Install

Requirements#

• Claude Code Desktop — the primary interface. agntcms is built around it; without Claude Code the framework is just Next.js — no skills, no AI-native flow.
• Node.js ≥ 20, pnpm ≥ 9 — the standard Next.js stack.
• git — needed for content versioning and deploy.

The recommended path — through Claude Code#

This is the path agntcms is designed around. Two steps:

1. Open Claude Code Desktop in any empty folder where you want the project to live.

2. Send Claude this message (replace my-site with your project name):

Create a new project based on the agntcms framework — https://agntcms.com.
Project name: my-site.

Claude reads the site, finds the canonical scaffolding command (pnpm create agntcms-app), runs it for you, installs dependencies, and syncs the skills from @agntcms/skills into .claude/skills/. When it is done you have a working demo site — roughly thirty section types and a handful of content pages — and a directory that Claude Code already understands, because the skills are now part of the project.

Without Claude Code (the manual fallback)#

If you really want to run the CLI yourself, it is the same command Claude would run:

pnpm create agntcms-app my-site
cd my-site

The CLI scaffolds the project from the canonical template, installs dependencies, and syncs the skills. You still need Claude Code for everything after this — it is not optional, just deferred.

Next move#

Once the project directory exists, open it in a new Claude Code session. That fresh session loads the project's .claude/skills/ automatically, which is exactly what makes the next steps work — first Explore the demo (start the dev server, click around), then Setup personalised project when you are ready to make it yours.

Start the dev server#

At any point, run:

pnpm dev

Or just ask Claude — start the dev server — and watch the preview URL appear. Full walkthrough in Explore the demo.

What appeared in the directory#

Three key folders (full layout in Project structure):

• agntcms/ — your code: section types (sections/), config (config.ts), site meta (site-meta.ts).
• content/ — JSON content: pages (pages/), drafts (drafts/), version history (history/), site-wide blocks (globals/).
• app/ — Next.js App Router. Frozen zone — do not touch.

Plus the usual Next.js: public/, styles/, next.config.ts, tsconfig.json. Plus .claude/skills/ — agent skills, also frozen, and the thing that makes the next session smart about your project.