First, the word "clone." In ditto.site, cloning means generating a codebase from a live URL — it is not git clone. You do not need an existing Git repository, and you do not need the target site's source code. You give ditto.site a public URL; it captures what the page renders in a browser and writes you a fresh, runnable project. (The only git clone involved is optionally cloning this tool's repository to run the compiler locally.)

Get started

I want to…	Go to
Understand what ditto.site is and see it run	Project README
Call the hosted REST API or MCP server	Project README → Usage, SERVICE.md
Turn a clone result JSON into files on disk	Repo-local unpack CLI
Run the compiler locally from the command line	compiler/README.md
Deploy the service	DEPLOY.md
Read the development & evaluation method	METHODOLOGY.md
Understand responsible-use boundaries	RESPONSIBLE_USE.md
Cut a release	RELEASING.md

API keys are secrets

Keys look like dtto_live_.... Keep them in an environment variable and reference it in commands:

export DITTO_API_KEY="dtto_live_..."
curl -sS -H "authorization: Bearer $DITTO_API_KEY" "$DITTO_API_URL/v1/clones"

Never paste a raw key inline (it leaks into shell history, logs, and chat), and never commit one. Rotate a leaked key anytime from the dashboard. See SERVICE.md for the full auth model.

The short version of the workflow

Clone a URL → POST /v1/clones (API) or npm run clone -- <url> (local CLI).
Get the app → unpack the result JSON with the repo-local unpack CLI, download the bundle?format=tgz archive, or read files from runs/<site>/latest/.
Preview it → cd into the app and npm install && npm run dev (or let the local CLI do it for you with --serve / --open).
Edit safely → each generated app ships an AGENTS.md describing what's safe to change (copy in src/app/content.ts, components in src/app/components/, etc.).

Full doc list

SERVICE.md — REST + MCP service reference (endpoints, options, env vars).
DEPLOY.md — production deployment.
METHODOLOGY.md — how the compiler is developed and evaluated.
RESPONSIBLE_USE.md — acceptable-use boundaries.
RELEASING.md — release process.
../compiler/README.md — local compiler commands.
../packages/cli/README.md — the repo-local unpack CLI.