Getting started with Krexel

This is the shortest path from zero to a live site. By the end of this page, you'll have:

A Krexel account
Your first site deployed
Your AI agent connected so you can edit from the chat

Takes about 60 seconds.

Prerequisites

You need:

A Node.js 20+ environment (most macOS/Linux machines already have this; Windows users can use WSL). Check with node --version.
An AI assistant that supports MCP — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or any other Model Context Protocol client. Skip this step if you only want to use the CLI.
A folder with static files — index.html, style.css, etc. Any folder works.

If you don't have a folder yet, create one:

mkdir my-site && cd my-site
echo "<h1>Hello from Krexel</h1>" > index.html

Step 1 — Sign up

Go to krexel.com/signup. Enter your email. We'll send you an API key.

Save the key somewhere safe. It's the only way to authenticate with Krexel from your CLI or AI client.

Step 2 — Install the CLI

npm install -g krexel
krexel login
# paste your API key when prompted

This validates the key and stores it in ~/.krexel/auth.json with owner-only permissions.

Step 3 — Deploy your first site

From inside the folder you created in the prerequisites:

krexel ship . my-launch

You should see:

✓ Built 1 file (21 bytes)
→ Uploading to Krexel…
✓ Live at https://my-launch.krexel.com in 12 seconds

That's it. Your site is live at my-launch.krexel.com. (Subdomain auto-claimed; custom domain comes later.)

Step 4 (optional) — Connect your AI

If you want to edit your site from the chat — "change the headline to Welcome to my SaaS" — connect the MCP server. The fastest path is krexel init, which wires every AI client you have installed (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Continue, Claude Desktop) in one go:

krexel init

It detects each client, writes the right config to each, validates your API key against the worker, and prints a checklist. For Codex, the API key also needs to be in your shell so the MCP child process can read it — the easiest way is to export it:

echo 'export KREXEL_API_KEY=krx_your_key_here' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

(krexel init will warn you if it isn't set. The variable name changed from KREXEL_TOKEN to KREXEL_API_KEY in CLI 0.1.6; krexel init migrates old configs automatically.)

Restart your AI client. It will now have Krexel as a tool it can call. For per-client details (manual config snippets, what krexel init actually writes to each file, troubleshooting), see Install the MCP server.

What's next?

Connect a custom domain — replace the .krexel.com subdomain with your own
Read about patch deploys — how your AI edits your site in 8 seconds
Browse the docs — every reference page

Troubleshooting

command not found: krexel — your npm global bin isn't on your PATH. Run npm config get prefix and add bin to your PATH, or use npx krexel instead.

krexel login asks for a key but I never got one — check your email's spam folder, or go to krexel.com/keys to generate a new one.

Deploy succeeds but the URL shows a 404 — wait 30 seconds. The first deploy to a fresh subdomain takes a moment to propagate.

Still stuck? Email support@krexel.com.