# Quick Start Guide

- Section: Documentation > Getting Started > Quick Start Guide
- Canonical: https://covdbg.com/docs/getting-started/quick-start/

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New to covdbg? We have you covered! This guide will help you get started with installing and using covdbg for code coverage analysis on Windows.
We have prepared a [Quick Start Guide](https://github.com/liasoft/quick-start) that walks you through building a sample application, and collecting coverage data step-by-step.

## About the Quick Start Guide

The [quick-start repository](https://github.com/liasoft/quick-start) contains everything you need to learn covdbg hands-on:

| File/Folder | Description |
|-------------|-------------|
| `README.md` | Step-by-step instructions for building and running the sample |
| `CMakeLists.txt` | CMake build configuration for the sample project |
| `.covdbg.yaml` | Example covdbg configuration file with recommended settings |
| `src/` | Sample C++ source files to demonstrate coverage collection |

Clone the repository and follow the README to build the sample application, run tests under covdbg, and generate your first coverage report.

## What's Next?

* **Refine filters**: See [Configuration Reference](/docs/reference/configuration/) for advanced patterns
* **Automate in CI**: Set up [GitHub Actions](/docs/integrations/github-actions/) for automated coverage
* **Merge runs**: Use `covdbg merge` to combine coverage from multiple test runs
* **Analyze uncovered code**: Use `covdbg analyze` to include unexecuted code in reports
* **Review in the browser**: Export an [HTML report](/docs/guides/html-reports/) to read execution counts next to the source
* **Let an AI agent help**: Connect your coding agent to the [MCP server](/docs/integrations/mcp/), or start from the [AI quick start](/docs/getting-started/ai-quick-start/)

## Quick Reference

| Task | Command |
|------|---------|
| Run coverage | `covdbg --config .covdbg.yaml --output out.covdb tests.exe` |
| Export LCOV | `covdbg convert -i out.covdb -f LCOV -o coverage.lcov` |
| Export GCOV | `covdbg convert -i out.covdb -f GCOV -o ./gcov/` |
| Export HTML | `covdbg convert -i out.covdb -f HTML -o coverage-html` |
| Merge databases | `covdbg merge -i a.covdb -i b.covdb -o merged.covdb` |
| Analyze binary | `covdbg analyze -i app.exe -o symbols.covdb` |
| Serve MCP to an AI agent | `covdbg mcp` |

See the [CLI Reference](/docs/reference/cli-reference/) for complete command documentation.