---
title: Quickstart
description: Create a Hollware project, run it locally and publish a first post with an agent, in about five minutes.
section: start
order: 2
---

# Quickstart

You need Node.js 24 or later. A Cloudflare account comes in later, when you deploy.

## Create a project

```sh
npm create hollware my-cms
```

It copies the starter into `my-cms`, installs it, creates the local database and makes your site, its owner and a first personal token. At the end it prints three things:

- the **token**, once: copy it now, Hollware keeps only its hash;
- a **link** to set up your passkey for the admin, valid for seven days;
- the **command** that connects Claude Code to your Hollware.

It asks nothing. Options go after `--`, which npm needs to pass them on:

```sh
npm create hollware my-cms -- --no-git          # skip git init
pnpm create hollware my-cms --pm pnpm           # install with pnpm
npm create hollware -- --help                   # every option
```

## Start it

```sh
cd my-cms
npm run dev
```

Hollware answers at `http://localhost:5199`. MCP is at `/mcp`, the admin at `/admin/`, the read API at `/v1`, and the health check at `/health`. Stop it with Ctrl+C.

Run every `npx hollware …` command from inside `my-cms`: the CLI works on the project in the current directory, and on its local database unless you pass `--remote`.

## Connect your agent

Paste the command that the install printed. It looks like this:

```sh
claude mcp add --transport http hollware http://localhost:5199/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer hw_pat_..."
```

Then ask your agent to write something:

```text
Read the Hollware site, then write a short post in English about why plain text lasts, and publish it.
```

The agent calls `describe_site` to learn your collections and rules, writes with `create_draft`, fixes what the verdict reports, and calls `publish`.

A post of the starter's blog, if you write one yourself, looks like this. `describe_site` returns the same rules as a JSON Schema:

```markdown
---
title: Why plain text lasts
description: Files that any editor opens outlive the tools that made them.
date: 2026-10-15
tags:
  - writing
translationGroup: why-plain-text-lasts
---

# Why plain text lasts

Plain text opens anywhere, diffs cleanly and needs no migration.
```

## Look at it

Open `http://localhost:5199/admin/`, sign in with the passkey you set up, and you will find the post under Entries, with every revision.

## Next

- [Connect an agent](/docs/connect-an-agent/) in more detail, with OAuth instead of a token.
- [Configure your content](/docs/configure-your-content/) to make the starter's blog your own.
- [Deploy](/docs/deploy/) when you are ready.