Get started with PortalJS
Looking for the classic framework docs?
These are the docs for the new AI-native PortalJS. The original
open-source framework guide still lives at /opensource and is
not going away.
PortalJS is the AI-native framework for building data portals. A data portal is a site that lists your datasets, renders each one as a page — tables, charts, maps — and (optionally) connects to a catalog backend like CKAN.
PortalJS gives you two things:
- A lightweight, customizable template — plain Next.js + Tailwind + React, no heavy component library to fight.
- A set of agentic skills — Claude Code commands that do the assembly:
/portaljs-new-portal,/portaljs-add-dataset,/portaljs-add-chart,/portaljs-add-map,/portaljs-connect-ckan,/portaljs-deploy.
You describe the portal you want; your AI assistant scaffolds it, loads your data, generates pages, and wires up a backend. Everything it writes is plain, editable code you own — no magic runtime, no lock-in.
Because the output is an ordinary Next.js project, hand-editing isn't a separate path — scaffold with the skills, then open any file and change it directly, whenever you like.
What's next
- Quickstart — go from nothing to a live portal with your data in a few minutes.
- Core concepts — the four ideas that shape PortalJS: lightweight template + skills, plain editable code, decoupled by default, and bring-your-own-stack.