Your First Node
Space AI Hello, Universe!™
Space Operating System · Start here

Your first node.

Space AI is not a service you log into. It is a network you run a piece of — and this page takes you from nothing at all to a machine of your own, watching the places you care about from orbit, while you sleep.

Part one — 2 min, in your browser Part two — 10 min, on your computer No card. No invitation needed.
First

Three words, and then we start.

You will meet these on every screen. They are simpler than they sound, and nothing else on this page assumes you know anything.

Account
An email address or a wallet, and a password of your choosing. The password encrypts your profile inside your browser before anything is sent, so nobody — us included — can read it or reset it.
Node
The same app, running on your computer instead of ours. It is what keeps watching for satellite passes, holding your files and answering your devices when your browser is closed.
Cluster
The group your node belongs to. On your own, that is Open Space Net, the public one. With colleagues, it is yours: your profiles and files replicate only across machines you own.
Part one In your browser · about 2 minutes

Get an account and see it work.

Nothing is installed in this part, and nothing here is hard to undo. The only step you cannot come back to later is the second one.

1Register

Make an account and choose your password

Go to spaceai.net/app and press Register. An email address or a wallet is enough — there is nothing to pay and no card to enter.

You are then asked for a password of your own, twice. Choose one you can keep: it encrypts your profile in your browser, before anything reaches a server. That is what makes the data yours, and it is also why we cannot reset it for you.

Leave the cluster field empty. You will land in Open Space Net, the public cluster, which is the right place to start. If you would rather have a private one from day one, type a name for it here instead and you become its admin.

The sign-in screenExample
@ Username@Roko
Password••••••••••••
Clusterleave empty for now
Wallet sign-in sits on the same screen
2Recover

Save your recovery code before you do anything else

User menu (your name, top right) → Account recovery → Create a recovery code

It is shown once. Write it down somewhere that is not the computer you are sitting at.

Because your password never leaves your browser, this code is the only way back to your data if the password is lost. Two minutes now buys you the right never to think about it again.

Do it now

Everything else on this page can wait until tomorrow. This cannot: a profile with no recovery code and a forgotten password is gone, and there is no support queue that can change that.

Account recoveryExample
7K3Q9 · M2XHN · 4RTVB · 8CPD1
Save it now — it is not shown again
3Look

Point it at somewhere real

Open Detection & Monitoring and add a site — a field, a port, a well pad, a vessel, the roof you are sitting under. The app answers with the next satellite pass over it, and every pass after that.

New accounts arrive with a small ENERGY balance, the credit that pays for imagery. The console shows it as nE. It is enough to watch the thing work; a cluster admin can send you more, and you can buy more when you need it.

Detection & MonitoringExample sites
Harbour — quay 3
Site · 0.50 m optical
14:32 UTC
North field — pad 17
Site · SAR-1 radar
Tomorrow 09:07
Home roof
Site · 0.50 m optical
Tomorrow 11:48
That is the tour

You now have an account, a way back into it, and something to watch. Everything below exists for one reason: to keep it all running when your browser is closed.

Part two On your computer · about 10 minutes

Run a node of your own.

In a browser, Space AI works while you are there. A node works while you are not — it watches your sites around the clock, keeps your cluster's files replicated, and is the address your hardware reports to. You need one computer that stays switched on: Windows, Mac or Linux, an ordinary desk machine is fine.

4Link

Take your install link out of the app

+ Add node → Invite & install

The box at the top holds your link and its key, each with a Copy button. This is the same link you will one day send to a colleague — their machine joins exactly the way yours is about to.

Handle as a password

Everything after #t= is the cluster key. Anyone holding the whole link can join your cluster, so send it privately and never post it anywhere public.

5Install

Open that link on the machine that will run the node

Paste the whole link into a browser on that computer. The page recognises the operating system and offers the right thing:

  • WindowsA file to download and double-click. Confirm it if Windows asks whether you meant to.
  • MacOne line to paste into Terminal. A folder chooser opens.
  • LinuxThe same line, in a shell.

From there it runs itself: it asks where to install, sets up Node.js if the machine has none, downloads the node software over a secure connection, makes a desktop icon, starts the node, and opens the app at http://localhost:8777. The cluster and its key are already inside the installer, so there is nothing to type and nothing to configure. Your node finds the others on its own, even behind a home or office router.

What the installer printsExample
=== Space Net Navigator — cluster node setup === Cluster: OPEN SPACE NET Downloading the node from the cluster host… serve.js sos-desktop.html satellite.min.js Node software downloaded — version b349 Node started · joined the cluster Opening http://localhost:8777
6Sign in

Sign in again — this time on your own machine

The page that just opened looks identical, but it is served by your computer now, not by ours. Sign in with the same account and password. Your profile arrives from the cluster, so your sites, files and balance are already there waiting.

After that the node looks after itself. Every few minutes it checks the network for a newer build, takes it, and restarts. You will never update it by hand.

Then close it

Close the browser whenever you like — the node keeps working. To stop it entirely, close its window or use the desktop icon again.

Whenever you want it

Three things that can wait until next week.

None of these are needed to be up and running. Come back to them when you have a reason.

The other way in

Were you invited?

If a colleague sent you a link, you are starting a step ahead — the account already exists and the cluster is already chosen. Read this instead of step 1.

https://spaceai.net/join/your-cluster#t=…key…

The part after #t= is the cluster key, which makes the whole link a password. Send it privately; never put it somewhere public.

  1. At spaceai.net/app, choose @ Username and enter the account name and temporary password you were given.
  2. Paste the whole invite link into the cluster field before pressing Enter. The key inside it is then kept in your profile, so you will not need the link again.
  3. Set a password of your own when asked, then save your recovery code — step 2 above applies to you exactly as written.
  4. Skip ahead to step 5 and open that same invite link on the machine that will run your node.
If something looks wrong

Five things that go wrong, and what they mean.

Almost every problem at this stage is one of these, and none of them break anything.

What you seeWhat it meansWhat to do
“Permissioned cluster” where the join page should be The link lost its key somewhere between being sent and being opened, or the key is wrong. Use the complete link, everything after #t= included. Ask whoever sent it for a fresh one if you are unsure.
The installer says a download failed That machine cannot reach spaceai.net. Check its internet connection and any corporate proxy, then run the installer again. Nothing is left half-installed.
“Wrong password” on your own node Usually a typo. Otherwise the profile on that machine is older than the one you last used elsewhere. Try once more — the node fetches the newest copy from the cluster as it goes. If it still refuses, use your recovery code.
You are in Open Space Net when you expected your own cluster You signed in on a node that is not in your cluster, or on spaceai.net without a cluster assigned. Sign in again with the invite link pasted into the cluster field.
A device sits at “Configuration” and never moves The address stored on the device is not one it can reach by itself. Run the NODE IO wizard again from a computer on the same Wi-Fi as the device.