Getting Started

This guide will walk you through setting up the notes system from scratch and creating your first notes. By the end of this guide, you'll have a fully functional notes interface with several example notes.

#Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the necessary tools installed on your system. The notes system requires Node.js and a few other dependencies to run properly.

You need Node.js version 18 or higher installed on your system. You can check your Node.js version by running node --version in your terminal. If you don't have Node.js installed, you can download it from the official website or use a version manager like nvm to manage multiple Node versions.

You'll also need a code editor to create and edit your notes. Any text editor will work, though editors with markdown preview support like VS Code, WebStorm, or Sublime Text can make the writing process easier.

#Installation

Clone the repository to your local machine and install the required dependencies. This sets up the foundation for your notes system.

git clone <repository-url>
cd notes-app
npm install

The installation process will download all necessary packages including the framework, markdown processing tools, and any other dependencies required to run the notes system. Once complete, you can start the development server.

#Running the Application

After installation, you can start the development server to see your notes in action. The development server provides hot reloading, so changes to your notes will appear immediately without needing to restart.

npm run dev

This command starts the application and makes it available at http://localhost:3000. Open this URL in your web browser to see the notes interface. The sidebar will show your available notes, and clicking on any note will display its content in the main area.

For production use, you can build the application with npm run build and then start the production server with npm start. This optimizes the application for performance and is suitable for deploying to production environments.

#Creating Your First Note

Now that the application is running, let's create your first note. This involves creating an MDX file in the content directory and adding it to the sidebar.

Create a new file called my-first-note.mdx in the content directory. This file will contain your note content along with frontmatter that provides metadata about the note.

---
title: My First Note
description: This is my first note in the system
---

# Hello World

This is my first note! The notes system makes it easy to create and organize content.

## What's Next

Now that you've created your first note, you can:
- Add more content to this note
- Create additional notes
- Organize notes into groups in the sidebar

After creating the file, you need to register it in the sidebar. Open lib/data.ts and add your new note to the units array. The sidebar will automatically update to show your new note.

#Understanding Frontmatter

Every note file starts with frontmatter, a section at the top of the file delimited by triple dashes. This frontmatter provides essential metadata about your note.

The title field appears in the sidebar and as the page title when viewing the note. Choose clear, descriptive titles that accurately reflect the content of your note. The description field provides a brief summary that might be used for SEO or preview purposes.

Here's an example of proper frontmatter:

---
title: Your Note Title
description: A brief description of what this note covers
---

Both fields are required for each note. The title is used for navigation and display, while the description helps readers understand what they'll find in the note before clicking on it.

#Organizing Notes

As you create more notes, you'll want to organize them logically. The sidebar configuration in lib/data.ts allows you to group related notes together into units.

Each unit has a title and a list of items. The unit title appears as a group header in the sidebar, and the items are the individual notes within that group. This hierarchical structure helps readers find related content easily.

Consider organizing your notes by topic, by difficulty level, or by the order you want readers to encounter them. The flexible structure allows you to choose whatever organization makes the most sense for your content.

#Adding Content

With your note files created and registered in the sidebar, you can now add content. Use standard markdown syntax to format your text, add headings, create lists, and include code blocks.

The notes system supports all standard markdown features plus MDX extensions. This gives you flexibility to create simple text notes or rich interactive content with custom components.

Remember to use headings appropriately to create a clear structure. The table of contents is automatically generated from your headings, so well-structured headings improve the navigation experience for readers.