development.mdx

title	description	icon
Development	Preview changes locally to update your docs	terminal

Prerequisite: Please install Node.js (version 19 or higher) before proceeding.

Follow these steps to install and run Mintlify on your operating system:

Step 1: Install Mintlify:

npm i -g mintlify

yarn global add mintlify

Step 2: Navigate to the docs directory (where the mint.json file is located) and execute the following command:

mintlify dev

A local preview of your documentation will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Custom Ports

By default, Mintlify uses port 3000. You can customize the port Mintlify runs on by using the --port flag. To run Mintlify on port 3333, for instance, use this command:

mintlify dev --port 3333

If you attempt to run Mintlify on a port that's already in use, it will use the next available port:

Port 3000 is already in use. Trying 3001 instead.

Mintlify Versions

Please note that each CLI release is associated with a specific version of Mintlify. If your local website doesn't align with the production version, please update the CLI:

npm i -g mintlify@latest

yarn global upgrade mintlify

Validating Links

The CLI can assist with validating reference links made in your documentation. To identify any broken links, use the following command:

mintlify broken-links

Deployment

If the deployment is successful, you should see the following:

Code Formatting

We suggest using extensions on your IDE to recognize and format MDX. If you're a VSCode user, consider the MDX VSCode extension for syntax highlighting, and Prettier for code formatting.

Troubleshooting

This may be due to an outdated version of node. Try the following:
1. Remove the currently-installed version of mintlify: `npm remove -g mintlify`
2. Upgrade to Node v19 or higher.
3. Reinstall mintlify: `npm install -g mintlify`

Solution: Go to the root of your device and delete the \~/.mintlify folder. Afterwards, run `mintlify dev` again.