Quickstart

Get from zero to a live service in under 5 minutes.

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Prerequisites

• curl installed (any version)
• A domain name (optional — only needed for Step 4)

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Step 1 — Get Your API Token

1. Go to computeportal.io/start and complete the order wizard:

   • Pick your compute resources (first two screens)
   • Sign in or create an account
   • Pay by card or crypto
   • Choose CLI based deployment at the Provision screen

2. After checkout, your API token is waiting at
   computeportal.io/user/deploy under Deploy Compute → API Key.

3. Copy the token — you'll use it in Step 3 below to authenticate cpctl.

4. You can re-issue the token at any time from the same page by clicking Re-issue Key
   (note: re-issuing immediately invalidates the previous token).

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Step 2 — Install the CLI

curl -fsSL https://install.computeportal.io | sh

This installs cpctl to /usr/local/bin. Verify:

cpctl version

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Step 3 — Log In and Deploy

# Log in with your token
cpctl login --token cp_live_your_token_here

Then deploy — pick whichever fits your workflow:

From a Docker image:

cpctl deploy --image nginx:latest --name my-app

From a GitHub repo (CP builds the image for you):

cpctl deploy --repo https://github.com/your-org/your-app --name my-app

Your repo must contain a Dockerfile at the root. CP clones it, builds the image internally, and deploys — no Docker Hub account needed.

Your service is live at https://my-app.cpctl.app.

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Step 4 — Attach a Custom Domain (optional)

cpctl domain add my-app dashboard.example.com

Before running this, add a CNAME record at your DNS provider:

Field	Value
Name	dashboard
Type	CNAME
Target	cpctl.app
Proxy	DNS only (disable Cloudflare orange-cloud)

Verify DNS is live first:

dig CNAME dashboard.example.com +short
# should print: cpctl.app.

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Step 5 (Optional) — Connect an AI Assistant via MCP

If you use Claude Desktop, Cursor, or another MCP-compatible assistant, you have two options.

Option A — Local stdio via cpctl mcp serve (recommended; keeps your token on your machine, out of any shared config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "computeportal": {
      "command": "cpctl",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

cpctl mcp serve reads your token from the OS keyring (set by cpctl login) and execs the cp-mcp binary over stdio. Install it once with npm install -g @computeportal/cp-mcp.

Option B — Hosted HTTP endpoint:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "computeportal": {
      "url": "https://mcp.computeportal.io/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer cp_live_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

The server is a stateless Bearer forwarder — it carries no credential of its own and requires Authorization: Bearer <cp_live_...> on every request.

Restart your assistant, then try:

"List all my CP services"
"Attach staging.example.com to my ml-inference service"
"Show me the last 50 log lines from my-app"

Destructive tools (cp_destroy, cp_sandbox_destroy, cp_domain_remove) require a dry_run: true call first to obtain a single-use confirm_token — see the full MCP Server Reference for all 23 tools.

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Troubleshooting

Token not working

cpctl whoami  # should show your email

If you see not logged in, re-run cpctl login --token <token>. You can view or re-issue your token at computeportal.io/user/deploy under Deploy Compute → API Key.

CNAME not configured (domain add fails)

Your DNS record isn't visible yet. Options:

1. Wait 1–5 minutes and retry
2. Verify with dig CNAME dashboard.example.com +short
3. Bypass the check: cpctl domain add my-app dashboard.example.com --skip-dns

Service not found

cpctl list  # shows all your services

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Quick Reference

cpctl login --token <token>                       # authenticate
cpctl list                                        # list services
cpctl deploy --image <img> --name <n>             # deploy from image
cpctl deploy --repo https://github.com/org/repo   # deploy from repo
cpctl logs <service>                              # tail logs
cpctl stop <service>                              # stop
cpctl start <service>                             # start
cpctl delete <service>                            # delete
cpctl domain add <svc> <hostname>             # add custom domain
cpctl domain list <service>                       # list domains
cpctl whoami                                      # show current user

Next Steps

• CLI Reference — all 100+ cpctl commands
• API Reference — full REST API docs
• MCP Server — AI assistant integration
• Custom Domain Guide — how domain routing works