create-median-app

Create a website powered by Median CMS, on Next.js (deploys to Vercel) or TanStack Start (deploys to Vercel or any Node host).

bunx create-median-app my-site          # choose the framework and template
bunx create-median-next my-site         # Next.js
bunx create-median-tanstack my-site     # TanStack Start

Then:

cd my-site
cp .env.example .env   # set MEDIAN_WEBSITE_ID, MEDIAN_API_KEY and DATASET_ENDPOINT
bun dev

Templates

Template	What you get
base	An empty block registry and a welcome page at / until the CMS publishes one.
docs	A documentation site: navbar with search, sidebar grouped by category, Markdown articles with highlighted code, footer, light and dark themes.

Pick one with --template=base|docs and the framework with --framework=next|tanstack. Without a terminal (CI), the defaults are Next.js and base.

How a generated site works

• Published pages are static. At build time the site lists every published URL (median.listPages()), reads each page (median.resolveComponent(path)) and prerenders it with ParametricPage. Unknown URLs are a 404.
• The draft preview renders on request. /cms-preview_/<path> reads the live draft and renders it with ParametricPreview, which adds the overlay the CMS Template Builder uses to select and edit blocks. Opening a page with ?edit_mode=true shows its draft too.
• The admin panel lives at /admin. createCmsProxy() from cms-renderer/proxy forwards /admin and the requests it makes (its files, /wasm assets, server functions and API routes) to Median. Set the website's domain in the CMS (Settings → Websites) to use it on your own domain.
• Publishing needs a rebuild. Published changes reach the static pages on the next build; trigger one from the CMS deploy settings or a deploy hook.

Each template's README covers its files, environment variables and scripts.

Options

Flag	Effect
--framework=next|tanstack	Skip the framework prompt.
--template=base|docs	Skip the template prompt.
--no-install	Do not run bun install.
--no-git	Do not create a git repository.

MEDIAN_DEFAULT_FRAMEWORK=next|tanstack sets the framework when the shortcut command cannot be detected (some Windows shells).