Mintlify: preview docs locally with the mint CLI

Who it is for

If you maintain Mintlify docs and want to see changes on this machine before pushing them live, this official docs repository fits. It is Official Mintlify documentation. The repository is

https://github.com/mintlify/docs

The published docs site is

https://mintlify.com/docs

The CLI package is

https://www.npmjs.com/package/mint

A better fit already has a docs directory with docs.json (this cloned repository, or your own Mintlify project), can run npm on this machine, and accepts only this official install command: npm i -g mint. This is a global CLI, not a skill-market package; do not rewrite it as skills add.

If you only want to read in a browser

https://mintlify.com/docs

and do not plan to edit docs or start a local preview, you do not need the CLI. The first time, do local preview only. Do not run a go-live command that does not appear on this page. This page names no programming client; view the preview in a browser.

First try in 3 minutes

Use only this official install path:

npm i -g mint

A global install changes this machine's command line. Confirm you accept a global package. Do not look for a plugin or a market.

Prerequisites: Node/npm is installed; the current working directory is the docs root, the layer where you can see docs.json. If you do not have that file yet, clone the official docs repository first. Do not invent a docs.json in an undocumented format.

Then run in that root:

mint dev

This starts a local preview and is a local process. Confirm the port is only for local access, then run it. Open the local address it prints in a browser and check that one docs page renders.

Success signal: the mint command works, and after mint dev you see in the browser a docs tree that matches docs.json, instead of an error that docs.json is missing. If it says you are not at the docs root, cd to the directory that contains docs.json and run again; do not add undocumented flags. If mint does not exist, return to npm i -g mint; do not switch to an unwritten package name.

Usage examples

Example 1: install Mint CLI. Officially install with npm i -g mint so you can preview docs changes locally. After install, run mint in the terminal and confirm the command is on PATH. This is a global side effect; do not install it in an untrusted environment. This page writes no version number and no npx mint substitute; when those are missing, use only this global install.

Example 2: preview at the docs root. Officially run mint dev at the docs root (where docs.json is). Change a title or paragraph on an existing md page, save, and see whether the local preview updates. Do not do a go-live push on the first try. This page does not write hot-reload details or a default port; take the preview address from command-line output and do not guess.

Limits

This is the official docs repository plus CLI preview, not a generic static-site generator. Without docs.json, mint dev has no official starting point.

Official install is only npm i -g mint. mint dev is preview, not a second installer. Do not invent a skill-market install. The published site is a read-only reference, not an install source.

A global package and starting dev both have side effects. Confirm the directory first. This page does not give deploy, hosting, or custom-domain steps; do not do go-live actions that are not written. It also does not list other mint subcommands; do not guess commands that never appear.