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Your First Pod

Get a Solid pod running and store your first data. Takes about 15 minutes.

What You'll Build​

By the end of this guide, you'll have:

  • A running Solid pod
  • A WebID (your identity)
  • Data stored in your pod
  • Understanding of basic pod operations

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 18+ installed
  • A terminal

Step 1: Start Sandymount​

The fastest way to get a pod is Sandymount:

npx sandymount

You'll see the SAND banner and status:

  ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  S  Solid        ✓ enabled         │
  │  A  ActivityPub  ○ --activitypub   │
  │  N  Nostr        ✓ enabled         │
  │  D  DID          ✓ enabled (IdP)   │
  └────────────────────────────────────┘

  Port: 5420  Data: ./data  Git: ✓  UI: classic

Your pod is now running at http://localhost:5420/.

Step 2: Open SolidOS​

Open your browser to http://localhost:5420/.

You'll see the SolidOS data browser — a visual interface for your pod.

Step 3: Create an Account​

  1. Click "Log in" or "Sign up"
  2. Since you're running your own IdP, you can create an account
  3. Choose a username and password
  4. Your WebID is created: http://localhost:5420/profile/card#me

Step 4: Explore Your Pod​

Your pod has a file structure:

http://localhost:5420/
├── profile/
│   └── card           # Your WebID profile
├── public/            # Publicly accessible folder
├── private/           # Private folder
└── settings/          # App settings

Click around in SolidOS to see your data.

Step 5: Create a Resource​

Let's create a simple note using the command line:

curl -X PUT http://localhost:5420/public/note.txt \
  -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
  -d "Hello, Solid!"

Now visit http://localhost:5420/public/note.txt — there's your data!

Step 6: Create Linked Data​

Solid really shines with Linked Data. Let's create a Turtle file:

curl -X PUT http://localhost:5420/public/me.ttl \
  -H "Content-Type: text/turtle" \
  -d '@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
<#me> a foaf:Person ;
    foaf:name "Your Name" ;
    foaf:interest <https://solidproject.org> .'

Visit http://localhost:5420/public/me.ttl to see it rendered.

Step 7: Read Data Programmatically​

Using JavaScript:

// Fetch Turtle data
const response = await fetch('http://localhost:5420/public/me.ttl', {
  headers: { 'Accept': 'text/turtle' }
});
const turtle = await response.text();
console.log(turtle);

Or request JSON-LD:

const response = await fetch('http://localhost:5420/public/me.ttl', {
  headers: { 'Accept': 'application/ld+json' }
});
const jsonld = await response.json();
console.log(jsonld);

What's Next?​

You now have a working Solid pod! From here:

Troubleshooting​

Port already in use​

sandymount --port 3000

Permission denied​

Make sure you're authenticated when accessing protected resources.

Data not appearing​

Check the Content-Type header matches your data format.