Install

The detailed install notes behind the quickstarts: what each command does, what lands where, and what to do when one of them misbehaves.

Turning a machine into a Core is two separate acts. Installing is not activating: install.sh puts the Core bundle and the actana CLI on the machine and stops; actana setup turns the machine into a Core. Then you enroll a Panel or a CLI with a one-time pairing code.

There is one actana. The command that installs and operates a Core is the same command that drives Cores — from the tarball or from npm i -g @actana/cli. A Core installed here is already in this machine's registry.

flowchart LR
  install["install.sh"] --> setup["actana setup"]
  setup --> pair["actana pair new"]
  pair --> panel["Panel Add a Core"]

In this section

• Install Core — the one-liner, what it verifies, platform notes for Linux and macOS, and why Windows cannot host a Core natively.
• Actana Setup — the activation step: service unit, identity, --public-host, harness prompts.
• Panel Installation — deploy the Panel: Docker or bare Node, configuration, TLS in front, backup and upgrade.
• Installing a Beta — beta trains, what pins and what tracks.
• Windows — the CLI is the only native component; the mapping for everything else.
• Troubleshooting — the usual install failures and their one-line fixes.

Operating a Core after install — status, logs, update, rotate, uninstall — is Operating a Core.