# About

This section contains short guides on Garden's main concepts and on how to configure Garden projects. These guides are very useful for those getting started with Garden, but also for those who need to brush up on these concepts (or who haven't started using them).

Each guide serves as a standalone introduction to the concept but we still recommend that you go through them in order.

There's no need to finish them all at once though. By adding a [project configuration](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/projects) and [actions](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/actions) you can already deploy your project with Garden. You can then come back when you're ready to add [tests](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/tests), [runs](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/runs) and [workflows](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/workflows).

The [Using the CLI guide](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/using-the-cli) offers helpful information on how to use the CLI in your day-to-day. In fact, if you're starting with Garden but your team has already configured the project, you might want to skip directly to that.

## [Configuration Overview](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/configuration-overview)

This guide introduces the very overview of Garden configuration.

## [Projects](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/projects)

The first step to using Garden is to create a project-level `garden.yml` configuration file. You'll learn how in this guide.

## [Actions](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/actions)

Since Garden `0.13`, actions have become the default **building block** of Garden projects. These represent the steps needed to build, deploy and test your project (and the dependencies between them). In this guide you'll learn how to describe your system with actions that Garden can process and execute in dependency order.

## [Tests](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/tests)

This guide shows you how Garden can run your tests for you.

## [Runs](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/runs)

This guide shows you how to use the Run action type, for example to execute database migrations.

## [Config Templates](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/config-templates)

This guide shows you how to create custom templates and define templated actions.

## [Workflows](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/workflows)

This guide introduces *workflows*, which are simple sequences of Garden commands and/or custom scripts. You can use workflows in CI, as well as during development.

## [Using the CLI](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/using-the-cli)

This guide covers the basic usage of the CLI, with usage examples, and some common day-to-day usage tips.

## [Variables and Templating](https://docs.garden.io/bonsai-0.13/using-garden/variables-and-templating)

Garden features powerful templating capabilities. This guide shows in detail how you can use templating across your project and module configuration.