> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.andhowconfig.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://www.andhowconfig.org/user-guide.md).

# User Guide

### First time here?

Before diving into the docs, you may want to try out the [Live-Code Quickstart](/live-code-quickstart.md) to try out AndHow right in the browser window.

If you are ready to move on from that, here is a suggested learning path:

* [Key Concepts](/user-guide/key-concepts.md) - Key points to know about what AndHow is and does
* [AndHow Properties](/user-guide/andhow-properties.md) - 90% of using AndHow is creating and using Properties
* [Loaders & Load Order](/user-guide/loaders-and-load-order.md#default-configuration-source-loading-order) - The first section contains the order AndHow loads values from configuration sources
* [Best Practices](/user-guide/best-practices.md) - Get the most out of AndHow and your application

After that, try incorporating AndHow into a project, or fork one of the [sample projects](https://github.com/eeverman/andhow-samples).  

Two other user guide sections are foundational, but can be read after you've had some time to work with AndHow:

* [AndHow Initialization](/user-guide/andhow-initialization.md) - How AndHow startup up, configures itself, and your application
* [Configuring AndHow](/user-guide/configuring-andhow.md) - How to configure AndHow before AndHow configures you(r application)

Other sections of the user guide are reference.