Quickstart

Adding a physical host?

Use Proxmox host setup. Running the API or a Windows reporting script does not turn a PC into a rental host. All rental hosts must run Proxmox VE.

Run the API locally for development

From the ComputerUse source directory, use Python 3.11 or later and install the dependencies:

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r deploy/requirements.txt
.venv/bin/python -m computeruse.preview

The development service binds to 127.0.0.1:8080 and uses a local SQLite file. The public website, documentation, account portal and API share that origin in development. Do not expose the development server directly to the Internet.

Check capacity

export COMPUTERUSE_API_ORIGIN=http://127.0.0.1:8080
curl "$COMPUTERUSE_API_ORIGIN/api/v1/stock"

Inspect both purchases_enabled and each plan's available count. An inventory count does not override a closed checkout gate. A quotation does not reserve a computer.

Create a test account

Open /portal on your local service. Register using a password between 15 and 128 characters, then sign in. Create a narrowly scoped API key from the account view. Keep it in your secret manager or a private environment variable, never in website code.

Read your account

curl "$COMPUTERUSE_API_ORIGIN/api/v1/account" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COMPUTERUSE_API_TOKEN"

This returns account-owned rentals, balance, recent ledger entries and API-key metadata. It does not return internal physical machine identifiers or private controller credentials.

Add an agent

Follow MCP for management and desktop tools. Assignment records agent metadata; the separate desktop control API sends screenshots and input to an assigned VM.