Quickstart

Host the latest Margin release on Manicule, with an included database and no servers or environment variables to configure.

Publish your docs on a free manicule.dev address, then push an edit and confirm it is live. Manicule hosting is free, with no limits. Margin is Apache 2.0 whether you use Manicule or self-host.

You need a GitHub account and a repository containing your docs. If you do not have one yet, start from the Margin template and its docs/ folder, or create a repository with a single index.mdx. For a single-page site, use this content:

# Welcome

This documentation is published from my repository.

Deploy your docs site

Open Manicule and sign up or sign in. New users create an organization with the docs product preselected.

Confirm that you reach “Where are your docs?”.

Connect GitHub

At “Where are your docs?”, select “Connect GitHub” and install the Manicule GitHub app. Manicule reads only the repositories you choose during installation. Include the repository containing your docs.

Confirm that your repository is available at “Deploy your docs from GitHub”.

Create docs site

At “Deploy your docs from GitHub”, choose your repository and deploy branch. This is the docs branch: every push to it publishes your site, and pull requests targeting it get previews.

Choose the folder containing your docs if they are not at the repository root. The folder is optional and defaults to the repository root. For the Margin template’s docs, choose docs.

Select “Create docs site”. Confirm that the first deployment starts.

Open your published site

Wait until “Your docs site is up.” appears, then open the shown manicule.dev address. Confirm that your documentation landing page renders. Save this address for the final check.

At “Want your own domain?”, you can connect a domain now or do it later from Domains. Your site can use <site>.manicule.dev or your own domain; Domains manages the domain.

Publish your first edit

Edit the landing page

Clone the repository you connected. Replace the clone URL and branch below with your repository and the docs branch you selected:

git clone 'https://github.com/YOUR_ACCOUNT/YOUR_REPOSITORY.git' my-docs
cd my-docs
git switch 'YOUR_DOCS_BRANCH'

Open index.mdx in the selected docs folder (docs/index.mdx for the Margin template, or index.mdx for a repository-root site). Append this paragraph after the existing content, outside any code fence, unless it is already present:

This documentation is published from my repository.

If the paragraph is already present, change it to My first documentation edit is live. instead, and use that sentence in the final check.

Review the diff. Set DOCS_PAGE to your landing page’s repository-relative path; this example uses the template’s docs/ folder:

DOCS_PAGE='docs/index.mdx'
git diff -- "$DOCS_PAGE"

Confirm that the diff shows your changed paragraph.

Commit and push

Commit the changed page and push the docs branch:

git add "$DOCS_PAGE"
git commit \
  -m "Update documentation landing page"
git push

Confirm that a deployment starts for this commit. Push to the docs branch to update the live site; pull requests targeting that branch get previews.

Confirm the published edit

Wait for the deployment to complete, then reload the site’s landing page at /. Confirm that it contains your edited sentence.

For a terminal check, replace the URL with your site’s address and set the sentence to match your edit:

SITE_URL='https://YOUR_SITE.manicule.dev'
EXPECTED='This documentation is published from my repository.'
curl --fail --silent --show-error "$SITE_URL/" \
  | grep -F "$EXPECTED"

A successful check prints a matching line from the HTML. If the sentence is missing, check that the deployment uses your edit’s commit and that you pushed to the docs branch.