Installation

Get up and running with Denote in minutes.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have Deno installed on your system:

# Install Deno (macOS/Linux)
curl -fsSL https://deno.com/install.sh | sh

# Or with Homebrew
brew install deno

Create a New Project

The easiest way to get started is using our init command:

deno run -Ar jsr:@denote/init my-docs
cd my-docs

This will create a new Denote project with the following structure:

my-docs/
├── content/
│   └── docs/
│       ├── introduction.md
│       └── installation.md
├── static/
├── client.ts
├── denote.config.ts
├── deno.json
├── Dockerfile
├── main.ts
├── README.md
├── styles.css
├── vite.config.ts
└── .gitignore

Start the Development Server

Run the development server to see your docs:

deno task dev

Open http://localhost:8000 to view your documentation site.

Project Structure

• content/docs/ - Your documentation markdown files
• denote.config.ts - Site configuration (navigation, branding, etc.)
• main.ts - Fresh app entry point
• vite.config.ts - Vite build configuration
• client.ts - Client-side entry for CSS
• styles.css - Tailwind CSS imports
• static/ - Static assets (images, fonts, etc.)
• Dockerfile - Production Docker image

Validate Your Project

Run the built-in validation to catch common issues:

deno task validate

This checks your project for:

• Config errors — missing name, invalid hex colors, malformed URLs, unrecognized keys
• Content issues — missing content/docs/ directory, files without a title in frontmatter
• Broken navigation links — any href in your navigation config that doesn't match an existing markdown file

If your project uses custom paths, pass --content-dir and --docs-base-path:

deno run -A jsr:@denote/core/validate --content-dir=./my-content --docs-base-path=/reference

Fix any errors before deploying to avoid broken links or missing pages.

Next Steps

• Quick Start — Build your first doc page
• Configuration — Customize your site
• Writing Content — Learn the markdown syntax