Getting started

Getting started with Markspresso

This guide shows how to scaffold a new site, run a build, and iterate on your content.

Prerequisites

  • LuCLI installed and on your PATH.
  • A directory where you want your static site to live (your "site root").

Installing Markspresso

lucli module install markspresso

From your site root, you will run commands via LuCLI:

lucli markspresso --help

1. Scaffold a new site

From an empty directory:

lucli markspresso create --name "My Site" --baseUrl "http://localhost:8080"

This will create:

  • markspresso.json – site configuration
  • content/ – Markdown content (including index.md and posts/hello-world.md)
  • layouts/ – HTML layouts (page.html, post.html) and layouts/partials/
  • assets/ – static files to be copied as-is
  • public/ – build output directory (initially empty)
  • lucee.json – convenience config for serving the public/ directory from LuCLI

You can re-run create with --force to overwrite existing starter files.

2. Build Markdown into HTML

From the same directory:

lucli markspresso build

By default this will:

  • Read markspresso.json and apply sensible defaults
  • Treat content/ as your source and public/ as your output
  • Render all *.md files to HTML using the configured layouts
  • Copy any files under assets/ into public/

Useful flags:

  • --src=content – override the content directory
  • --out=public – override the output directory
  • --clean – delete the output directory before building
  • --drafts – include content marked as draft: true in front matter

3. Serve the built site

Markspresso builds a static site into public/. You can serve it with any static HTTP server you like.

Because create also writes a lucee.json that points at the output directory, you can use LuCLI's own tooling or your preferred static server to host public/.

4. Watch for changes

For an efficient local workflow, use the watch command from your site root:

lucli markspresso watch

Markspresso will:

  • Run an initial full build
  • Watch content/, layouts/, and assets/
  • On content changes, trigger incremental rebuilds of the changed files (plus home page when needed)
  • On layout changes, trigger a full rebuild
  • On asset changes, copy changed assets to public/

5. Next steps

Once you have your first build working, continue with:

  • Site structure & configuration – how markspresso.json controls paths and collections
  • Content & front matter – how to attach metadata to documents
  • Layouts & partials – customizing HTML output
  • Posts & pages – using Markspresso as a lightweight blog engine