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This guide walks you through setting up your local environment, making customizations, and deploying your documentation site.

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Overview

You’ll complete three key steps to get your documentation live:
  1. Set up your local development environment
  2. Make your first customization and preview it
  3. Deploy your changes to production
Let’s get started!
1

Set up your local environment

First, you need to clone your documentation repository and start the local preview server.
During onboarding, you created a GitHub repository for your documentation content. You can find the link to this repository in your Mintlify dashboard.To clone the repository locally:
git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-docs-repo.git
cd your-docs-repo
New to Git? Follow GitHub’s Cloning a repository guide for detailed instructions.
Install the Mintlify CLI globally and start the development server:
npm i -g mint
Navigate to your docs directory (where docs.json is located) and run:
mint dev
Open your browser to http://localhost:3000 to see your docs live!
Your preview automatically updates as you edit and save files. No need to refresh!
2

Make your first customization

Now that your local environment is running, let’s customize your site name and colors.
Before making changes, install the Mintlify GitHub app to enable automatic deployments.
  1. Go to your dashboard settings
  2. Click Install GitHub App
  3. Select your documentation repository
The GitHub app automatically deploys changes when you push to your main branch.
Let’s update your site’s name and brand colors:
  1. Open docs.json in your code editor
  2. Locate the name field and change it to your project name:
docs.json
{
  "name": "Your Product Name",
  ...
}
  1. Update the colors object to match your brand:
docs.json
{
  "colors": {
    "primary": "#16A34A",
    "light": "#07C983",
    "dark": "#15803D"
  },
  ...
}
  1. Save the file and check http://localhost:3000 to see your changes instantly!
Try changing the primary color to your brand color to see an immediate visual difference.
3

Deploy your changes

Once you’re happy with your changes, it’s time to deploy them to production.
Commit your changes and push to GitHub:
git add docs.json
git commit -m "Customize site name and colors"
git push origin main
The Mintlify GitHub app will automatically:
  • Detect your changes
  • Build your documentation
  • Deploy to your live site
Your updates will be live within moments!
Check your repository’s Actions tab to monitor the deployment progress.

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What’s next?

Now that your docs are running and deployed, explore these features to enhance your documentation:

Write content with MDX

Learn MDX syntax and components to create rich, interactive documentation pages.

Customize your style

Dive deeper into customization options including logos, favicons, and themes.

Add code examples

Include syntax-highlighted code blocks in multiple programming languages.

API documentation

Auto-generate comprehensive API reference docs from your OpenAPI specifications.
Need help? Visit our complete documentation or join the Mintlify community for support.

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