af-setup

Alternate Clouds — first-time setup

Three steps; about 60 seconds end-to-end.

1. Install the CLI

npm install -g @alternatefutures/cli
# or:
pnpm add -g @alternatefutures/cli

Requires Node.js >= 18.18.2. Verify:

af --version

If af: command not found after install, ensure the npm global bin dir is on PATH (npm config get prefix + /bin).

2. Log in

Two methods — both result in a session token cached locally.

# Browser-based (opens the dashboard)
af login

# Or terminal-only (email magic code, no browser):
af login --email

For non-interactive / CI use, skip login by exporting a PAT:

export AF_TOKEN="pat_…"             # create at https://app.alternatefutures.ai or via `af pat create`
export AF_PROJECT_ID="cmn…"

3. Pick (or create) a project

af projects list           # see what exists
af projects switch         # interactive picker — sets the active project

No projects yet?

af projects create --name my-first-project
af projects switch my-first-project

Verify

af whoami --json

Expected:

{
  "authenticated": true,
  "user": { "id": "…", "email": "…", "username": null, "walletAddress": null },
  "project": { "id": "…", "name": "…", "slug": "…" }
}

Once both authenticated: true and project is non-null, the user is ready to deploy.

Next steps

• Deploy a Docker image → use the deploy-docker-app skill
• Deploy a static HTML site → use the deploy-static-site skill
• Deploy from a pre-built template → use the deploy-from-template skill
• Spin up a raw VM → use the deploy-server skill

Common setup hiccups

• af: command not found: npm global bin not on PATH. export PATH="$(npm config get prefix)/bin:$PATH" in ~/.zshrc / ~/.bashrc.
• Not logged in. after af login: keychain access denied. Run af login --email instead — falls back to a file-stored token in ~/.alternate-futures/.
• Local dev: append --local to every command (af --local login, af --local services list). Uses a separate token slot from prod.