> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getpostern.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up with an agent

> Point a coding agent at one file and it installs Postern for you — you keep the sign-ins and the secrets.

You do not have to walk the install pages yourself. If you use a coding agent — Claude Code,
Cursor, Codex, or any tool that can read files and run commands — point it at one file and say:

> Follow this file and set Postern up for me.

The file is
[`setup-with-your-agent.md`](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/getpostern/postern/main/setup-with-your-agent.md),
at the root of the [Postern repository](https://github.com/getpostern/postern). Give your agent
that address, or the local copy if you cloned the repository.

## What the agent does, and what stays yours

The agent does every step a program can do: it installs Docker if the machine has none (it asks
first), fetches the compose file, starts the gateway, and verifies each connection after you
make it. It stops and tells you what is needed at every step only you can do.

Yours are the sign-ins and the secrets. You sign in to each provider yourself, and you paste
every password, token, and key into Postern's own screens — the file forbids the agent to take
them through the chat.

Honestly stated: an agent can do about 95% of getting Postern running and connected to itself,
and about half of connecting it to your life. The slow parts — provider sign-ins, developer
consoles — stay human.

The file was executed end to end on a clean machine by a first-time user on 2026-08-08, and the
lessons of that run are folded into it.

## If you would rather do it by hand

The same path, written for people screen by screen, starts at [Install](/start/install). The
agent file leans on these pages rather than repeating them, so the two never disagree.