Installation

Before you install

avodado.dev/studio runs the full editor in a browser tab — no install, no signup, nothing uploaded. Open any template to see what a finished Avodado document looks like, and use Share to keep what you make. Install the CLI when you want the docs to live in your repo.

Install the CLI

npm install -g avodado    # or: pnpm add -g avodado · bun add -g avodado

This gives you the avo command. See it in action before writing anything:

avo demo    # renders the built-in showcase and opens it in your browser
avo tour    # a short, guided walkthrough (7 chapters)

Set up a project

avo init

avo init asks which AI tools you use and which theme you want, then sets everything up. Pass --yes to skip the questions and use defaults.

It creates:

• avodado.config.json — where your docs live and where builds go
• docs/ — starter docs you can edit or delete
• .avodado/skill/SKILL.md — the authoring guide AI agents read
• An adapter file for each AI tool you picked, so Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or Windsurf can write valid docs right away

That last part matters: avo init installs the AI skill, so as soon as it finishes, your agent knows how to write valid Avodado docs. See Author with AI for how the setup works.

Open the studio

avo studio

This opens Avodado Studio in your browser — a visual editor over your .md files. This is the main way to work: keep the studio open, then tell your AI what to write, for example:

Document our checkout flow in docs/checkout.md — a sequence diagram of the payment path and an ERD of the order tables. Run avo check and fix anything it reports.

The agent edits the files, the studio shows every save live, and you click anything on the page to adjust it yourself.

Configuration

avo reads avodado.config.json (or .ts, .js, .yml) from your project root. The defaults:

{ "docsDir": "docs", "outDir": "dist" }

• docsDir — the folder with your .md files
• outDir — where avo build writes the site

Exit codes

avo check exits with 1 on any error, so you can use it as a CI gate.

Two smaller notes:

• CI output. In CI (or with AVO_PLAIN=1) the CLI prints plain text instead of the interactive UI. avo check --json prints machine-readable results.
• PDF export. avo pdf needs Chromium and downloads it automatically the first time (about 100 MB). To install it ahead of time: npx playwright install chromium.

Next: write your first doc — or just prompt your agent and review the result in the studio.