Quick start: your first instance

This page takes you from nothing to an SSH session on your first instance, with the ghost command-line client on an x86-64 Linux machine. Each step links to the page that explains it in full.

1. Install ghost.

   curl -fsSL https://api.gigahost.cloud/install/ghost.sh | sh
   ghost --version

   ghost --version prints the installed release. The script needs curl, jq, and openssl, and installs ghost as ~/.local/bin/ghost; it tells you if ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH. Install

2. Create the account key and back it up.

   ghost key generate
   ghost key inspect

   The account key is your account: there is no email or password. ghost key generate stores it as a seed file, by default ~/.config/ghost/account.seed. ghost key inspect prints your deposit_memo among the public identities. Accounts and security

   Back up the seed file offline now

   Gigahost cannot reconstruct the account key. Losing every copy can make encrypted hosted backups permanently unrecoverable, and anyone who obtains it can control the account.

3. Fund the account.

   ghost account activation-terms

   Send MMX to the returned address with your exact 16-character deposit_memo, at least the returned minimum, and wait for the confirmations it names. Funding your account says what MMX is and how a deposit is credited.

   No MMX yet? ghost account trial makes an account with a trial credit by signing in with GitHub, and replaces steps 3 and 4. Start with a free trial

4. Activate the account.

   ghost account activate
   ghost account show

   Activation gives the account its alias, such as gh-k3m7p2qa, and credits your deposits; ghost account show then shows the account. If the newest payment has not been recorded yet, wait briefly and run ghost account activate again; a retry is safe. Activate the account

5. Save your SSH public key.

   ghost account ssh-keys add --label laptop --file ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

   Pass the public key, the .pub file. Every new instance gets the saved keys. SSH keys

6. Find an offering and an image.

   ghost catalog offerings --min-vcpu 2
   ghost catalog images

   Copy an offering’s ID, of2_ and 22 more characters, and an image’s slug, such as debian-13. The list shows each offering’s host mode (cloud_routed or home_gateway), size, monthly price and traffic price. Find and rent an instance

7. Create the instance.

   ghost instance create --offering <OFFERING_ID> --image debian-13 --wait

   For a home_gateway offering add a gateway tier, such as --gateway-tier shared_bandwidth. Before it creates anything, ghost prints the creation fee, the balance hold and the prices. The command ends with a line on stderr such as instance ID (HOSTNAME) is running at ADDRESS. Rent an instance

8. Connect.

   ssh root@ADDRESS

   Log in as root: the image’s usual default user, such as ubuntu or debian, is not set up. An instance with a Shared IP ends step 7 with the SSH command to use instead, such as ssh -p 1020 root@203.0.113.7. Connect with SSH

9. Log in to the website.

   ghost account login

   Open the returned login_url before it expires. The website shows your instance under Instances. Log in to the website

Next steps

• Back up the instance, hosted off the host or local on it.
• Choose its network: Dedicated IP or Shared IP, gateways, ports and bandwidth.
• Manage it: power, console, reinstall and upgrade.
• When you no longer need it, delete the instance to stop paying: a stopped instance is still billed.

Keep a balance

When your balance reaches zero, Gigahost stops and deletes your instances and deletes your other backups, after making a final recovery backup where capacity is available. If your balance runs low says what happens and when.

Provide capacity

Every account can host instances as well as rent them. The website’s Provider page shows an account without hosts how to start, and Provider › Add a host (/provider/hosts/new) has the steps that add a host, from installing the agent through the enrollment token to setting what it earns and opening it for rentals. Start with the shared hypervisor setup, then choose the network mode that matches the host:

• Home mode works behind NAT and does not require a dedicated public address or an inbound port.
• Cloud mode is for servers with additional public IPv4 addresses, which a router VM on the host routes to its instances.

The mode is selected when the host is enrolled. A role change requires a new host identity; the previous record is retained for tenant history.