Skip to content

Simplify quickstart page for better user experience #2921

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
mintlify-development wants to merge 1 commit into from
Closed

Simplify quickstart page for better user experience #2921

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
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
156 changes: 45 additions & 111 deletions quickstart.mdx
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,33 +4,24 @@
keywords: ["quickstart","deploy","get started","first steps"]
---

After you complete this guide, you'll have a live documentation site ready to customize and update.
Get a live documentation site up and running in minutes.

## Before you begin
## Deploy your site

Mintlify uses a docs-as-code approach to manage your documentation. Every page on your site has a corresponding file stored in your documentation <Tooltip tip="Your documentation's source code where all files and their history are stored. The web editor connects to your documentation repository to access and modify content, or you can edit files locally in your preferred IDE.">repository</Tooltip>.
1. Go to [mintlify.com/start](https://mintlify.com/start)
2. Connect your GitHub account
3. Create a new repository or select an existing one
Copy link
Contributor

@tembo tembo bot Jan 28, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

The numbered steps currently say "Connect your GitHub account", but the tip right below says you can skip GitHub. Might be less confusing if the steps call out that it’s optional.

Suggested change
3. Create a new repository or select an existing one
1. Go to [mintlify.com/start](https://mintlify.com/start)
2. Connect your GitHub account (optional)
3. Create a new repository or select an existing one (optional)
4. Complete the onboarding process

4. Complete the onboarding process

When you connect your documentation repository to your Mintlify deployment, you can work on your documentation locally or in the web editor and sync any changes to your remote repository.
Your documentation site is automatically deployed to `https://<your-project-name>.mintlify.app`.

## 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 is deployed and accessible at your `.mintlify.app` URL.

<AccordionGroup>
<Accordion title="Optional: Skip connecting GitHub during onboarding">
If you want to get started quickly without connecting your own repository, you can skip the GitHub 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 and migrate to your own repository later.
</Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## View your deployed site
<Tip>
Want to start without connecting GitHub? You can skip the GitHub connection during onboarding. Mintlify will create a private repository for you, and you can migrate to your own repository later.

Check warning on line 19 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L19 

Avoid using 'will'.
</Tip>

Your documentation site is now deployed at `https://<your-project-name>.mintlify.app`.
## Find your site URL

Check warning on line 22 in quickstart.mdx

View check run for this annotation

Mintlify / Mintlify Validation (mintlify) - vale-spellcheck

quickstart.mdx#L22 

'Find your site URL' should use sentence-style capitalization.

Find your exact URL on the **Overview** page of your [dashboard](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/).
View your live site URL on the **Overview** page of your [dashboard](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/).

<Frame>
<img
Expand All @@ -46,101 +37,44 @@
/>
</Frame>

<Tip>
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).
</Tip>

## Make your first change

<Tabs>
<Tab title="CLI">
<Steps>
<Step title="Install the CLI">
The CLI requires [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en) v20.17.0 or higher. Use an LTS version for stability.

<CodeGroup>
<Steps>
<Step title="Open the web editor">
Navigate to the [web editor](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/editor) in your dashboard.
</Step>
<Step title="Edit a page">
Open `index.mdx` and update the description:

```mdx
---
title: "Introduction"
description: "Your custom description here"
---
```
</Step>
<Step title="Publish">
Click **Publish** in the top-right corner.
</Step>
<Step title="View your changes">
Check your site to see the updated description live.
</Step>
Copy link
Contributor

@tembo tembo bot Jan 28, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Small clarity tweak: publishing can take a moment; pointing folks to the dashboard avoids "why don’t I see it yet?" confusion.

Suggested change
</Step>
Refresh your site to see the updated description live. If you don’t see it yet, check the deployment status on the **Overview** page in your dashboard.

</Steps>

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


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

</CodeGroup>

See [Install the CLI](/installation) for full details and troubleshooting.
</Step>
<Step title="Clone your repository">
If you haven't already cloned your repository locally, follow the instructions in [Clone your repository](/installation#clone-your-repository).
</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://dashboard.mintlify.com/) page of your dashboard.
</Step>
</Steps>
</Tab>
<Tab title="Web editor">
<Steps>
<Step title="Open the web editor">
Navigate to the [web editor](https://dashboard.mintlify.com/editor) in your dashboard.
</Step>
<Step title="Edit a page">
Open `index.mdx` and update the description in the frontmatter:

```mdx
---
title: "Introduction"
description: "Your custom description here"
---
```
</Step>
<Step title="Publish">
Click the **Publish** button in the top-right of the web editor toolbar.
</Step>
<Step title="View live">
On the [Overview](https://dashboard.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>
</Tab>
</Tabs>
<AccordionGroup>
<Accordion title="Use the CLI instead">
Prefer working locally? [Install the CLI](/installation) to edit files in your preferred editor and preview changes with `mint dev`.
</Accordion>
Copy link
Contributor

@tembo tembo bot Jan 28, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

For the CLI path, it might help to mention that pushing changes is what triggers a deploy (since the main flow now hides that detail).

Suggested change
</Accordion>
Prefer working locally? [Install the CLI](/installation) to edit files in your preferred editor, preview changes with `mint dev`, then commit and push to deploy.

</AccordionGroup>

## Next steps

<Card title="Use the web editor" icon="mouse-pointer-2" horizontal href="/editor/index">
Edit documentation in your browser and preview how your pages will look when published.
<Card title="Customize your site" icon="paint-bucket" horizontal href="/customize/themes">
Change colors, add your logo, and make it your own.
</Card>
<Card title="Add more pages" icon="file-plus" horizontal href="/organize/pages">
Create new pages and organize your content.
</Card>
<Card title="Explore CLI commands" icon="terminal" horizontal href="/installation#additional-commands">
Find broken links, check accessibility, validate OpenAPI specs, and more.
<Card title="Set up a custom domain" icon="globe" horizontal href="/customize/custom-domain">
Use your own domain instead of `.mintlify.app`.
</Card>
<Card title="Add a custom domain" icon="globe" horizontal href="/customize/custom-domain">
Use your own domain for your documentation site.
</Card>
Loading