1. Ten minutes, not a weekend

Before ARAI Studio can start building your product, it needs access to a few accounts that you already control — or can create in minutes. That is the full extent of the setup. No local tooling to install, no complex configuration to fill in, no DevOps expertise required.

This guide walks through exactly what to prepare. If you have done it before, this will feel familiar. If it is new to you, each step is straightforward and free.

Everything described here stays in your name, under your accounts. ARAI operates as a contributor — it never takes ownership of your code or infrastructure.

2. A GitHub account and an empty repository

ARAI Studio commits code directly to a Git repository you own. If you do not have a GitHub account yet, you can create one at github.com — it takes about two minutes and the free tier is sufficient for most projects.

Once you have an account, create a new repository for the project. It should be empty — no README, no starter files. ARAI will populate it from scratch. The repository can be private; ARAI only needs a token scoped to that single repo.

  • Go to github.com/new
  • Give the repository a name (e.g. my-project)
  • Leave it empty — no README, no .gitignore
  • Click Create repository

After onboarding, you will generate a fine-grained access token scoped to this repository. That token is the only credential ARAI uses to push code. You can revoke it at any time.

3. A Vercel account for deployments

ARAI deploys your project to Vercel — a hosting platform that connects directly to your GitHub repository and handles everything from build to CDN in seconds. Vercel's free tier (the Hobby plan) is enough for most early projects.

Sign up at vercel.com using your GitHub account — this is the easiest path because Vercel will already see your repositories. You do not need to configure a project yet; that happens automatically during onboarding.

  • Go to vercel.com and click Sign Up
  • Choose Continue with GitHub
  • Accept the default permissions — you can narrow them later

That is it. ARAI will create the Vercel project, link it to your repository, and configure the build settings. You watch it happen; you do not configure it manually.

4. Firebase — only if your project needs a database

If your product requires a backend database, user authentication, or real-time data, ARAI uses Firebase (Google's application platform). This is optional — many projects do not need it at all.

If it applies to your project, ARAI will tell you during the intake. If it comes up, you will need a Google account (you likely already have one) and a Firebase project:

  • Go to console.firebase.google.com
  • Click Add project and follow the steps
  • The Spark (free) plan is sufficient to start

ARAI will generate the service account configuration it needs and guide you through where to paste it. You stay in control of the Firebase project and its billing settings at all times.

5. A quick summary

Here is everything in one place:

  • GitHub account — required. Create a new empty repository for the project.
  • Vercel account — required. Sign up with your GitHub account.
  • Firebase project — optional. Only needed if your product requires a backend.

If all three accounts already exist, you are ready now. If you need to create them, plan for about ten minutes of clicking through sign-up flows. There is nothing technical about any of it.

Coming soon: ARAI will automate this entire setup for you. Rather than creating accounts manually, you will authorize ARAI once and it will provision the repository, the Vercel project, and the Firebase configuration automatically — before the first line of code is written.

6. What happens next

Once these accounts are in place, the ARAI Studio intake process takes over. You describe what you want to build, ARAI asks clarifying questions, and then the pipeline starts — writing code, committing to your repository, and deploying to Vercel automatically.

You can watch every step in the ARAI dashboard. Every change is a visible commit. Nothing happens in the background that you cannot inspect.

If any of the steps above are unclear or you run into a question, reach out before onboarding. Setup friction is a problem we take seriously — and if something tripped you up, it will help us improve this guide.