This guide takes you from "I just signed up" to "my docs are live on the internet" in five minutes. No setup, no install, no terminal.
Create your account
Go to dokly.co and sign up with GitHub or email. You land on the dashboard with no projects yet.
screenshot of empty dashboard with "Create your first project" CTA
Create a project
Click New project. Pick a name (e.g., "Acme API") and a subdomain (e.g., acme). Your project will live at acme.dokly.co.
Subdomains are lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. They have to be globally unique across Dokly — pick something specific to your product.
Write your first page
The new project opens with a placeholder "Welcome" page. Click into the editor and start typing.
Try the slash menu: hit / to insert a heading, callout, code block, or any other component. Hit /callout to add a tip. Hit /code to add a syntax-highlighted code block.
Hit save
Save with ⌘S (Mac) or Ctrl+S (Windows). The right pane shows a live preview of how your page will look on the published site.
Pages are saved as MDX. You can swap between the visual editor and the raw MDX view — both stay in sync.
Visit your live site
Open <your-subdomain>.dokly.co in a new tab. Your page is live. No build step. No deploy queue.
screenshot of the rendered docs site at your-subdomain.dokly.co showing the welcome page
What's next#
You now have a real, public docs site. From here:
Add more pages
Use the sidebar to add pages, drag them into groups, and nest them.
Make it yours
Logo, colors, dark mode — all configurable in Settings.
Connect a custom domain
Move from acme.dokly.co to docs.acme.com (Pro plan).
Import an OpenAPI spec
Drop in your OpenAPI YAML and get a full API reference auto-generated.
You can have 1 project with up to 5 pages on the free plan. The 14-day Pro trial unlocks unlimited pages, custom domains, and AI features so you can evaluate the full product before paying.