        }),
      },
      {
        tab: "API Reference",
        slug: "api",
        source: openapi("./openapi.yaml"),
      },
    ],
  },
});
```

Paths in the config are read from its own folder. See [Navigation](https://sourcey.com/docs/config/ref-navigation.md) for tabs, groups and pages.


## Write a page {#write-a-page}


Each page the config lists is a Markdown file of that name: `"introduction"` is `introduction.md`.

```markdown
---
title: Introduction
description: Welcome to our documentation.
---

This is the first page. Write Markdown here.

## Features

- An API reference from the spec
- Guides with components
- Search
- Light and dark appearances
```

See [Writing pages](https://sourcey.com/docs/writing-pages.md) for frontmatter and [Components](https://sourcey.com/docs/components.md) for what pages can use beyond Markdown.


## Preview it {#preview-it}


```bash
npx sourcey dev
```

The site serves at `http://localhost:4400` and redraws what you change as you save it.


## Build it {#build-it}


```bash
npx sourcey build
```

```text
Sourcey: building documentation site

  Pages:  4
  Output: /home/me/my-project/dist
  Time:   0.8s
```

`dist/` holds the whole site as static files, with no framework sent to the browser. Publish it on GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, S3 or any static host; see [Deploying](https://sourcey.com/docs/deploying.md).



> [!TIP]
> Have an OpenAPI spec already? `sourcey build api.yaml` builds its reference with no config at all.




## Next {#next}








**[Project structure](https://sourcey.com/docs/project-structure.md)**

Where Sourcey finds its config and pages, and what a build writes.






**[Components](https://sourcey.com/docs/components.md)**

Steps, tabs, cards, callouts, diagrams and more.






**[Cheese Store demo](https://github.com/cheesestore/docs)**

A whole site with guides, an OpenAPI and an MCP reference and every component. Clone it and run `npx sourcey dev`.