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

# Quickstart

> Make your first Yertle API call in five minutes.

This guide walks you through authenticating, listing your organizations, and reading a node from the Yertle API.

## 1. Get an account

Sign up at [yertle.com](https://yertle.com) and create or join an organization. Make note of your email and password — you'll use them to authenticate.

## 2. Authenticate

Yertle uses Cognito-issued JWT bearer tokens. The simplest way to get one is via the [Yertle CLI](/tools/cli):

```bash theme={null}
brew tap model-context/yertle
brew install yertle
yertle auth login
```

This stores your access token at `~/.yertle/config.json`. You can extract it with:

```bash theme={null}
cat ~/.yertle/config.json | jq -r '.auth.access_token'
```

For details on doing this without the CLI, see the [Authentication guide](/authentication).

## 3. Make your first API call

List the organizations you belong to:

```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.yertle.com/organizations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $YERTLE_TOKEN"
```

You should see a JSON response with your orgs:

```json theme={null}
{
  "organizations": [
    {
      "id": "ed411977-...",
      "name": "Acme Inc.",
      "role": "owner"
    }
  ]
}
```

## 4. Read a node

Pick an org ID and a node ID from your workspace, then fetch the complete state:

```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.yertle.com/orgs/{org_id}/nodes/{node_id}/tree/main/complete \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $YERTLE_TOKEN"
```

This returns the full node with parents, children, connections, tags, directories, and visual properties.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Core Concepts" icon="book" href="/concepts">
    Understand the Git-like model behind the API.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Reference" icon="code" href="/api-reference/overview">
    Browse every endpoint.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>