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dyologician edited this page May 17, 2026 · 1 revision

A1 Easy Guide — For AI Agent Users

Get A1 running on your computer, step by step.

What is A1?

A1 gives your AI agent a cryptographic identity — like a passport. When your agent tries to do something (read a file, search the web, send an email, execute a trade), A1 checks:

  • Is this agent allowed to do this?
  • Did a real human (you) actually approve it?
  • Is the approval still valid?

If anything is wrong, the action is blocked. Every approved action gets a tamper-proof receipt. You stay in control.

Step 1 — Open your terminal

The terminal is a text window where you type commands. You only need it for setup — after that, everything is done in a normal browser window.

Mac:

  1. Press Command + Space on your keyboard
  2. Type Terminal
  3. Press Enter
  4. A black or white window opens — that's your terminal

Windows:

  1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard
  2. Type PowerShell
  3. Press Enter
  4. A blue window opens — that's your terminal

Step 2 — Download A1

In your terminal, type or paste this and press Enter:

git clone https://github.com/dyologician/A1

You'll see some text scroll by. Wait for it to finish — it's downloading A1 to your computer.

If you see "git: command not found" — don't worry. Go to https://github.com/dyologician/A1, click the green Code button, then Download ZIP. Unzip the downloaded file. Then skip to Step 3 below — open your terminal inside the unzipped folder instead.

Step 3 — Go into the A1 folder

Still in the same terminal window, type this and press Enter:

cd A1

This moves you into the A1 folder that was just downloaded. The terminal prompt should now show A1 at the end.

Step 4 — Start A1

Mac / Linux — type this and press Enter:

./setup.sh

Windows — type this and press Enter:

.\setup.bat

Or on Windows you can also just double-click the setup.bat file inside the A1 folder — no terminal needed.

The first time takes a few minutes. A1 is setting up everything it needs, including Docker if it's not already on your computer. You'll see text scrolling — that's normal.

When it's done, your browser opens automatically to A1 Studio at http://localhost:8080/studio. That's the visual dashboard where you manage everything.

Step 5 — Studio is open

You'll see A1 Studio in your browser. From here everything is visual — no more terminal needed.

  • Get Started — a wizard walks you through creating your first agent passport
  • Connect Agents — A1 scans for installed AI agents and connects them in one click
  • Passports — view, renew, or revoke your agent passports
  • Local AI — connect to AI models running privately on your machine

How to stop A1

When you're done using A1, go back to your terminal and type:

Mac / Linux:

./setup.sh stop

Windows:

.\setup.bat stop

How to start A1 again (next time)

Already have A1 downloaded from before? Here's all you need to do:

Mac / Linux:

  1. Open Terminal (Command + Space → type Terminal → Enter)
  2. Type this and press Enter:
cd ~/A1
./setup.sh

Windows:

  1. Open your A1 folder in File Explorer
  2. Double-click setup.bat

That's it. Your browser will open to Studio automatically. All your previous passports and settings are still there.

Can't find the A1 folder? Open your terminal and type cd ~/A1 — this takes you directly to it no matter where it is.

Quick reference

Once you know where A1 lives, these are all the commands you'll ever need:

What you want Mac / Linux Windows
Start A1 ./setup.sh .\setup.bat or double-click setup.bat
Stop A1 ./setup.sh stop .\setup.bat stop
Check if running ./setup.sh status .\setup.bat status
Restart A1 ./setup.sh restart .\setup.bat restart

All commands are run from inside the A1 folder. Studio is always at http://localhost:8080/studio in your browser.

If Studio doesn't open

  1. Check that the terminal finished running — wait for it to stop scrolling and show a new line
  2. Open your browser manually and go to http://localhost:8080/studio
  3. If nothing loads, run ./setup.sh again — it's safe to run multiple times

FAQ

Do I need internet after the first setup? No. A1 runs completely offline once it's set up.

Is this free? Yes. Free forever, no account, no subscription.

How do I know A1 is running? Go to http://localhost:8080/studio in your browser. If Studio loads, it's running.

A1 is open-source (MIT / Apache-2.0). Built by @dyologician. Full docs → https://github.com/dyologician/A1/wiki

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