> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.litejoin.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Install LiteJoin and run your first pipeline in 5 minutes.

# Quickstart

This guide gets you from zero to a running LiteJoin pipeline in under 5 minutes. You'll poll a public API, detect changes, and forward them to a local webhook.

## Prerequisites

* **Go 1.24+** with CGO enabled (for SQLite)
* A C compiler (`gcc` or `clang`)

## Install

```bash theme={null}
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/litejoin/litejoin.git
cd litejoin

# Build the binary
CGO_ENABLED=1 go build -o litejoin ./cmd/litejoin
```

## Create a Pipeline Config

Create a file called `litejoin.yaml`:

```yaml theme={null}
sources:
  # Poll the USGS earthquake API every 30 seconds
  - name: earthquakes
    type: api
    topic: quakes
    api:
      url: "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/feed/v1.0/summary/all_hour.geojson"
      interval: 30s
      key_path: "id"
      response_path: "features"
      change_detection: diff

sinks:
  # Stream results via Server-Sent Events
  - type: sse
    name: dashboard
    config:
      addr: ":9100"

joins:
  - name: significant-quakes
    query: |
      SELECT
        key as quake_id,
        json_extract(payload, '$.properties.mag') as magnitude,
        json_extract(payload, '$.properties.place') as location,
        json_extract(payload, '$.properties.time') as event_time
      FROM quakes
      WHERE json_extract(payload, '$.properties.mag') >= 2.5
        AND timestamp > (strftime('%s', 'now') - 3600)
    sink: dashboard

storage:
  shard_count: 4
  data_dir: ./data

retention:
  duration: 24h
```

## Run

```bash theme={null}
./litejoin run -c litejoin.yaml
```

You'll see output like:

```
litejoin: starting engine with 1 sources, 1 sinks, 1 joins
api-source earthquakes: first poll — 12 records ingested
sse-sink dashboard: listening on :9100
```

## See Results

Open a terminal and subscribe to the SSE stream:

```bash theme={null}
curl -N http://localhost:9100/subscribe?join=significant-quakes
```

Or fetch a snapshot of current results:

```bash theme={null}
curl http://localhost:9100/snapshot?join=significant-quakes | jq
```

Every time the USGS data changes — new earthquake, updated magnitude — LiteJoin emits the enriched result.

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="LiteJoin Studio" icon="desktop" href="/getting-started/studio">
    Build pipelines visually with the desktop app.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Source Guide" icon="bolt" href="/sources/api-source">
    Configure watermarks, pagination, and change detection.
  </Card>

  <Card title="SQL Joins" icon="code" href="/pipelines/joins">
    Learn how to join data across multiple sources.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deployment" icon="server" href="/getting-started/deploying">
    Run LiteJoin in Docker, systemd, or Kubernetes.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>