Getting Started

Welcome to Ionport.

Ionport is an AI-first publishing platform built around a simple idea:

Write your content in Markdown. Let AI build the website.

Unlike traditional content management systems, Ionport keeps your content as plain text while automating the repetitive work of generating and publishing a website.

Before You Begin

To use Ionport, you only need:

• A text editor
• Basic knowledge of Markdown
• An AI coding assistant (such as Codex)
• A Git repository (recommended)

No database is required.

Create a New Project

Create an empty project folder.

my-website/

A typical Ionport project might look like this:

my-website/
│
├── content/
│   ├── index.md
│   ├── about.md
│   └── blog/
│       └── first-post.md
│
├── layouts/
│
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   ├── js/
│   └── images/
│
├── output/
│
└── ionport.json

The exact structure is flexible and may evolve as Ionport develops.

Create Your First Page

Create a file named:

content/index.md

Example:

---
title: "Welcome"
description: "My first Ionport website."
---

# Welcome

This is my first page built with Ionport.

Writing content is as simple as editing a Markdown file.

The YAML frontmatter contains metadata about the page, while the rest of the file contains the content.

Organize Your Content

Ionport treats your content as a collection of Markdown documents.

A simple structure might look like this:

content/

index.md
about.md
contact.md

blog/
    first-post.md
    second-post.md

docs/
    installation.md
    configuration.md

Organize your files in a way that makes sense for your project.

Build the Website

Ionport reads your Markdown files and generates a complete static website.

During the build process, it can automatically:

• Convert Markdown to HTML
• Apply layouts
• Generate navigation
• Build archives
• Create RSS feeds
• Generate sitemaps
• Optimize metadata
• Validate internal links

The generated files are written to the output directory.

Publish

Once the site has been built, simply upload the generated files to your preferred hosting provider.

Because Ionport generates static files, your website can be hosted almost anywhere, including:

• Shared hosting
• Virtual private servers
• GitHub Pages
• Cloud storage
• Content delivery networks

Publishing should be independent of the platform you choose.

Working with AI

Ionport is designed to work naturally with AI coding assistants.

Rather than manually editing templates or configuration files, you can ask your AI assistant to:

• Create new pages
• Design layouts
• Generate navigation
• Build landing pages
• Improve SEO
• Create documentation
• Refactor templates
• Publish the website

Your Markdown files remain the source of truth, while AI helps automate the rest of the workflow.

Version Control

Ionport projects work well with Git.

Benefits include:

• Complete editing history
• Easy collaboration
• Reliable backups
• Safe experimentation
• Reproducible builds

Since everything is stored as plain text, changes are easy to review and track.

Recommended Workflow

A typical publishing workflow looks like this:

1. Write or edit Markdown content.
2. Commit your changes to Git.
3. Ask your AI assistant to build the website.
4. Review the generated output.
5. Publish the site.

As your project grows, this workflow remains simple and predictable.

Next Steps

Once you're comfortable creating pages, continue with:

• Markdown Guide
• Templates
• Configuration
• AI Integration
• Publishing
• Deployment

These guides explore each part of Ionport in greater detail.