Create a publication

Create a Lettercamp publication with the setup command. It copies the starter bundled with your CLI version, asks for a directory and preset, and installs the CLI inside your project.

Create with npm

npm create lettercamp@latest my-publication
cd my-publication
npm run dev

npx create-lettercamp@latest runs the same setup. If you already have a global CLI installation, use lettercamp new my-publication. The destination must be new or empty. If you omit it, interactive setup asks for a directory with my-lettercamp as the default. Without a terminal, unanswered questions use defaults.

Setup options

Option	Behavior
`--preset <name>`	Select a starter preset. Use `default` for the starter without a preset.
`--remote-assets`	Use already-hosted starter images and fonts instead of copying local asset files.
`-y, --yes`	Use defaults for unanswered questions.
`--no-install`	Create the files without running `npm install`.

With npm create, place options after --:

npm create lettercamp@latest my-publication -- --preset dark --yes

Presets apply initial settings and page metadata. You can edit the generated settings and articles after setup; there is no ongoing preset dependency.

Preset	Starting design
`default`	White background, Inter fonts, and a grid of articles.
`dark`	Black background, Geist fonts, and monochrome cover images.
`sand`	Warm background, Instrument Serif headings, and EB Garamond body text.
`code`	Dark background, green accents, Geist Mono fonts, and rows of articles.
`minimal`	A single column of articles with cover and author images removed from the starter pages.

The starter includes sample articles, a React calculator, custom header and footer examples, local images, and the fonts used by these presets. Setup applies the selected preset and omits the presets/ input folder from your new project. See Project structure for what to edit.

Optional: start with remote assets

By default, setup includes local images and fonts. Add --remote-assets if you prefer to start with hosted URLs, for example before connecting a new publication through GitHub publishing:

npm create lettercamp@latest my-publication -- --remote-assets

With an existing CLI installation:

lettercamp new my-publication --remote-assets

You can combine this option with --preset, --yes, and --no-install. Setup writes hosted image URLs into the articles and settings, selects hosted fonts, and omits the starter’s public/ directory. These assets are already hosted; creation does not upload them or require a Lettercamp account. Viewing them requires an internet connection. Sites created through Lettercamp Cloud use the same starter with remote assets, so starter images are available immediately in the rich editor. This option only affects creation; images and other media you add later still follow the normal Cloud asset requirements.

Project-local CLI

Setup creates a package.json with a pinned CLI version and these scripts:

Command	Purpose
`npm run dev`	Start the local preview.
`npm run check`	Check Cloud compatibility without uploading.
`npm run build -- --site https://example.com`	Build static files for your public site URL.
`npm run deploy`	Publish to Lettercamp.

For other commands, use npx lettercamp, for example npx lettercamp --help. Existing global CLI installations are unchanged. If you used --no-install or dependency installation failed, run npm install inside the created directory before using the scripts. See Project structure for the generated files.

Getting started

Writing

Content components

Design

Site settings

Custom components

Publishing

CLI

Create a publication

Create with npm

Setup options

Optional: start with remote assets

Project-local CLI