# Sign up from your terminal

> One command signs you up, starts a box on the free credit, and sets up this machine: npx prized.

URL: https://prized.dev/docs/terminal-signup

## Start [#start]

In the folder you want on your box:

```bash
npx prized
```

It needs Node.js 18 or later, on macOS, Linux or Windows (PowerShell or Windows Terminal). No Node.js? Sign up at [prized.dev](https://prized.dev/sign-in) and follow the [quickstart](https://prized.dev/docs/quickstart) instead.

## What it asks [#what-it-asks]

| Step           | What you do                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Sign in        | Pick GitHub or Google. Your browser opens straight into it, and once you have signed in the tab hands back to the terminal on its own. A new account gets [$30 of free credit](https://prized.dev/docs/billing#free-credit). |
| Your box       | **Automatic** starts the biggest box the free credit runs (a Small: 4 vCPU, 16 GB, about nine days), or uses the box you already have. **Manual** lists every size and how long your credit runs it.       |
| Where you work | Claude desktop, the ChatGPT app, Cursor, or the terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor Agent, or a plain shell).                                                                                             |

## Then this machine is set up [#then-this-machine-is-set-up]

With nothing to paste: the CLI is installed and signed in, and it asks which folder to sync (the one you ran it in, your recent git checkouts, or a new empty project). Automatic brings your tools and packages without more questions and asks before it copies anything secret: `.env` files, API keys, or your agent's sign-in. Manual asks about each part, as [`prized setup`](https://prized.dev/docs/quickstart#4-set-up) does. Last, it sets up where you work:

| You work in    | What happens                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Claude desktop | Your box is added to Claude desktop, which opens a new Code session on it in your synced folder. Later, pick `<box> (Prized)` from the environment menu.                                                       |
| ChatGPT app    | Codex is signed in on the box, and your box and synced folder are added to the app, connected, with nothing to tick in its settings. If the app is open and does not pick them up, setup offers to restart it. |
| Cursor         | Cursor opens your synced folder on the box over Remote-SSH.                                                                                                                                                    |
| Terminal       | Your agent starts in a tmux session on the box and the command ends inside it; it keeps running when you close the laptop.                                                                                     |

Setting up an app for you needs macOS and the app installed; otherwise the command ends with the steps to add your box by hand.

Your box is on the [dashboard](https://prized.dev/dashboard) too, with nothing left to set up there. On a machine that is already signed in, `npx prized` has nothing to sign up for: run `prized setup` in the folder you want on your box.

## Troubleshooting [#troubleshooting]

* **The browser did not open.** Open the whole link the terminal shows in a browser on this machine. The sign-in hands back to this terminal, so a browser on another device cannot finish it. A page that says to open the whole link means the link was cut short: copy it again, all of it.
* **"This sign-in link has expired."** A sign-in lasts 15 minutes. Run `npx prized` again; an account you already made is simply signed in again.
* **"Too many tries."** Sign-in stops taking attempts after a run of wrong or expired ones. Wait a few minutes, then run `npx prized` again.
* **It ends with a `prized setup` line.** Run the whole line, as printed, in the folder you want to sync. With `--signup` and its ID, it finishes the steps above; plain `prized setup` syncs the folder and signs your agent in on the box, and you add the box to your app by hand ([Claude desktop](https://prized.dev/docs/claude-desktop), [the ChatGPT app](https://prized.dev/docs/codex)).
* **Using ssh with a phone password.** The phone password is for the ChatGPT app's SSH form ([From your phone](https://prized.dev/docs/codex#from-your-phone)); from a computer, use `prized ssh`.