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How to install Umbraco 18 and create your first site

Install the .NET 10 SDK and the Umbraco templates, create a new Umbraco 18 project with SQLite, and log in to the backoffice for the first time. About 10 minutes.

6 min read Umbraco 18 Updated 29 October 2026

What you'll need

  • The .NET 10 SDK. Check with dotnet --version in a terminal; you should see 10.0 or higher. If not, download it from dot.net.
  • A code editor such as Visual Studio, Rider or VS Code.
  • About 10 minutes.

You don't need a database server. Umbraco can run on SQLite, a single file that lives inside your project. You can move to SQL Server later.

Step 1: Install the Umbraco templates

Terminal
dotnet new install Umbraco.Templates

This adds the umbraco project template to the .NET CLI. Run it again whenever you want the latest version.

Step 2: Create your project

Terminal
dotnet new umbraco -n MySite --development-database-type SQLite
cd MySite

Want to skip the installer screen? Add an admin user up front:

Terminal
dotnet new umbraco -n MySite --development-database-type SQLite \
  --friendly-name "Site Admin" --email "admin@example.com" --password "Use-a-long-passphrase-1!"

Step 3: Run it

Terminal
dotnet run

The terminal shows the address, for example https://localhost:44360. Open it in your browser.

  • Without the admin options, you'll see the installer. Enter your name, email and a password, then choose Install.
  • With them, Umbraco installs itself and shows a "no published content" welcome page.

Step 4: Log in to the backoffice

Go to /umbraco, for example https://localhost:44360/umbraco, and log in. This is the backoffice, where editors manage content and developers configure the site.

The main sections are:

  • Content: your pages.
  • Media: images and files.
  • Settings: document types, data types, templates and more.
  • Members: website users, if your site has logins.

What's in the project?

  • Program.cs starts Umbraco.
  • appsettings.json holds settings for all environments, and appsettings.Development.json holds settings for your machine.
  • Views/ holds your Razor templates.
  • wwwroot/ holds CSS, JavaScript and images. Uploaded media goes in wwwroot/media.
  • umbraco/Data/Umbraco.sqlite.db is your SQLite database.

Next steps

Create your first document type and page in Document types, compositions and templates.

Need a hand?

umbraco.ninja has more than 20 years of Umbraco experience. If you'd rather not do this yourself, we'll set it up, test it and hand it over.

Get a fixed-price quote