Onboarding walkthrough
Carina guides new installs through a short first-run flow. You can run it explicitly or let the CLI prompt you on first launch.
Start onboarding
carina onboard
Useful flags:
| Flag | Purpose |
|---|---|
--skip-setup | Skip interactive questions |
--skip-gateway | Do not start the gateway daemon |
--skip-doctor | Skip health checks at the end |
--install-daemon | Register a systemd user service (Linux) |
--json | Machine-readable output |
What onboarding covers
- Identity - Your name and what you are building (stored in
~/.carina/) - Provider - Choose a default LLM provider and paste an API key
- Memory - Optional Postgres connection for episodic memory
- Gateway - Optional channel gateway startup
- Doctor - Runs
carina doctorto confirm the install is healthy
First message
After onboarding, send a test message:
carina "Hello, confirm you can hear me."
Or open the Ink TUI:
carina
With no active session, the TUI shows the launcher first; press c to start chat.
Cloud onboarding
On app.carinaai.uk, sign up, add at least one BYOK key under Settings > API keys, then use the launcher to resume work or start a new chat.
Agencies and resellers: follow the White-label getting started path for brand settings, client handoff, and partner tiers. The in-app setup checklist on the launcher mirrors those steps.
Scout pairing (optional): Settings > Security or the security dashboard.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Fix |
|---|---|
| Doctor reports missing provider key | Re-run carina onboard or set keys in ~/.carina/.env |
| Gateway will not start | Check port conflicts; see Gateway hardening |
| Memory backend unavailable | Install Postgres + pgvector or run without episodic memory |