The simple-to-complex ladder. Start at the level that matches what you already know — each rung takes 5-30 minutes and leaves you with a real working result.
The /asd/learn/ ladder is sequential by design, but you can drop in
at any rung where the prerequisites match what you already know.
Each page has a "You need: X" prereq box at the top + an
"Already know this rung? Skip to " pointer.
If you're not sure where to start: 00-start-here is
the decision aid. Q&A that routes you to the right level based on
what you already know about reverse proxies, tunnels, asd, and your
specific needs.
If you're impatient: start at Level 1.
| Level | Page | What you build | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Start here | Decision aid (not a tutorial) | 2 min |
| 1 | Hello world | One command, public HTTPS URL | 5 min |
| 2 | Your first service | Stable subdomain, manifest in git | 10 min |
| 3 | Multiple services | Two services, one apply | 10 min |
| 4 | Multi-environment | dev / test / prod side by side | 15 min |
| 5 | Add authentication | Basic auth + bypass paths | 15 min |
| 6 | Custom routing | Headers, prefix stripping, raw Caddy | 20 min |
| 7 | Build a module | Extend asd with a plugin | 30 min |
Each rung uses the six-block scenario format
(PREREQ → SETUP → RECIPE → RESULT → WHY IT WORKS → WHAT'S NEXT) so
you can scan a rung you've never seen and know exactly where to look.
Then the ladder isn't what you want — reference is:
reference/net-manifest or reference/asd-yaml.reference/cli (full surface) or reference/cli/starter (Top 7).cookbook/tunnel-a-dev-server, cookbook/put-an-api-behind-sso, cookbook/debug-a-broken-route, and others.concepts, five paragraphs.asd/cookbook — single-problem recipes (random-access how-tos).asd/compared — competitive context (vs Cloudflare / Traefik / Tailscale).asd/reference — schemas + CLI + glossary.asd/internals — how asd works under the hood.