First steps

Your first successful task

From opening Alva Code to a small, working result. No coding experience required.

Step by step

Install and open Alva Code. On Windows, follow the installer. On macOS, open the DMG and drag Alva Code into Applications, then launch it from there.
Sign in to Alva Code or create an account. This signs you into Alva; connecting your AI provider is a separate step.
Choose one AI connection: a provider’s coding tool (CLI), an API key, or a local model. Read “Choose your AI connection” if you are unsure.
Open a project folder. For your first experiment, create an empty folder in the folder picker and select it.
Select a connected provider and model in the chat panel. Start with a small task from “Example prompts”.
Read the result, open the changed files, and ask the agent how to run or preview them. Make one follow-up change at a time.