# Quickstart

> Deploy your first app to London in about three minutes, from GitHub, from your terminal or through your AI.

You need a Guv account with a card on file. A trial gives you £5 of credit for 30 days, and nothing is charged unless you choose a plan.

## Option 1: from the dashboard

1. Open the [dashboard](https://app.guv.dev) and choose **Connect GitHub**.
2. Pick a repository. Guv looks at it and tells you, in plain English, what it is going to do. For example: *"We'll build a Next.js app with Node 22 and give you a Postgres database."*
3. If your repository has a `.env.example`, Guv offers to fill in each variable. Anything that looks like a key is stored as a write-only secret.
4. Choose **Deploy**. You will see a friendly build log ("Installing packages… 42 s") with the raw log one click away.
5. When it is live you get a URL on `guv.run`, a QR code for your phone, and a card to invite your AI.

## Option 2: from your terminal

Install the CLI and sign in. The CLI opens your browser and you confirm with your passkey.

```bash
brew install guv        # or: scoop install guv, or npx guv
guv login
```

From your project directory, either deploy what is in front of you, without git:

```bash
guv up
```

or set the project up properly, with a `guv.yaml` you can commit:

```bash
guv init                # detects your stack and writes guv.yaml
guv deploy --wait
```

## Option 3: ask your AI

If you use Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or another coding agent, install the Guv skill and connect the MCP server:

```bash
guv setup agent
```

Then ask: *"Deploy this app to Guv with a Postgres database."* Your agent works through the same API as you. It can deploy to previews and staging on its own, and anything that touches production waits for your approval. See [Deploy with your AI](/docs/agents/).

## What you get by default

Without changing a setting, every Guv project has:

- **Data kept in London.** Compute, databases, volumes, backups and logs stay in the UK.
- **Its own virtual machine for every service.** Your code never shares a kernel with anyone else's.
- **Backups on every database,** with restores tested daily.
- **A spend cap.** £10 on Hobby and £50 on Pro, until you change it.
- **A Safety Centre grade** that checks for leaked keys, exposed databases and missing headers.
- **Zero-downtime deploys** with health checks, and one-click rollback.

## Next steps

- Add a [custom domain](/docs/domains/).
- Describe your project as code with [`guv.yaml`](/docs/manifest/).
- Check your [Safety Centre](/docs/safety-centre/) grade.