#Getting Started

New to Fjord? This is the path from nothing to a running forge with your code pushed and CI green. It takes a few minutes, most of it happens in the browser, and you can do the whole thing for free on the shared instance before you decide whether to provision your own.

#1. Create a Fjord Account

Sign up at fjord.sh. A Fjord Account is the platform credential you use across the web dashboard, the mobile app, and the fj CLI; it is separate from any individual Forgejo instance.

After you sign up, Fjord emails you a verification link. Confirm it before you go further: an unverified account can neither join Commons nor create an instance.

#2. Choose where to start

The account is free either way. What it gets you is a fork in the road:

Most people should start on Commons: it costs nothing, it is a real Forgejo, and nothing you do there blocks moving to your own instance later. Join it from fjord.sh/commons and skip to step 4. Read Fjord Commons for its limits before you plan around it.

#3. Provision your instance

If you want a forge of your own, provision one from the dashboard. Fjord stands up a sovereign, single-tenant forge for you and marks it ready once it is live and reachable. See Provisioning for tiers, regions, and what each state means.

#4. Sign in to your forge

Once you have joined Commons, or your instance is ready, sign in with your Fjord Account:

• Web: open the forge URL, from fjord.sh/commons or from the instance in your dashboard.
• CLI: fj auth login, then work from any clone. See fj auth.
• Mobile: open Fjord Mobile and pick your Fjord Account.

#5. Push a repository

Create a repository in the forge (the web UI, or fj repo create), then push your code to it like any git remote:

git remote add origin https://<your-forge>/<you>/<repo>.git
git push -u origin main

Commons and your own instance both speak standard Git and the Forgejo API, so existing git workflows and tooling just work.

#6. Run your first CI build

CI runs on Forgejo Actions. Every instance runs on the shared Linux runner pool, so there is nothing to install, commit a workflow and it runs. On Team and Pro you can add dedicated runners as a paid add-on when you want capacity that is yours alone. On Commons, Actions run on public repositories from a shared pool of minutes, which is enough to watch a build go green but not to plan a pipeline around; see Fjord Commons. Add .forgejo/workflows/ci.yml:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: https://rasterhub.com/rasterstate/setup-node-action@v1
        with:
          node-version: '20'
      - uses: https://rasterhub.com/rasterstate/setup-pnpm-action@v1
      - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: pnpm test

Fjord Actions are drop-in replacements for the GitHub-hosted actions a Forgejo runner can’t reach; reference them by full URL so the runner clones them from rasterhub.com instead of github.com. setup-node-action installs Node and setup-pnpm-action installs pnpm at the version declared in your package.json. Neither talks to github.com, and neither needs a PAT.

Push the workflow and watch it from the forge’s Actions tab or fj run list.

#What’s next

• Actions overview covers the full bundle: cache, artifacts, language toolchains, Docker, and repo automation.
• Fjord Commons sets out what the free shared instance includes and when you have outgrown it.
• Platform overview shows how instances, tiers, runners, and backups fit together.
• Pages overview shows how to publish a static site, like this one, straight from a workflow.