---
title: Quickstart
description: Go from signup to a running site with a permanent host and optional custom domain.
audience: user
status: current
last_updated: 2026-09-02
order: 10
related:
  - /v/docs/concepts/sites-and-deploys.md
  - /v/docs/ui/building-an-image.md
  - /v/docs/getting-started/api-tokens.md
---

This is the shortest browser path from a new account to a live site. The REST
API and CLI expose the same site and deploy model.

## 1. Sign up and verify your email

Create an account and choose a namespace of 3–32 lowercase letters, numbers, or
hyphens. It must begin and end with a letter or number and cannot be a platform
reserved name. Open the verification link sent to your mailbox.

## 2. Confirm your namespace

Your personal namespace is permanent. If you chose `mike`, every site host ends
in `.mike.serverl3ss.com`. Organization sites use the organization slug instead;
your role in that organization controls which changes you can make.

## 3. Create a site

Open **My Sites**, choose **Create site**, and enter a name and available slug.
Olibato reserves the host immediately. For example, slug `web1` in namespace
`mike` becomes:

```text
web1.mike.serverl3ss.com
```

The site can remain a draft until you attach a deploy source.

## 4. Deploy a container

Choose the container-image source and provide an immutable digest when possible:

```text
docker.io/library/nginx@sha256:<digest>
```

Confirm the public HTTP service and port, start the deploy, and follow its build
events. Olibato validates the manifest and runtime before marking the resulting
version ready. A successful deploy becomes the site's active version without
changing its host.

You can use a GitHub repository, committed local source, or an app template
instead. Repository and local-source deploys use the same build and version
history; app templates collect their required parameters before entering that
pipeline.

## 5. Visit the site

Open the permanent host from the site detail page. A sleeping site wakes on the
first authorized request and can scale back to zero after its idle period while
retaining its configured state.

## 6. Add a custom domain

In **Custom domains**, add a hostname such as `app.example.com`. Publish both DNS
records shown by Olibato:

- the TXT record proves ownership;
- the CNAME points traffic to the permanent site host. An edge A record may be
  accepted where the dashboard explicitly offers it.

Keep Cloudflare records DNS-only. Choose **Verify DNS** after the public records
propagate. Olibato adds the route and requests a dedicated certificate; the
domain becomes active when certificate issuance completes.

## Automate later deploys

Create a **Write** token under **Account → API access**, then authenticate the
CLI:

```bash
olibato login --token "oli_pat_…"
olibato push . --site web1
```

The CLI packages committed `HEAD`; dirty and untracked files are ignored and
reported. For headless jobs, provide `OLIBATO_TOKEN` through the job's protected
secret store. See [API tokens](/v/docs/getting-started/api-tokens/) and the
[REST API guide](/v/docs/api/).

## Private-beta boundary

Olibato is a guided private beta with changing limits and no committed
service-level agreement. Review access, quota, backup, and recovery needs before
placing important workloads on a site.