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ArchitectureUpdated: 2026-09-08

AI Search quickstart: 5-minute local dev environment

The shortest path to getting AI Search running — a minimal starting point for first-time users.

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Quick answer

What are the hard requirements for FAQPage structured data?

Every Question needs an acceptedAnswer, and the Q&A must be truthful and verifiable. Fabricated answers get downranked by ChatGPT Search and Perplexity.

Machine-readable page data: /data/ai-search-quickstart.json

In-depth analysis

AI search engines prefer structured Q&A (FAQPage) and a clear content hierarchy; plain prose rarely gets cited as the answer. The fastest path to a win is one command to scaffold, start dev, edit a line, and see hot reload.

AI Search · Config example
// FAQPage node: feeds Perplexity / ChatGPT Search with answer pairs
{ "@type":"FAQPage", "mainEntity": [
  { "@type":"Question", "name":"...",
    "acceptedAnswer": { "@type":"Answer", "text":"..." } }
] }
Best practices:Pin the runtime first (Node ≥ 20.19 + pnpm). One command to scaffold, start dev, edit a line, see hot reload — fastest path to positive feedback.
Pitfalls:FAQPage answers must be truthful and verifiable — fabricated answers get downranked by AI engines. The homepage should expose an ItemList so engines can map your site's content structure. Pin the runtime first (Node ≥ 20.19 + pnpm), get the toolchain smooth, then go deep — never hand-roll the directory layout.

AI Search Quickstart · Key takeaways

  • Node ≥ 20.19 and pnpm ready
  • Official scaffold initialized
  • Dev hot reload works
  • First local page reached

FAQ & pitfalls

What happens when the homepage does not expose an ItemList?

AI engines struggle to understand the matrix structure and citations scatter. Add an ItemList on the homepage so engines can build a page relationship graph.

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What readers are asking

Questions that keep coming back in reader feedback, already answered.

  1. 01
    What are the hard requirements for FAQPage structured data?

    Every Question needs an acceptedAnswer, and the Q&A must be real and verifiable — fabricated answers get downweighted by ChatGPT Search / Perplexity.

    See the full guide →
  2. 02
    Why is my Astro component's interactivity not working?

    Components ship as zero-JS HTML by default, so an interactive one needs a client:* directive (client:load, client:visible, …). Without it the script is never bundled into the page.

    See the full guide →
  3. 03
    Why is my custom Tailwind v4 brand colour not applied?

    Colours must be declared in @theme (for example --color-brand). A missing @tailwindcss/vite plugin, or a leftover v3 config, makes bg-brand silently render nothing.

    See the full guide →
All questions →

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