# Install and run

> Run Solipsist on a folder of markdown files.

You need [Bun](https://bun.sh). For now you run Solipsist from a clone of its repository:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/pulkitsharma07/solipsist ~/solipsist
cd ~/solipsist && bun install
```

Then start it **in the folder you want to write in**:

```bash
cd ~/my-notes && bun ~/solipsist/src/index.ts
```

Open [localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000). To use a different port, set `server.port` (or `PORT`).

## Picking the files

The first time you start it, Solipsist lists the markdown files it finds in that folder.

*[Picture: The Choose your files dialog: the markdown files found in the folder, each with a checkbox]* The first launch: pick the files to work on.

Pick the ones you want to work on. Each one is copied into `.solipsist/pages/` and opened from there. Your originals
aren't touched until you [sync](https://solipsist.sh/docs/guides/files-and-sync/).

By default it only looks in the folder itself (`*.md`). To include subfolders, add patterns to a `solipsist.yaml` in
the same folder:

```yaml
md_search_paths:
  - "*.md"
  - docs/**/*.md
```

It never lists files in dot-folders, in `node_modules`, or anything git ignores.

## Command line

```text
bun ~/solipsist/src/index.ts [--config <file>] [--print-config] [--version] [--help]
```

Everything else is a setting. See the [command line reference](https://solipsist.sh/docs/reference/cli/) and
[configuration](https://solipsist.sh/docs/reference/configuration/).

## Updating

```bash
cd ~/solipsist && git pull && bun install
```

Restart the server afterwards. If a page was saved by a newer build than the one you're running, it opens read-only,
so an older build can't mess up a format it doesn't know.

Source: https://solipsist.sh/docs/start/install/