Everything you do with Stackbone runs through one command-line tool called stackbone. This page gets it onto your machine and signs you in. Two commands, then you're ready to build.

Before you start

You need three things installed. Check them off first:

You need	Why
Node.js 24	Stackbone runs on Node. Node 24 covers the whole local loop.
pnpm	Stackbone projects use pnpm. Turn it on with corepack enable (it ships with Node).
Docker	Your project starts a small local database when you run it.
A free account	Sign up at app.stackbone.ai.

The CLI runs on macOS, Linux, and WSL2 on Windows. If you're on Windows, install WSL2 first (wsl --install -d Ubuntu) and run every command from inside the Ubuntu terminal.

Install the command

The fastest way is to run it through pnpm dlx, which downloads the tool on demand so you don't install anything permanently:

pnpm dlx @stackbone/cli --help

If you'd rather have stackbone always available, install it once globally:

pnpm add -g @stackbone/cli
stackbone --help

Either way works for the rest of this guide. The examples write stackbone; if you skipped the global install, put pnpm dlx @stackbone/cli in front of each command instead.

Sign in

Sign in with your email. There are no passwords:

stackbone login

The CLI prints a short code and opens your browser. Confirm the link that lands in your inbox, and you're signed in. The session is saved on your machine, so you only do this once.

On a server with no browser? Add --no-browser and open the printed link yourself:

stackbone login --no-browser

Check it worked

Confirm you're signed in:

stackbone whoami
# user:         you@company.com
# organization: Acme (acme)
# endpoint:     https://api.stackbone.ai

If you see your email and organization, you're good.

What's next

• Create your first project: one command builds a project with an agent inside.