Local Preview

The Jamdesk CLI lets you preview your documentation on your machine before pushing to production. Changes appear instantly as you edit.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

Install the CLI globally, then run from your docs directory:

npm install -g jamdesk
cd your-docs
jamdesk dev

Run directly without installing:

cd your-docs
npx jamdesk dev

Your docs will be available at http://localhost:3000

Hot Reload

Edit MDX files and see changes instantly - no refresh needed

Full Search

Test Cmd+K search with your actual content

All Components

Every component works exactly like production

Theme Switching

Test both light and dark modes

The default port is 3000. If it's in use, specify a different one:

jamdesk dev --port 3001

Or set a permanent default in ~/.jamdeskrc:

{
  "defaultPort": 3001
}

See detailed build information with the --verbose flag:

jamdesk dev --verbose

This shows:

The first time you run jamdesk dev, it installs dependencies to ~/.jamdesk. This takes 30-60 seconds. Subsequent runs start in under 5 seconds.

To clear the cache and force a fresh install:

jamdesk clean
jamdesk dev

Another process is using port 3000.

Option 1: Use a different port

jamdesk dev --port 3001

Option 2: Find and stop the process

lsof -i :3000
kill -9 <PID>

Make sure you're in the directory containing your docs.json file:

ls docs.json  # Should show the file
jamdesk dev

Try these steps:

Run diagnostics:

jamdesk doctor

This checks your environment and identifies issues.

All CLI commands and options

Push your docs to production