---
name: Getting started
route: /
parent: Documentation
menu: General
---

# Getting Started

## Start a New Project

Use create-docz-app to quickly get started :

```sh
npx create-docz-app my-docz-app
# or
yarn create docz-app my-docz-app --example typescript
```

Make sure to check out [docz's `examples` directory](https://github.com/doczjs/docz/tree/master/examples) for the full list of supported examples.

## Add Docz to an Existing Project

> Make sure you have `react` and `react-dom` with versions `>= 16.8.0` installed as dependencies.

Start by adding **Docz** as a dependency :

```sh
yarn add docz@next # react react-dom
```

or

```sh
npm add docz@next # react react-dom
```

After installing Docz in your project, you may find it convenient to add three scripts to your `package.json` to run, build and serve your Docz website.

Note that this is an **optional step** :

```json
{
  "name": "next-gen-documentation",
  "scripts": {
    "docz:dev": "docz dev",
    "docz:build": "docz build",
    "docz:serve": "docz build && docz serve"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "docz": "latest",
    "react": "16.8.0",
    "react-dom": "16.8.0"
  }
}
```

You can now spin up your dev server by running:

```bash
yarn docz:dev # or yarn docz dev
```

or

```bash
npm run docz:dev
```

## Develop

With your dev server up, you can start writing your documentation.

Docz uses the [**MDX**](https://mdxjs.com/) format that allows you to seamlessly write JSX inside your markdown files.

> Note that you **don't need to follow any file architecture or convention**.
> You can just create your `.mdx` files and put them **anywhere in your project**.

With that in mind, let's create our first `.mdx` and give it a name and a route:

```markdown
---
name: Hello world
route: /
---

# Hello world

Hello, I'm a mdx file!
```

With your first `.mdx` document created, you can open your browser and visit `localhost:3000` to see something like this:

![Preview](https://cdn-std.dprcdn.net/files/acc_649651/Y825GV)

We cover more of what you can do with _MDX_ in the [**Writing MDX**](/docs/writing-mdx) page.

## Build

`yarn docz build` will generate a static site for your site in `.docz/dist/`.

You can try it out with `yarn docz serve` or by serving the generated site with your favorite static file server (e.g. `npx serve .docz/dist`).

You can have `yarn docz build` emit to a different directory by providing a path to the `dest` field in your doczrc.js or from the command line : `yarn docz build --dest docs-site-directory`.

## Deploy

The output of docz consists of static assets only. This allows you to deploy your generated `docz` site with any static site hosting provider you'd like.

Start by building your site with `yarn docz build`, if you haven't provided a `dest` flag to your config then you will find your generated files in `.docz/dist` that you can copy to your server to deploy your site.

## Examples

You can check the complete list of docz examples [here](https://github.com/doczjs/docz/tree/master/examples).

## Migration Guide

This documentation is about **Docz v2**.

If you need to migrate your Docz project, please read the [**Migration Guide**](/docs/migration-guide).

If you are looking for documentation for v1 you can find it [**here**](https://docz-v1.surge.sh/).
