Quickstart

Prerequisites

• A cStar account with a team created
• An API key from your team settings
• Node.js 22+ (for the CLI and server-side SDK)

1. Grab an API key

Open your team settings and choose API Keys to create a key. Then use it to sign in to the cStar CLI:

# Install the CLI
npm install -g @cstar.help/cli

# Sign in with your existing key
cstar login --api-key sk_test_your_key_here
cstar status

The CLI saves your key locally so later commands can use it.

2. Install the SDK

npm install @cstar.help/js

React or Svelte? Grab the matching package instead:

# React
npm install @cstar.help/react

# Svelte
npm install @cstar.help/svelte

3. Seed sample data

Empty workspaces are no fun to test against. cstar seed populates your team with realistic help-center content so the next steps have something to read:

# Make sure you're logged in first (step 1 above)
cstar seed

You should see output like this:

Seeding help center for team "acme"
Environment: test
Template: helpdesk
────────────────────────────
✨ Categories:  5 created
✨ Articles:   12 created (11 published, 1 draft)
✨ Customers:   3 created
✨ Tickets:     5 created (with 13 messages)
────────────────────────────
✨ Seed complete!

This creates 5 categories, 12 articles, 3 sample customers, and 5 tickets with messages. The data goes into your test or live environment depending on which API key you used with cstar login. Test keys (sk_test_*) create test data, and live keys (sk_live_*) create live data.

4. Make your first request

This example runs on your server with Node.js 22+. Keep the secret key out of browser code.

import { CStarClient } from '@cstar.help/js';

const cstar = new CStarClient({
  apiKey: 'sk_test_your_key_here',
  teamId: 'your-team-id' // from cstar status
});

// List the articles you just seeded
const { data: articles } = await cstar.articles.list({
  status: 'published'
});

console.log(`Found ${articles.length} published articles`);
// → Found 11 published articles

// List your category names
const { data: categories } = await cstar.categories.list();

for (const cat of categories) {
  console.log(cat.name);
}
// → Getting Started
// → Account & Billing
// → ...

node index.mjs

Don't know your team ID? Run cstar status or call GET /api/v1/auth/whoami.

5. Build a help center

Got data, got a working call. Pick a framework and follow the walkthrough to wire categories, articles, search, and chat into a real UI.