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Getting Started

The shortest path from new account to a working Actual machine

3 min readMarkdown7 sectionsopen computers →

Actual runs models on computers you control. Install and authorize a computer, start Actual, download a model, then load it before using Chat or the API.

Compatibility#

Platform	Architecture	GPU backend
macOS	Apple Silicon (M1 or later, ARM64)	Metal
Linux	x86_64	NVIDIA CUDA or AMD ROCm
Linux	ARM64, including DGX Spark	NVIDIA CUDA
Windows	x86_64	NVIDIA CUDA or AMD ROCm

Intel Macs and Windows ARM64 are not supported by the public builds. Check the platform guide for the required tools and GPU runtime. A published build does not mean every model or combination of computers supports distributed inference.

First working model#

Sign in to actual.inc, or create an account.
Open Computers and choose Add lead computer.
Copy the command for your platform and run it on that computer within 10 minutes. Treat the command as a credential.
Open a fresh terminal, run actual --version, then actual whoami. If login is incomplete, run actual login and open the exact device URL it prints. A valid code is authorized automatically after sign-in.
Run actual to start the background daemon, then actual status. Confirm the computer appears online in Computers.
Choose a model from Models or the registry, download it, and wait for installation to finish. A fresh installation may have no models.
Run actual models list, then actual models load to choose an installed model. Wait until actual status reports the expected loaded model.
Open Console > Chat, select the cluster and model, and send a message. Chat uses your signed-in session.
For an external application, create a credential in User > Keys and follow API Quickstart.

See Model Discovery for download commands, progress, cancellation, and loading from the website.

Choose your installation guide#

Machine Installation explains credentials, startup, and recovery.
Set Up on macOS covers Apple Silicon Macs.
Set Up on Linux covers workstations and servers, including Spark.
Set Up on Windows covers PowerShell installation.

Find your way around#

Surface	Use
Computers	Install computers, inspect their state, and manage clusters.
Chat	Send messages to a loaded model.
Hermes	Use an agent with files and tools, or connect your terminal installation.
Hermes Desktop	Connect the native app to an Actual computer's managed workspace.
Models	Browse models and queue downloads to eligible clusters.
User > Settings	Manage profile, security, connected accounts, and mining.
User > Keys	Create and terminate API credentials.
Docs	Read guides and API reference material.

Organizations let people share access to computers. Sharing a computer or placing devices under one account does not itself create a distributed inference cluster.

More than one computer#

Bare actual starts a standalone node. Signing into the same account does not automatically configure distributed execution. See Clustering to select and verify the computers used by an API request.

Setup with an agent#

Point your agent at agents.actual.inc, llms.txt, or the longer llms-full.txt. You complete device authorization in your browser; the agent can then inspect status, download and load a model, and test inference.

Online platform and relay use require an authorized device. Explicit actual --offline provides local standalone operation without relay, telemetry, or LAN clustering; it can start idle, but inference still needs an installed model.

If setup stops short#

An installed CLI is not proof that a model is serving. Check actual whoami, actual status, and actual models list in that order. An empty inventory needs a download; an installed model needs loading; an offline device needs its daemon and connection restored. See Logs & Telemetry.