Quick start

Create and run a new Ion project in under a minute. This page assumes you have completed the installation steps.

Prerequisites

• Ion CLI 1.4.0 or later installed
• No package.json or build tooling required for the default template
• Node.js 18+ only if you plan to use plugins that require it

Create a project

Ion scaffolds a project into a new directory and asks which template you want.

ion init my-app

Choose the "vanilla" template to start without a framework, or pick react, vue, or svelte.

Start the development server

Move into the project and start serving locally.

cd my-app
ion dev

The server starts on http://localhost:3000 and hot reloads as you edit source files.

Project structure

A new Ion project contains these files:

my-app/
├── src/
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── index.js
│   └── styles.css
├── ion.config.js
└── package.json

Next steps

• Read the command reference for every option and example.
• Learn how to configure ion.config.js for production builds.
• Explore the installation page for alternative methods.