> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://brightercommand.gitbook.io/paramore-brighter-documentation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://brightercommand.gitbook.io/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/getstarted.md).

# Get Started with Brighter

Brighter's tutorials are a ladder: four rungs, each one a working application, each one adding a single capability to the rung below it.

> **Tutorial** · Applies to **Brighter V10**

Brighter's tutorials are a ladder: four rungs, each one a working application, each one adding a single capability to the rung below it. You start with a request dispatched to a handler inside one process, and finish with a partitioned Kafka stream shared out across two copies of the same consumer. Every rung runs, and every rung is code another one builds on.

## The Brighter Tutorial Ladder

| Rung                                                                                                        | What you add                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | About      | Needs Docker          |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | --------------------- |
| [1. Your First Command](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/tutorialfirstcommand.md)               | a [command](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#command), a [handler](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#handler), and the [Command Processor](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#command-processor) that connects them | 10 minutes | no                    |
| [2. Your First Message Over a Broker](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/tutorialfirstmessage.md) | a second process, RabbitMQ between the two, and an [event](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#event) that crosses it                                                                                                                                           | 20 minutes | RabbitMQ              |
| [3. Adding a Durable Outbox](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/tutorialdurableoutbox.md)         | Postgres, one transaction covering your data *and* the message, and the [Sweeper](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#sweeper) that dispatches it afterwards                                                                                                    | 25 minutes | RabbitMQ and Postgres |
| [4. Streaming with Kafka](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/tutorialstreamingwithkafka.md)       | Kafka in place of RabbitMQ, a topic split into [partitions](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#partition), and a [consumer group](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#consumer-group) that divides them between two processes               | 30 minutes | Kafka                 |

Those times are mostly reading and typing. The machine work — creating projects, restoring packages, building — was measured on a clean machine with an empty NuGet package cache at **11 seconds** for rung 1, **23 seconds** for rung 2, **9.2 seconds** to add rung 3's packages plus **1.3 seconds** to build, and **5.2 seconds** to swap rung 4's package plus **3.1 seconds** to build. Pulling the Docker images the first time takes longer and depends on your connection.

The rungs join up like this:

* **Rung 1 stands alone.** One console project, no broker, nothing to install but the SDK.
* **Rung 2 starts a fresh solution** of three projects: a shared class library, a sender and a receiver.
* **Rung 3 keeps rung 2's solution** and changes only the sender. If you intend to do rung 3, do not delete rung 2's work.
* **Rung 4 branches from rung 2 as well, not from rung 3.** A durable Outbox and a partitioned transport are independent choices, so rung 4 swaps rung 2's broker and leaves its plain `Post` alone. Because rung 3 edits rung 2's sender in place, copy that solution aside before you start rung 4 — or rebuild its three projects.

Start at rung 1. If you already know how a request reaches a handler, rung 2 is the first one with a broker in it — but it assumes rung 1's vocabulary rather than repeating it. Rungs 3 and 4 can be taken in either order.

## What You Need Installed for the Ladder

* **The .NET 9 SDK.** Check with `dotnet --version`.
* **Docker Desktop**, for rungs 2, 3 and 4. Rung 1 is deliberately in-process.
* **Free ports**: **5672** and **15672** for RabbitMQ on rungs 2 and 3, **5432** for Postgres on rung 3, and **9092** for Kafka on rung 4. If something else is already listening, the container starts and your application does not connect.

Every `Paramore.Brighter*` package these pages install is pinned to the same version, so every `dotnet add package` line you will meet has this shape:

```bash
dotnet add package Paramore.Brighter --version 10.7.0
```

Those pins are checked against NuGet on every pull request and once a day, so the versions these pages name are versions that still exist. Each rung also repeats what it needs in its own *Before You Start* section — nothing here has to be remembered.

## Just Want to See Brighter Code?

There are two front doors, and they answer different questions. [Show me the code!](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/showmethecode.md) is the two-minute look at what Brighter and Darker code reads like: types, attributes and calls, with nothing to install. The ladder is for building something that runs. If you are evaluating Brighter, start with *Show me the code!*; if you have decided to use it, start at rung 1.

## Where to Go After the Ladder

The ladder teaches by building, and it deliberately takes the shortest path through every choice. When you want the choices themselves:

* **Configure it properly.** [Basic Configuration](/paramore-brighter-documentation/brighter-configuration/brighterbasicconfiguration.md) covers what `AddBrighter()`, `AddProducers()` and `AddConsumers()` accept beyond the defaults these pages used, and each transport has its own reference page — [RabbitMQ](/paramore-brighter-documentation/transports/rabbitmqconfiguration.md) and [Kafka](/paramore-brighter-documentation/transports/kafkaconfiguration.md) are the two the ladder configured.
* **Understand why it works that way.** [The Task Queue Pattern](/paramore-brighter-documentation/understanding-brighter/taskqueuepattern.md) and [Outbox Pattern Support](/paramore-brighter-documentation/understanding-brighter/outboxpattern.md) explain the two patterns rungs 2 and 3 built, and [Reactor and Proactor](/paramore-brighter-documentation/understanding-brighter/reactorandproactor.md) explains the concurrency model behind the [message pump](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md#message-pump) that rung 4 leans on for its ordering.
* **Take it to production.** [Brighter Outbox Support](/paramore-brighter-documentation/outbox-and-inbox/brighteroutboxsupport.md) and [Transactional Messaging with the Outbox](/paramore-brighter-documentation/outbox-and-inbox/transactionalmessagingwiththeoutbox.md) pick up where rung 3 stops, with an Inbox on the consuming side.
* **Query the other side.** Darker is Brighter's query half — [CQRS with Brighter and Darker](/paramore-brighter-documentation/understanding-brighter/cqrswithbrighteranddarker.md) is where that story starts.

## Further Reading

* [Why Brighter?](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/whybrighter.md) — the case for the framework, before any code
* [Basic Concepts](/paramore-brighter-documentation/get-started/basicconcepts.md) — commands, events and requests, defined in one place
* [Glossary](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/glossary.md) — every term these tutorials link, and the rest
* [FAQ](/paramore-brighter-documentation/reference/faq.md) — the questions that come up once the ladder is behind you


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