Getting Started

You bought Seedly Sites and downloaded the code. This page is the plain-English overview of getting from a ZIP file to a live client site. The detailed, step-by-step chapters live in the full install walkthrough and the go-live guide.

The Shape of Setup#

Setup happens in two stages, in this order:

1. Local sandbox first. You run the whole platform on your own computer - the admin, the visual builder, and a rendered site. It uses a small built-in file database, so there are no accounts, no keys, and no cost. This proves everything works before you touch any hosting.
2. Then go live. You provision the real infrastructure: Railway (the app, its Postgres database, and the builder service), Cloudflare (Pages hosting plus R2 media storage), and a private GitHub repository that runs the publish pipeline. Then you create your operator login and your first client site.

Estimated time: 15 to 30 minutes for the local sandbox, then a couple of hours, spread over sittings, for the live setup. You can stop anywhere and resume.

The Fastest Way: Let Pixl Lead#

From the project folder in a terminal, run:

npx pnpm run setup

That launches Pixl, the setup companion, who walks you through the whole thing one small step at a time. It is the recommended path for everyone, technical or not.

Pixl uses a few commands you can also run yourself at any point:

Three Paths, Same Destination#

Pick whichever suits you (or mix them):

1. Pixl, the companion. Run npx pnpm run setup and follow along. Best if you want to be led step by step.
2. Claude Code drives. If you use Claude Code, open the project folder and ask it to read the setup guide and walk you through it one chapter at a time. The download includes a start file that tells it how to guide you safely.
3. The handbook, by hand. The download ships with a numbered chapter manual (welcome, prerequisites, run locally, GitHub, Railway, Cloudflare, domain and DNS, secrets, first operator and tenant, integrations, optional billing, pre-launch checklist, launch, and day-2 operations). Follow it in order.

What You Will Have at the End#

1. A local sandbox where the platform, the builder, and a rendered site all work on your machine.
2. A live instance: the CMS and builder on Railway, media on R2, and a publish pipeline in your own private GitHub repository.
3. Your operator login, your first client site (tenant), and a real published site on its own domain.

From there, the working loop is simple: build pages in the visual builder, publish your changes in the CMS, and press Deploy to push the site live. Publishing and deploying are two different steps - publishing saves content, and nothing changes on the live site until you deploy. That rule is worth internalizing early; see Core Concepts.

If You Get Stuck#

1. Run the doctor: npx pnpm run setup:check. It names what is wrong.
2. Check Troubleshooting.
3. Look up any confusing term in the Glossary.
4. Ask in the Seedly community group on Facebook.

Next: the full install walkthrough, then go live.