Choose your installation path

For a new physical server, download the prebuilt reduced USB image from the USB guide. Building an image yourself is a development workflow, not a normal installation step. The reduced installer keeps the local Ubuntu main pool for installer features such as Wi-Fi and requires network access for the remaining packages and container images.

Starting point	Guide	What it installs
Dedicated physical computer	USB installation	Ubuntu, host automation, Kubernetes and Magic Stick
New virtual machine	New VM with cloud-init	Host automation, Kubernetes and Magic Stick on an Ubuntu image
Existing dedicated Ubuntu host or VM	Existing Ubuntu	Host automation, Kubernetes and Magic Stick; no OS release upgrade
Existing Kubernetes cluster	Existing cluster	Cluster components only; host administration remains yours

All routes lead to first administrator setup, installation verification and your first model.

Shared prerequisites

Read hardware and network requirements. Back up existing data and choose an installation target you are authorized to change. The normal readonly-public workflow needs no GitHub token or private Git repository.

The current new-installation baseline is Ubuntu 26.04. Existing dedicated Ubuntu 24.04 hosts remain a legacy path. The scripts and later Flux updates do not perform an Ubuntu release upgrade. Hardware support is a separate check, not implied by the operating-system version.

There is no default human dashboard password. Setup creates the first administrator. Keep its temporary 9443 endpoint private and compare the TLS fingerprint shown on the local console or bootstrap terminal before entering the one-time claim.