> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ara-90a60a07.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Get started > Start a task with Ara. 1. Open [Ara](https://ara.so), review how the coding-agent loop works, and sign in with an available method. 2. Choose **New task** and describe the result you want. 3. Name a repository or Device only when the task needs one. Otherwise, Ara can start in a scratch workspace. Before using Ara, review the [Privacy Policy](https://ara.so/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://ara.so/terms), which describe current data handling, connected-service, and account terms. ## Network reliability diagnostics Ara's public site publishes the browser-standard Network Error Logging (NEL) policy so we can identify DNS, connection, and TLS failures that occur before the app can load. A browser may send an anonymous network-failure report to Ara's telemetry endpoint. The report contains the failed URL and network error category, plus a short-lived random cohort value and coarse edge location for operational correlation when the browser already has an authenticated telemetry cohort. Signed-out reports stay anonymous. Reports do not include task content, raw IP addresses, or arbitrary browser cookies. They are used only to operate and improve public-site availability. Current service health and incident history are published at [status.ara.so](https://status.ara.so). Ara also checks DNS and HTTPS every 15 minutes from separate worldwide mixes of consumer and datacenter networks. A 10% target-level failure rate is confirmed with a second fresh probe cohort before it is treated as an availability incident. Probe rows explicitly reported offline or as internal provider failures are excluded from the customer-failure rate; if too few consumer or datacenter nodes remain, the sample is reported as inconclusive instead of healthy. For example: ```text theme={null} Fix the flaky test in src/auth/session.test.ts. Reproduce the failure, add a regression test, run the focused test, and open a pull request. ``` An Ara task session showing the conversation and work panels. For work that runs longer, return to the session to follow progress, inspect evidence, and decide what happens next. Add organization context when every task should begin with the same company background. ## When Ara needs your reply If Ara cannot safely continue without a decision, the session shows the exact question and waits for your response. The question and resume point are saved before the cloud sandbox is allowed to enter standby. Answering resumes the same session and sandbox state; Ara does not restart the task or silently switch to a different machine. Opening an explicit workspace surface such as Computer or Terminal can wake the sandbox while it is waiting. ## Choose an interface | Need | Use | | --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | Start and steer a task | [Ara web app](https://ara.so/login) | | Work from your terminal or editor | Ara CLI | | Build against Ara from code or CI | [Ara API](/api-quickstart) | | Work from a team conversation | Slack with @Ara | | Let a task use your Mac | an approved Ara Device | To connect a Mac, install the CLI and follow the sign-in prompt: ```bash theme={null} curl -fsSL https://ara.so/install.sh | bash ``` ## Use the API Outside agents use the [API quickstart](/api-quickstart): mint an `ara_` key from **Settings → Developers**, call `GET /v3/self`, create a session, and poll until `exit`, `error`, or `suspended`. Public customer MCP is retired; do not connect Cursor, Claude, or Grok Bot to `/mcp/ara`. ```bash theme={null} curl https://api.ara.so/v3/self \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARA_API_KEY" ``` The response identifies the key's workspace and lists its granted `scopes`. When a documented endpoint needs another capability, Ara returns `missing_scope` with the exact `required_scope`; create or rotate a key with that capability rather than retrying the request. See the [endpoint reference](/api-reference) or download the [OpenAPI specification](/openapi.json). ## Models and keys Choose a model in the task composer, or connect a provider in **Settings → Models & credentials**. Provider keys are encrypted and stay inside Ara's service boundary; they are not added to a task, terminal, or command line. Anthropic subscriptions use **Connect with Ara CLI**. The workspace gives you one short-lived setup command; Ara CLI opens Anthropic in your browser, receives the localhost callback on your computer, and stores the resulting credential encrypted in that workspace. You do not copy a callback URL or provider token. The command contains an expiring Ara workspace-pairing code and, when you are reconnecting, the existing non-secret account slot. Ara uses the model you selected. If a provider is unavailable, the task shows the failure instead of silently switching models. Model usage and sandbox time draw from your workspace credit balance. For supported subscriptions, **Models & credentials** shows a small usage ring with the remaining allowance and next reset on hover. Finite OpenRouter key budgets use the same ring; providers without a reliable usage endpoint stay connected without an estimated balance. ## Customize a workspace Open **Customize** to manage workspace integrations, skills, code settings, billing, and history. Workspace members can rename the workspace and connect a model provider; only owners and admins can replace or remove credentials that are already shared with the workspace. In **Customize → Skills**, choose **Create skill** to start a task with Ara's built-in skill creator selected. Describe the behavior you want in ordinary language; Ara turns it into one reusable Workspace skill and confirms its name and identifier after creation. ## Continue with your task * Review the session to see the conversation, changes, commands, and evidence together before accepting a result. * Reply in Chat when Ara pauses to ask a question. Ara binds the reply to the pending question and records it once, even if the browser retries the send. * Chat condenses completed activity into a summary of explored files, searches, fetches, and commands. Expand the summary to see chronological actions, then expand an action to inspect its bounded command or program, output, diff, or error; use the copy action in its result header to copy the complete invocation and result. Set **Activity detail** under **Settings → Appearance** to Minimal, Normal, or Verbose to choose which of those three levels opens by default. * Use **Browse** (`⌘K`) from the chat header to open the **Files** view, then switch to messages or actions when needed. Selecting a workspace file opens its full source view beside the repository tree. Selecting an **Edited files** card opens the matching full diff view with the changed-file tree. Open **Computer** for the workspace view; its full-width **Terminal** bar expands upward from the bottom and collapses from the top of the open terminal. * Open **Progress** to inspect the retained trace without leaving your workspace, then return to **Chat** for the transcript. Progress replays each turn as the actions Ara actually took: safe context provenance, public reasoning, operations, state changes, delegation, and the final result. * Each operation shows its approved command or program above its result. Tool start, update, and completion frames collapse into one operation. * Progress shows compact, safe context provenance—such as model requests, loaded skills, memory items, attachments, and file excerpts—rather than raw system prompts, private memory, credentials, or file bodies. * Connect repositories, plugins, and approved Devices only when the task needs that context. * Keep credentials in workspace settings rather than source code, prompts, or terminal history. Ara carries the work from your request through a reviewed change, with the conversation and evidence kept together in one place.