Quickstart

You need Node.js 24 or later. A Cloudflare account comes in later, when you deploy.

Create a project

npm create hollware my-cms

It copies the starter into my-cms, installs it, creates the local database and makes your site, its owner and a first personal token. At the end it prints three things:

• the token, once: copy it now, Hollware keeps only its hash (or pass --token-file owner.token and it goes to that file instead);
• a link to set up your passkey for the admin, valid for seven days, whenever you want it: your agent works with the token alone;
• how to connect an agent: the line for Claude Code and the block for any other client.

It asks nothing. Options go after --, which npm needs to pass them on:

npm create hollware my-cms -- --token-file owner.token   # the token to a file, never on the screen
npm create hollware my-cms -- --no-git          # skip git init
npm create hollware my-cms -- --preset docs --locales en,es   # start from docs, in two locales
pnpm create hollware my-cms --pm pnpm           # install with pnpm
npm create hollware -- --help                   # every option

Start it

cd my-cms
npx hollware dev

It says Hollware is ready at http://localhost:5199 once it answers. MCP is at /mcp, the admin at /admin/, the read API at /v1, and the health check at /health. Stop it with Ctrl+C. An agent that must keep working runs npx hollware dev --detach and, at the end, npx hollware dev --stop.

Run every npx hollware … command from inside my-cms: the CLI works on the project in the current directory, and on its local database unless you pass --remote.

Connect your agent

Put the token in the environment and paste the line the install printed (or ask npx hollware mcp-config for it, with --client cursor or --client vscode for those):

export HOLLWARE_TOKEN="$(cat owner.token)"
claude mcp add --transport http hollware http://localhost:5199/mcp --header 'Authorization: Bearer ${HOLLWARE_TOKEN}'

Then ask your agent to write something:

Read the Hollware site, then write a short post in English about why plain text lasts, and publish it.

The agent calls describe_site to learn your collections and rules, writes with create_draft, fixes what the verdict reports, and calls publish.

A post of the starter's blog, if you write one yourself, looks like this. describe_site returns the same rules as a JSON Schema:

---
title: Why plain text lasts
description: Files that any editor opens outlive the tools that made them.
date: 2026-10-15
tags:
  - writing
translationGroup: why-plain-text-lasts
---

# Why plain text lasts

Plain text opens anywhere, diffs cleanly and needs no migration.

Look at it

Open http://localhost:5199/admin/, sign in with the passkey you set up, and you will find the post under Entries, with every revision.

Next

• Connect an agent in more detail, with OAuth instead of a token.
• Configure your content to make the starter's blog your own.
• Deploy when you are ready.