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Getting Started Last updated: 08. May 2026

Build your first Docly application step by step — from an empty workspace to a working document database, with optional API and web output.

What you will build

In this guide you will set up a workspace with a simple Article schema, add some documents, and see how Docly generates forms automatically from your schema. Then you can optionally expose your data as a JSON API or render it as web pages.

Time: About 10 minutes for the basics. Add another 10 minutes for the optional API and display template steps.

Step 1: Create a workspace

A workspace is the top-level container in Docly. It holds all your folders, documents, code and configuration.

  1. Log in to Docly

  2. Click New workspace

  3. Give it a name, e.g. My first app

Your workspace is ready. It is empty — no schemas, no documents, no code.

Step 2: Install a package

Packages add ready-made schemas, templates and tools to your workspace. The Developer Tools package is a good starting point — it gives you the schema designers and code editing capabilities.

  1. Open your workspace properties

  2. Go to the Packages tab

  3. Click Add Package and select Developer Tools

  4. Click Install

You can always add more packages later. See Packages for a full overview.

Step 3: Create a schema

A schema defines the structure of your documents — which fields they have, what types those fields are, and how the editing form looks. Think of it as defining a table in a traditional database, but more flexible — schemas support nested structures and arrays of data within a single document.

Let us create a simple Article schema with three fields:

  • Title — a text input

  • Author — a text input

  • Body — a rich text editor

  1. In your workspace, create a new document and select the Docly Schema (designer) template

  2. Name it Article

  3. Drag in a Text field and name it Title

  4. Drag in another Text field and name it Author

  5. Drag in a Rich text field and name it Body

  6. Save the schema

Docly now knows what an Article is. Every document you create with this schema will have these three fields, and Docly automatically generates a form for editing them.

Learn more: Documents & Schemas

Step 4: Add documents

Now create some documents using your new schema.

  1. Navigate to a folder in your workspace (or create one, e.g. Articles)

  2. Click New document and select your Article schema

  3. Fill in the Title, Author and Body fields in the generated form

  4. Save

Your document is stored as JSON in Docly's document database. You can edit it at any time using the same form, and you can access the raw JSON data through the API or with getFile() in server-side JavaScript.

You now have a working document database. The steps below are optional — continue if you want to expose your data as an API or render it as web pages.

Optional: Create an API function

You can expose your data as a JSON API by placing a .js file in the #/API folder. Any file there runs server-side and returns JSON.

Create #/API/articles.js:

export default () => {
  let articles = docly.getFiles("/Articles");
  return articles;
}

Call /API/articles and you get your articles as JSON. That is all it takes — no routing, no framework, no configuration.

Learn more: API & Services

Optional: Create a display template

A display template is a .hash file that renders your documents as HTML pages. Create one that matches your schema name — #/Article.hash:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>#Title#</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>#Title#</h1>
    <p>By #Author#</p>
    <div>#Body#</div>
</body>
</html>

The #FieldName# syntax is #JS data binding — it inserts the value of each field from your document. When you publish the folder, every Article document is automatically rendered using this template.

Learn more: Templates & Rendering

Publish

To make your content available on the web, publish a folder to a URL or domain. Everything under that folder — documents, files, APIs — becomes accessible via its path.

  1. Right-click the folder you want to publish

  2. Select Publish

  3. Choose a URL or connect your own domain

Your documents are now live — either as JSON via API functions, as rendered pages via display templates, or both.

Where to go next