wild-website/content/get-started/index.md

title, date

title	date
🌩️ Get started	2026-01-04

Prepare a domain name

Your wild cloud applications will be accessible on the internet through a domain name (like mydomain.org). When you install public applications on your wild cloud they will, by default, be made available on a subdomain of your domain (like discourse.mydomain.org).

If you don't already have a domain name, we recommend registering one with Cloudflare. Currently, Wild Cloud requires Cloudflare features for automatic management of domain configuration and security certificates. You can have your domain registered with any registrar, but you will need to use Cloudflare's DNS services for your domain. This is free and easy to set up.

For now, just make sure you have a domain name ready and that your DNS is managed by Cloudflare. You will configure it in Wild Central later.

Gather your hardware

To set up your wild cloud, you will need some basic hardware. Here are the minimum requirements:

{{< figure src="./flint2.jpg" title="LAN Router" caption="Your LAN router connects your local network to the internet." >}}

{{< figure src="./switch.jpg" class="" title="A network switch" caption="A network switch is used to connect multiple devices on your local network." >}}

{{< figure src="./wild-central.jpg" title="Wild Central" caption="Wild Central is the heart of your wild cloud, running on an inexpensive computer like a Raspberry Pi." >}}

{{< figure src="./micro-pc.jpg" title="Inexpensive computer" caption="You'll need at least six additional computers (three control nodes and three worker nodes)." >}}

{{< figure src="./ups.jpg" title="An uninterruptible power supply (UPS)" caption="A UPS helps keep your wild cloud running during short power outages." >}}

Set up Wild Central

The heart of your wild cloud is Wild Central, an inexpensive computer that runs on your local network that helps you set up and manage your wild cloud. Wild Central can be set up on an inexpensive computer (around $100USD), like a Raspberry Pi. My Wild Central looks like this:

Wild Central does several things for you:

• Helps you set up one or more wild clouds on your network.
• Handles internal networking for your cloud. Wild Central allows computers on your network to find the internal apps deployed on your cloud.
• Handles external networking for your cloud. Traffic will be routed from the internet, through your LAN router, to Wild Central, and then to the appropriate app on your cloud.
• Allows you to install apps from the Wild Directory to your cloud with a few clicks.
• Monitors the health of your cloud and notifies you if something goes wrong.

After you set up Wild Central, it runs on your network without a display or keyboard. You access it on your network through any web browser. Although you can install Wild Cloud on any computer, it is best to have a standalone device as Wild Central needs to be always on.

Setting up Wild Central:

• Prepare a machine for Wild Central. This can be a Raspberry Pi or any other inexpensive computer running Ubuntu Linux.
• Download and install the Wild Central software on your machine.
• Access Wild Central through your web browser.

Set up your networking

Once Wild Central is set up, you need to instruct your LAN router (the device that connects your local network to the internet) to use Wild Central in two ways:

• Forward incoming web traffic (HTTP and HTTPS) to Wild Central. This allows external users to access the public apps deployed on your wild cloud.
• Use Wild Central as the DNS server for your network. This allows devices on your network to find the internal apps deployed on your wild cloud.

Set up your cloud

• Create your Wild Cloud instance
  • Set up your control nodes
  • Set up your worker nodes
  • Install services

Install your apps!

• Add apps