Quickstart

A 5-minute guide for first-time Alpacon users. Follow this guide to quickly experience everything from getting your workspace to your first server connection.

Before you start

What you need to use Alpacon:

  • An Alpacon workspace: set up with our team when you book a demo, or join your team’s workspace through an invitation from your admin
  • A server to manage (Linux, macOS, or Windows)
  • Terminal or administrative access to the server (to run the install command)

Step 1: Get a workspace

A workspace is an independent space for managing servers and team members.

If you are starting with a new workspace:

  1. Book a demo
  2. In the demo, we agree on the workspace name, URL, and region with you
  3. After the demo, we prepare your workspace and tell you when it is ready
  4. Sign in to Alpacon

If your team already has a workspace:

  1. Ask a workspace admin to invite you
  2. Accept the invitation from the email, or from the “No workspace yet” screen after you sign in to Alpacon

Your workspace has a dedicated URL. Example: https://alpacon.io/my-production/

💡 Tip: To add separate workspaces for dev/staging/production environments, contact us.

Step 2: Register your first server (2 min)

2-1. Start server registration

In your Alpacon workspace:

  1. Click Servers in the left menu
  2. Click Register server
  3. Choose Registration with token as the registration method
  4. On Server information, set:
    • What is the server’s OS?: pick the OS family (Debian family, RedHat family, macOS, or Windows)
    • Server name (optional): a display name (e.g., web-server-01)
    • Server registration token (optional): selecting a token automatically configures access groups
  5. Click Continue

See Register a server for the full flow, including the Ansible, AWS Cloud-Init, and Terraform methods.

2-2. Install the Alpamon agent

  1. Copy the generated install command
  2. Open a terminal on your server and run it (Linux and macOS use sudo; Windows uses an elevated PowerShell)
  3. When registration completes, the window closes automatically
  4. Verify the server shows Online in the server list

Registering a Windows server? See Windows servers for supported features, the permission model, and troubleshooting.

Step 3: Connect to your server (1 min)

Access in Alpacon runs through a work session: you request access, and it’s scoped and time-bound.

  1. Choose the server you want from the Servers list
  2. Click Connect
  3. Select the access you need (e.g., Web terminal) and a session duration, then start the session
  4. The browser terminal opens for the session you requested

Depending on your workspace’s policy, the session may need a Superuser’s approval before the terminal opens—it moves from pending to approved first.

🎉 Done! You’ve connected to your server from the browser without a separate SSH client.

Try key Websh features

Once the terminal is open, try these features:

  • Execute commands: Use like a normal terminal: ls, top, df -h, etc.
  • Reconnect: Your shell stays alive for the duration of the work session, so you can close the tab and resume later
  • Customize settings: Click the ⚙️ icon in the terminal to adjust theme and font size

Step 4: Invite team members (Optional, 1 min)

💎 This feature is available in Essentials plan or higher (paid version).

You can invite team members to share server access. Only users with staff or superuser privileges can invite team members.

  1. Click IAM > Users in the left menu
  2. Click New
  3. In the Invite user form, enter the email address of the person to invite
  4. Click Invite

Invited members will receive an invitation link via email, which remains valid for 48 hours.

IAM permission levels

  • Member: Regular users who can only access resources within their granted permissions
  • Staff: Users with administrative privileges who can perform some admin functions
  • Superuser: Full administrative access and workspace-wide configuration privileges

Next steps

You’ve completed the basic setup! Now explore more Alpacon features:

Enhanced security

Improved productivity

  • Websh - Remote shell from browser with real-time collaboration
  • WebFTP - File transfer from browser
  • Multi-server commands - Run commands on multiple servers at once

Advanced features

Need help?

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