From sign-up to a running agent

1. Create an account

Sign up at reachpad.dev/sign-up. The workspace trial includes 16 hours 40 minutes of active compute shared across up to 10 workspaces on the fleet: real Linux VMs whose disk and memory are sealed to object storage, so the machine underneath can die and the session comes back where it was.

2. Install the CLI

On Apple silicon macOS, Linux x86_64 and Linux arm64, install the managed Homebrew formula with brew install reachpad/tap/reachpad.

Without Homebrew, run curl -fsSL https://reachpad.dev/install | sh. The branded installer resolves the latest public release, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and installs the binary into ~/.local/bin.

With npm, on Apple silicon and Intel macOS, Linux x86_64 and Linux arm64: npm install -g @reachpad/cli. The package carries the same Rust binary as a platform-specific optional dependency rather than a postinstall download, so npm ci --ignore-scripts still resolves it. It is the only install path that covers Intel Macs. If you installed it with Homebrew, run brew uninstall reachpad first. Both put reachpad in the same place, and npm stops rather than overwrite it.

3. Connect it

Run reachpad. On first use, the CLI shows a short code and opens hosted WorkOS sign-in. WorkOS handles the account login and any required MFA or SSO, then the CLI saves a Reachpad credential and the production endpoint and lists your workspaces. No password or authentication factor is entered into Reachpad.

On a remote machine or anywhere without a browser pane, run reachpad auth login --no-browser and open the printed URL on another device. The CLI guide covers setup checks, updates, shell completions and every workspace command from here.

4. Create a workspace and hand your agent a task

reachpad create prints the id of a new workspace, and reachpad run <workspace-id> -- <command> runs one command inside it: stdout and stderr come back separately and the exit code is the command's own, so it composes in a script. reachpad attach <workspace-id> puts you in an interactive terminal there instead, root on your own machine. New accounts include a one-time grant of 1,000 compute credits, 16 hours 40 minutes of active workspace time. One credit runs one standard workspace for one minute of active compute. A paused workspace costs nothing. Keeping a workspace's disk is free during the preview. Run your agent there the way you run it locally: your keys, your config, your usage. reachpad does not sit in the middle of your agent's auth.

Every command takes --json, so an agent parses one object instead of scraping prose. Mint an API key with reachpad keys mint for agents and CI that should not hold your login.

5. Close the laptop

The run executes on the fleet, not on your machine, so closing the lid closes your view of the run and nothing else. Detach with Ctrl-], reattach later from any terminal, and the session is as far along as the agent got. reachpad pause <workspace-id> saves disk and memory and stops the meter when you are done for the day; the next run or attach resumes with that memory intact, not from a reboot.

Why this works is its own page: keep agents running when you close your laptop.