Start with Pageskill

Pageskill turns Markdown, Frontmatter, reusable Patterns and Blocks, collection schemas, and site configuration into a checked website. A person can use the built-in capabilities directly; an Agent is optional. You write page content instead of hand-writing HTML for every page.

What you need

Install Node.js >=22.12.0, npm, and Git. Use a new target directory for the site that pageskill init will create.

Install from the source repository

Run these commands in the Pageskill checkout:

git clone https://github.com/jsw-teams/pageskill.git
cd pageskill
npm install
npm run compile-runtime
npm run compile-theme
npm run compile-backend
npm link

The three compile commands create the runtime, theme, and backend artifacts used by the linked pageskill command. The link uses this checkout, so repeat the compile command that matches a source change.

Create a site

From the directory where you keep projects, create an empty site directory and initialize it:

mkdir my-site
cd my-site
pageskill init

pageskill init copies the neutral starter/ contract. It creates config.yml, a starter page, and the starter theme with landing, document, and blog Patterns. It does not create a hidden second template inside the CLI.

Check and build

Run discovery before adding content, then check and build:

pageskill catalog
pageskill inspect pattern:landing
pageskill inspect block:hero
pageskill check
pageskill build

The expected result is a successful check followed by dist/ containing generated HTML and the site assets. Start the local preview when you want to read the result in a browser:

pageskill s

Open http://127.0.0.1:4173/. The preview watches config.yml, content/, and themes/, then rebuilds after an affected edit.

Common errors

pageskill is not found: run npm link in the repository after the compile commands, then open a new terminal if your shell has not refreshed its command path.
The Node version is rejected: install a supported Node.js version and run npm install again.
Initialization copies into the wrong place: stop, choose an empty target directory, and run pageskill init there; keep the repository checkout separate from the site.
A starter page uses docs: the starter provides document; copy a theme that provides docs only after catalog confirms it.

Expected result and next step

You now have a neutral Pageskill site that can be checked, built, and previewed. Keep dist/ generated and edit the source files instead.

Back to the Guide · Next: Site settings