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Quickstart

LabLink deploys three ways. The two AWS paths produce the same allocator infrastructure and store OpenTofu state in S3; they differ in where OpenTofu runs. The third skips AWS entirely.

Start with the CLI for the shortest AWS setup. Use the template repository when you want to own its OpenTofu files and GitHub Actions workflows. The manual provider uses the same config schema without AWS.

No AWS account?

Set provider: manual and the allocator runs as a local docker-compose stack, with client machines you register yourself. No AWS account, no OpenTofu, no cloud bill — see Bring-Your-Own Clients.

  • Quickstart: CLI

    Install the lablink CLI and run lablink configure && lablink deploy from your own machine. A single config.yaml drives everything; OpenTofu templates are pulled from a pinned release under the hood.

    Best when you want a standard deployment without maintaining a repo — one config file, no Dockerfile or .tf to edit.

    Quickstart: CLI

  • Quickstart: Template repo

    Create a repository from lablink-template. You own its OpenTofu .tf files, configuration, and GitHub Actions workflows; deploys run through CI.

    Best when you need to customize infrastructure resources or workflow steps. A custom Docker image and client AMI can also be selected in the CLI's config.

    Quickstart: Template repo

For a detailed path comparison, see the CLI overview.

Prerequisites

The requirements differ by path. See Prerequisites before installing tools.

Next steps