🚀 Quick Start Guide

0 Prerequisites

Before diving in, make sure you have the following ready:

🔑 API Token

Generated from your FlowCMS dashboard under Settings → API Keys

📦 Node.js 18+

Required for the CLI and SDK packages

💻 Basic JS/TS

Familiarity with async/await and fetch APIs

1 Install the FlowCMS SDK

Start by creating a new project directory and installing the official FlowCMS client library. We support npm, yarn, and pnpm.

Terminal

# Create project directory
mkdir my-flowcms-app && cd my-flowcms-app

# Initialize npm
npm init -y

# Install the SDK
npm install @flowcms/sdk @flowcms/cli

💡 Tip: The CLI tool (flowcms) provides helpful scaffolding commands and local dev server utilities.

2 Initialize Your Project

Use the CLI to generate a starter configuration file. This sets up your content models, environment variables, and local development environment.

Terminal

npx flowcms init

You'll be prompted to enter your Project ID and API Token. The CLI will generate a .flowcmsrc file and a .env file with secure defaults.

3 Connect to FlowCMS

Create a new src/client.js file to configure the SDK instance. This singleton will handle authentication, caching, and request retries automatically.

                        JavaScript
                        
                    
import { FlowCMS } from '@flowcms/sdk';

export const cms = new FlowCMS({
  projectId: process.env.FLOWCMS_PROJECT_ID,
  token: process.env.FLOWCMS_API_TOKEN,
  environment: 'preview',
  cache: { enabled: true, ttl: 300 }
});

4 Fetch & Render Content

Now let's query your content. FlowCMS uses a flexible query builder that compiles to optimized GraphQL/REST requests under the hood.

                        JavaScript
                        
                    
import { cms } from './client';

async function getLatestPosts() {
  const response = await cms.query('posts', {
    where: { status: 'published' },
    sort: { createdAt: 'desc' },
    limit: 5
  });

  return response.data;
}

Render the data in your framework of choice. The response includes typed fields, media assets, and relational data automatically resolved.

5 Deploy

FlowCMS content is delivered via a global edge CDN. Once your code is ready, deploy using your preferred platform. The SDK works out-of-the-box with Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, and traditional hosting.

Terminal

# Build for production
npm run build

# Deploy (Vercel example)
vercel --prod

# Or use our one-click deploy
npx flowcms deploy

✓ Next Steps

Congratulations! You've successfully connected your application to FlowCMS. Here's what to explore next:

Configure custom content models and validation rules
Set up automated publishing workflows with GitHub Actions
Explore the visual page builder for marketing teams
Integrate AI-powered content suggestions & SEO scoring

Ready to build something amazing?

Explore the full documentation, join our developer community, or start scaling your content infrastructure today.

📚 Read Full Docs