> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cordango.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> From an empty directory to a running application.

Everything on this page happens on your machine. There is no account, no database, no model API and
no network call until you choose to publish.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install the CLI">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl -fsSL https://cordango.com/install.sh | sh
    ```

    See [Install](/cli/install) for the Homebrew and Scoop routes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a workspace">
    ```bash theme={null}
    mkdir helpdesk && cd helpdesk
    cordango new support
    ```

    `cordango new` needs an empty directory. It creates a workspace and its first app. One
    workspace holds many apps, so `cordango add app <name>` adds the next one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check it">
    ```bash theme={null}
    cordango check
    ```

    Parse, lower and validate. No model, no database, no network. This is the command to keep in a
    pre-commit hook and in CI, and it works from a clone of the open source repository with nothing
    else installed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="See what you can build it into">
    ```bash theme={null}
    cordango targets
    ```

    Each target reports what it can generate and what it deliberately will not. Ask whether one
    specific target can build one specific app:

    ```bash theme={null}
    cordango check --app support --target dotnet-vue
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Generate the application">
    ```bash theme={null}
    cordango build --app support --target dotnet-vue --out ./out
    ```

    That writes a complete ASP.NET Core, EF Core, PostgreSQL, Vue 3 and Vuetify project into
    `./out`. It is ordinary source code and it is yours. There is no license server, no account and
    no runtime dependency on Cordango in what comes out.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run it">
    ```bash theme={null}
    cd out && docker compose up
    ```

    The first screen asks you to create the administrator account. A password delivered by a log
    line is not delivered, so the endpoint that creates that first account closes for good once it
    has been used.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## When the generator cannot finish

Missing behaviour is loud. If an app uses something the target cannot generate yet, the build
refuses rather than quietly producing an application that is subtly wrong.

```bash theme={null}
cordango build --app support --target dotnet-vue --out ./out --allow-incomplete
```

`--allow-incomplete` accepts the build anyway, and tells you exactly what was left out.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Build with an AI agent" icon="sparkles" href="/ai/overview">
    Tuned starting prompts for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and GLM.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Concepts" icon="diagram-project" href="/concepts">
    What a workspace, an app and an App Definition actually are.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Editing an app" icon="pen" href="/guides/authoring">
    Changing semantic source, and the four rules worth knowing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deploying" icon="server" href="/guides/deploying">
    Running what the generator produced.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>