Launchpad: managed servers and a Claude Code connector

Getting Started

Launch your first server

Provision your first Launchpad server through Claude Code and see it come up, step by step.

The quickest way to launch a server is to ask Claude Code to do it. If you haven't installed the Launchpad connector in the Claude desktop app yet, do that first: it takes a minute and is covered in Adding the connector. Then come back here.

1. Ask for a server

In a Claude Code session in the desktop app, say something like:

Use Launchpad to launch a server for my leave-request app. My secret key is lp_…

Claude will call the connector's get_account_status and list_available_plans tools to see what you're entitled to, then request_server with your plan. The response includes a provisioning job id and the subdomain your server has been given, something like brave-otter.asklaunchpad.com.

2. Wait for it to be ready

Provisioning takes a couple of minutes. Claude will poll get_provisioning_status for you. A server is only reported as ready once its first-boot configuration has actually finished, meaning:

  • nginx is installed and running;
  • MySQL is installed and running;
  • 4 GB of swap is configured;
  • the server trusts Launchpad's SSH certificate authority (this is what makes sessions work);
  • a README.md with the same guidance is in the home directory.

3. Have a look around

Once it's ready, ask Claude to check on the server:

Show me the health of my new server and read me its README.

get_server_health returns a snapshot of disk, memory, CPU and service status. get_server_readme returns the on-server README. Neither needs an SSH session, so they're safe to run any time.

4. Do something with it

From here, the normal flow is: Claude opens a short-lived SSH session, copies your app over, creates a database, sets it up as a service, and checks it at your subdomain. That's covered in Your first session and Deploying your app.

Doing it without Claude

A web dashboard for launching and managing servers is on the roadmap. For now, if you need a server launched without going through Claude Code, email us and we'll do it for you.

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