> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pastures.farm/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Get Pastures running in Rancher Manager in under 5 minutes.

<Info>
  **Prerequisites**: Node.js 22+, Yarn 1.x, and a running Rancher Manager instance (>= 2.10.0).
</Info>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Clone the repository">
    ```bash theme={null}
    git clone https://github.com/pastures-farm/pastures-rancher.git
    cd pastures-rancher
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install dependencies">
    ```bash theme={null}
    yarn install --ignore-engines
    ```

    The `--ignore-engines` flag is required because `@rancher/shell` declares engine constraints that conflict with Node 22.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build the extension">
    ```bash theme={null}
    yarn build-pkg pastures
    ```

    This compiles the Pastures extension into a UMD bundle under `dist-pkg/`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Serve the extension locally">
    ```bash theme={null}
    yarn serve-pkgs
    ```

    This starts a local HTTP server on `http://127.0.0.1:4500` that serves the built extension package.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Developer Load in Rancher">
    1. Open your Rancher Manager UI
    2. Navigate to **☰ → Extensions**
    3. Click the **⋮** (three-dot) menu in the top right
    4. Select **Enable Developer Load**
    5. Paste the extension URL:

    ```
    http://127.0.0.1:4500/pastures-0.1.0/pastures-0.1.0.umd.min.js
    ```

    6. Click **Load**

    The Pastures sidebar items will appear immediately.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable demo mode">
    Navigate to **Pastures → Settings** and toggle **Demo Mode** to ON. This provides synthetic data for every feature so you can explore the full UI without configuring a backend.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure an AI model">
    Choose one of:

    * **Rancher Oracle** — Enter your API key from [pastures.farm/pricing](https://pastures.farm/pricing) in Settings. This gives you grounded diagnostics with source citations from 48K+ real fixes.
    * **BYO model** — Point to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, Azure, etc.) in Settings.

    See [AI Model Configuration](/configuration/ai-model) for details.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Demo mode works without any backend or API key. It's the fastest way to evaluate Pastures.
</Tip>

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Architecture" icon="sitemap" href="/architecture">
    Understand how the extension, engine, and AI layer connect
  </Card>

  <Card title="Features" icon="grid-2" href="/features/advisories">
    Walk through every Pastures feature
  </Card>
</CardGroup>