# 🦉 The Basics
ReadMe is here to help you create an interactive developer hub that makes your APIs easy to use — and gives you visibility into API usage for better developer support. With ReadMe, your developers have the guidance they need to get started with your API quickly and easily troubleshoot issues along the way!
Part of what makes a developer hub great is great documentation, and our easy-to-use tool helps you build out that documentation, and so much more!
Each developer <<glossary:hub>> that you publish on ReadMe is considered a project. In your project, your team can add an interactive API reference, guides, a changelog, and any other documentation your developers might need. ReadMe’s intuitive editing and publishing interface allows your team to collaborate to keep everything up to date.
Just a note that we’ll often refer to “docs”, as in _“writing your docs”,_ and that’s just shorthand for documentation!
# 🏁 Quick Start
Throughout our Product Guides, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up your developer hub from A to Z. If you’re ready to dive right in, here are a few can’t-miss aspects of ReadMe:
For our top tips on building and maintaining beautiful documentation with ReadMe, head to our [Best Practices](🔗) page
To learn more about the best ReadMe setups based on the type of API you have, head to our [Use Cases Overview](🔗) page
For descriptions of ReadMe’s most high-impact features, head to our [Features Overview](🔗) page
To get comfortable with your ReadMe hub and different ways for your developers to find the docs they need when visiting your hub, head over to our [Navigating Your Hub](🔗) page
# ⚙️ Project Setup
Once you’ve got a feel for ReadMe, it’s time to jump into setting up your API and to start building out your API reference. In this section, you’ll find all of the key details on how to import an OpenAPI document — if you have one — or how to use our manual editor to describe your API. If you’re ready for this step, head over to our **Project Setup** [section](🔗)!
## Adding Documentation
Your documentation serves many purposes. Your API reference is one part of your documentation, but you can also create docs to serve as a general knowledge base. All of your documentation is written with our Markdown Editor. Learn more about how our Editor works [here](🔗). If you’re ready to jump into writing documentation, head over to the **Documentation** [section](🔗) where you can find detailed pages on the types of documentation ReadMe allows you to create!
## Using Metrics
Understanding API usage and performance is critical to your API’s success, which is why we built Metrics! After spending all this time building and documenting your API, it’s time to make sure your developers are actually using it. Jump to our **Metrics** [section](🔗) for the lowdown on how to set up Metrics and how to get the most out of it — for your team and for the developers using your API.
## Building Your Community
With ReadMe, our goal is to help you create an interactive and personalized developer hub. Let’s face it — reading API docs that are just static pages of text gets old fast, which is why with ReadMe you can turn your documentation into a dynamic conversation and build a community around it! To learn more about ReadMe’s community-focused features, head to our **Developer Community** [section](🔗).
# 🎨 Project Customization
Once you’ve added your documentation, the next step is to customize your docs, whether it’s to add design customizations to elevate the appearance of your docs, third party integrations, and/or features like <<glossary:glossary>> and <<glossary:variables>>. If you’re ready to move on to this step, head to the **Project Customization** [section](🔗).
## Account Settings
If you’re looking for support on how to manage your account, your team, and/or your projects, head over to our **Account & Settings** [section](🔗).
## Need More Support?
Looking for additional support, FAQs, or want to request a ReadMe feature? Head to our **Technical Support & Questions** [section](🔗).
# 🚀 Launching Your Project
At any point while you’re working on your project, you can preview how the pages will render live on your hub by clicking on your project name in the top left. You can also preview how individual pages will render live by clicking the link icon at the top right of the page. Just a note that you will be required to log in to preview it during the trial period of your subscription.
