# Getting Started

> Stand up your own Seedly Sites instance - a free local sandbox first, then a guided go-live on Railway and Cloudflare.

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](/docs/help/install) and the [go-live guide](/docs/help/provisioning).

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## 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.

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## 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:

| Command | What it does |
|---------|--------------|
| `npx pnpm run setup:check` | The "doctor" - checks your setup and names anything missing or misconfigured, in plain English |
| `npx pnpm run gen:secrets` | Generates the platform's own secret values |
| `npx pnpm run provision` | Sets up your local sandbox, then guides the live provisioning |

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## 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.

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## 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](/docs/help/builder-basics), 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](/docs/concepts).

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## If You Get Stuck

1. Run the doctor: `npx pnpm run setup:check`. It names what is wrong.
2. Check [Troubleshooting](/docs/help/troubleshooting).
3. Look up any confusing term in the [Glossary](/docs/help/glossary).
4. Ask in the Seedly community group on Facebook.

Next: [the full install walkthrough](/docs/help/install), then [go live](/docs/help/provisioning).

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Source: https://seedlysites.com/docs/getting-started