Provider setup

Connect your first device

This public guide walks through bringing one supported provider device online. You can read it without signing in, but the Provider console actions require an account session.

Prerequisites

Start on one of the supported end-to-end provider hosting environments:

macOS on Apple Silicon, using the built-in Metal GPU path.
Linux x86_64 with an NVIDIA GPU, a working NVIDIA driver where nvidia-smi succeeds, and a working Vulkan loader plus NVIDIA Vulkan ICD.

Before installing, make sure the device has curl, tar, and either sha256sum or shasum. Linux hosts also need a working systemctl --user session for the managed daemon service.

Linux x86_64 CPU-only devices can run the installer, but they are not supported hosting environments for this guide. They cannot download, activate, or serve catalog models through the provider daemon. Windows, Intel Macs, Linux arm64, and Linux AMD/ROCm hosts are also unsupported for this walkthrough.

Install the CLI

Install the prebuilt Gigatoken CLI with the public installer:

curl -fsSL https://storage.googleapis.com/gigatoken-releases/install.sh | sh

The installer downloads the release manifest, downloads the verified prebuilt binary for your platform, checks the file size and SHA-256, installs gigatoken under ${GIGATOKEN_HOME:-$HOME/.gigatoken}/bin, updates your shell PATH setup, and runs gigatoken setup to pin the local model runtime.

If gigatoken is not found by name after the installer finishes, open a new shell or source your shell profile before continuing.

Generate a provider key

Sign in to the Provider console and open the API keys page. Click Generate, then copy the full provider key immediately.

Gigatoken shows the plaintext provider key only once, at generation time. After you leave the page, the console keeps key metadata but does not show the secret again.

Authenticate the CLI

Start CLI authentication:

gigatoken auth login

Paste the provider key at the Gigatoken API key: prompt. A valid Gigatoken provider key starts with gt_.

Install the daemon

Install the provider daemon after setup and authentication complete:

gigatoken daemon install

This installs a managed per-user background service. The service starts immediately, restarts after unexpected exits, and runs without root.

Select and activate a model

Open Provider console Devices, then open the device that just connected. Choose a catalog model row and click Download. Wait for the model state to move from downloading to present.

When the model is present, click Set active. If the Confirm active model dialog appears, click Confirm. The successful ready-to-serve lifecycle is absent -> downloading -> present -> loading -> active.

Some eligible models can show a dedicated-fit advisory before Download, retry, or Set active proceeds. If the console warns that the GPU must be effectively dedicated and idle, continue only when that is true; otherwise pick a smaller eligible model.

Verify with Chat

Open Provider console Chat. Choose the ready device in the Device and model selector, type a short prompt, and click Send.

Receiving a model response from that device is the success signal for this guide.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Rejected or malformed provider key	Confirm you copied the full key before leaving `/provider/keys`, confirm it starts with `gt_`, remove pasted whitespace, make sure the key has not been revoked, then rerun `gigatoken auth login`.
GPU offload or VRAM failure	Confirm the device is a supported hosting environment. On Linux, verify the NVIDIA driver, `nvidia-smi`, the Vulkan loader, and the NVIDIA Vulkan ICD. Choose a model that fits the reported VRAM, keep the GPU idle when a dedicated-fit advisory appears, and choose a smaller model if a model reaches the `failed` state.
Device not appearing in the Provider console	Confirm you signed in with the same account that generated the provider key, rerun `gigatoken auth login` with the current key, rerun `gigatoken daemon install`, and confirm the managed service is running on a supported host.
Device identity changed	Restarts and normal daemon reinstalls keep the same device entry. If you uninstall and purge provider data, the stored device identity is removed, so a later reconnect appears as a new device entry in the console.