# Quickstart: your first job on Coreload
**You need:**

- a GitHub organization (any plan);
- a private repository in it with a GitHub Actions workflow;
- owner rights in the organization, so you can install a GitHub App.

## 1. Install the Coreload CI App

1. Open **<https://github.com/apps/coreload-ci>** and click **Install**.
2. Choose your organization, then **Only select repositories**, and pick your repository.
3. Click **Install**.

GitHub brings you back to Coreload's setup page. Accept the terms there (one click), and
your organization is ready. (coming soon)

The App asks only for:

- Organization self-hosted runners: write
- Actions (the repositories you choose): read
- Metadata (the repositories you choose): read

The self-hosted runners permission covers your whole organization: Coreload uses it only for its own runner group
and the single-use runners it registers there, and never touches your other runners or groups. The App has no access
to your repository contents, issues or secret values; see the [security model](https://coreload.com/docs/security/).
Your jobs run on our machines, so a job's own checkout and files live in its VM until the job ends.

> **One step is still manual.** After you install, we turn your organization on by hand and send you its labels. You
> don't send us anything: we see the installation. Jobs wait until then.

## 2. Change one line

```diff
 jobs:
   test:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    runs-on: coreload
```

Use the label we sent you when we turned your organization on; the diff shows `coreload`.
Every organization gets the `coreload` label. (coming soon) For a bigger machine, use a size from this table
that your organization has (4 and 8 vCPU for every organization (coming soon)):

| `runs-on:` | Machine | Price |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `coreload` | 2 vCPU · 7 GiB | $0.00114 / min |
| `coreload-4vcpu` | 4 vCPU · 12 GiB | $0.00228 / min |
| `coreload-8vcpu` | 8 vCPU · 32 GiB | $0.00418 / min |
| `coreload-16vcpu` | coming | — |
| `coreload-32vcpu` | coming | — |

**Beta pricing: published before we bill anything**

Use exactly one Coreload label, on its own. A job that also asks for `self-hosted` or `linux` won't start on
Coreload. Jobs you don't change keep running where they ran before.

## 3. Push and watch it run

1. Commit and push.
2. Open the run under your repository's **Actions** tab.
3. The job's **Set up job** step names the runner `coreload-…`. The job runs in a fresh VM, which is destroyed when the
   job ends.

If the job doesn't start, see [Troubleshooting](https://coreload.com/docs/troubleshooting/).

## What runs today

Each job runs in a fresh VM built from a **Debian 12** image with Node.js, npm, Python 3 and git. It is not yet the
Ubuntu image GitHub's `ubuntu-24.04` runners use, so today:

- **No Docker.** `docker` is not available in jobs yet: a step that runs `docker` or builds an image fails, and so
  a job's `container:` and `services:` can't start either.
- **Setup actions that download Ubuntu-only builds may fail.** `actions/setup-python` fails today when it downloads a
  CPython version (3.12, 3.13 and 3.14 were tried): those builds are made for Ubuntu only. Other `setup-*` actions
  that fetch Ubuntu builds may fail the same way.
- **Some standard tools aren't preinstalled**, for example Go and Rust: a job that expects `go` or `cargo` on the path
  fails. Install them in the job: `actions/setup-go` works for Go.
- **Verified to work** in our benchmark runs: `actions/checkout`, `actions/setup-node`, `pnpm/action-setup`,
  `actions/setup-go` and `actions/cache` (restore and save), and whole Node.js (pnpm, turbo) and Rust (cargo build and
  test) jobs. Other actions may work too; they aren't verified yet.

The same image GitHub's ubuntu-24.04 runners use, with Docker and the standard toolchains. (coming soon)

## Set up with your coding agent

Paste this into Claude Code, Codex or another agent, in your repository:

```text
Switch this repository's GitHub Actions jobs to Coreload runners.
- Read "What runs today" in the Coreload quickstart first. Move a job only if everything it uses is supported there:
  a job that needs anything the section says is missing or may fail stays on its current runner for now.
- For each job you move, replace `runs-on: ubuntu-latest` (or ubuntu-24.04) with the Coreload label I give you:
  <your label>, and add an install step for any tool the section says is not preinstalled.
- Leave every job's size as it is unless I name a bigger Coreload label for it.
- Leave matrix, macOS and Windows jobs unchanged.
- Open one pull request with the change.
```

## Good to know

- **One job per VM.** Each job gets a new VM, which never serves a second job and is destroyed when the job ends.
- **Billing.** Prepaid credit, pay as you go from your balance, by the second for the
  time a job runs. (coming soon) Prices: see [Pricing](https://coreload.com/pricing/).
- **Never allowlist our addresses.** A job's traffic leaves from shared addresses, which can change.
- **Leaving.** Uninstall the App, and we release your organization by hand. Uninstalling releases
  your organization by itself. (coming soon)