Start a project and add interfaces

You will create a MainSDK project, add the interfaces you need one at a time, and check that the machine and the project are healthy. It takes about 10 minutes.

You need

• Node 22.18 or later and a repository for your app.

1. Create the project

npx mainsdk init

This writes main.yaml with a project id and the local auth, db and files drivers, logging and a deny-by-default network (the default indie preset; --preset minimal writes only the four required keys), and adds .mainsdk/ to .gitignore. Running it again in the same repository exits 2 unless you pass --force or --new-id.

2. Add an interface

npx mainsdk add auth

add works for auth, db, files, network, log, ai and pay. It sets the interface's local driver in main.yaml, writes one example test and runs check. It never weakens a key that is already set.

3. Check the machine and the project

npx mainsdk doctor

doctor checks the Node version, that main.yaml loads and that .mainsdk/ is ignored. It prints one problem line for each failure and exits 1.

4. Find a command

npx mainsdk --help

mainsdk --help (or mainsdk -h, or mainsdk alone) prints every command by group; mainsdk help <command> prints the usage, flags, examples and exit codes of one.

Check it worked

npx mainsdk doctor prints mainsdk doctor: all good and npx mainsdk check passes.

If it fails

Next

• Declare what your app uses
• CLI reference