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Getting Started

This section takes you from a fresh checkout to a local Atlas instance you can inspect. It covers setup, startup, health checks, and the first catalog steps before you move on to daily use or operations.

Who this section is for

Use this section if you are evaluating Atlas, joining a team that runs it, or preparing a local environment. It explains:

  • the prerequisites and environment values for a local run;
  • the Compose topology for source-based development;
  • how to check the running services and diagnose a failed start; and
  • where to go after the first successful run.

Start here

Begin with Run Atlas locally. It is the source-mounted, autoreloading path from a fresh checkout to a signed-in browser and a seeded catalog entity with visible relationships.

  1. Run Atlas locally: prepare the environment, start the source-based stack, apply migrations, load the demo, and inspect a System.
  2. Tour the demo catalog: follow the seeded catalog from the home page through list, preview, detail, relations, and diagram views, then out to an API, a Flow, a Resource's schema, and the System Map.
  3. Environment variables: check the meaning and safety of settings before changing the local defaults.
  4. Troubleshooting: use observable startup symptoms if the expected result is missing.
  5. Continue with Using Atlas to understand catalog data, or Operating Atlas for the production-like topology and routine operations.

Section boundary

This journey covers a local first run, not production readiness, upgrades, or recovery. Those procedures belong in Operating Atlas. The exact catalog model is maintained in Concepts and Architecture.