# Getting started

Create an account, find your way around, and set up your first project — everything before the everyday loop.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/getting-started

New to Machine? Start here. This page gets you from "no account" to "ready to run
your first session." For the loop you'll repeat every day, continue to the
[Quickstart](/docs/quickstart).

## Create your account

### Sign up

Go to the Machine app at [themachine.myapps.ai](https://themachine.myapps.ai).
There is no separate sign-up form: the first time you sign in, Machine creates
your account. Pick one way in:

- **Google** — continue with your Google account.
- **Email code** — type your email and select **Continue**. Machine emails you
a sign-in link and a 6-digit code. Enter the code, and you're in.
- **Password** — select **Use a password instead**, then choose a password for
your email address.
- **SSO** — if your organization has single sign-on set up, type your work
email and select **Continue**, or select **Use single sign-on (SSO)**. Machine
sends you to your company's sign-in.

You don't need a password. If you signed up with Google or an email code, you
can add one later under **Settings → Profile → Security** (the **Password**
row). See [Accounts & tokens](/docs/accounts#signing-in).

### Personal vs. team

Your sign-up creates a **personal account** — your own workspace. If you're here
to work with a team, you'll either create a **team account** or accept an
invitation to join one. You can belong to several accounts and switch between
them from the account picker.

## Find your way around

A few things to know up front:

- **Accounts** are workspaces. Each account owns its own projects, members,
  billing, and settings. The account picker (top of the dashboard) switches
  between the ones you belong to.
- **Projects** live inside an account. A project is one git repository plus its
  configuration — it's where you run sessions and ship work.
- **Sessions** run inside a project. Each is one agent run in a disposable
  sandbox. This is where the actual work happens.

So the hierarchy is simply: **account → project → session.**

## Create your first project

From your projects list, create a project. You can:

- **Start fresh** — Machine sets up a new managed repository for you.
- **Import an existing repo** — connect GitHub and pick a repository to work in.

See [Working with projects](/docs/guides/working-with-projects) for the details
of each path.

## What's next

You're set up. From here:

1. **[Run your first session](/docs/guides/running-a-session)** — give an agent a
   task and watch it work.
2. **[Review the result](/docs/guides/reviewing-changes)** — merge what you want
   to keep.
3. **[Customize the project](/docs/guides/customizing-your-project)** — connect
   tools, add secrets, invite teammates.

Or read the [Quickstart](/docs/quickstart) for the whole loop end to end.