Quickstart
Write and deploy your first form in 5 minutes.
This guide covers the fastest path from zero to a live public form.
Prerequisites
- Node.js 18+
- A Motivation Form account — sign up
- An API key from your account settings
1. Create a form
Call the REST API with your API key:
curl https://app.form.gold/api/forms \
-X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"title": "Contact Us",
"slug": "contact",
"notifications": {
"email": ["you@example.com"],
"subject": "New contact from {field:name}"
},
"humanness": true,
"fields": [
{ "id": "name", "type": "text", "label": "Your name", "required": true, "placeholder": "Jane Smith" },
{ "id": "email", "type": "email", "label": "Email address", "required": true, "placeholder": "jane@example.com" },
{ "id": "message", "type": "textarea", "label": "Message", "required": true, "placeholder": "What would you like to say?" }
]
}'The response includes public_url and short_url when available.
2. Share the URL
Send https://form.gold/acme/contact to respondents. Responses arrive in your inbox and are stored in your dashboard.
Next steps
- Add more field types — radio, file upload, date, and more
- Customize branding with your logo and brand color
- Set up MCP integration so an agent can create and manage forms for you
- Review the CLI command reference for the upcoming npm package