> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.moda.app/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # moda-setup > Install the Moda CLI or MCP connector for agent use Moda is a design tool you can drive: real editable decks, one-pagers, social posts, diagrams, websites and video on a live canvas — not flat images. Written to you, the agent. Do as much as you can without asking. Two things need the user: signing in, and — if you have no shell — the connector setup in step 5, which you guide rather than perform. ## 1. Pick your path Can you run shell commands **with internet access**? * **No** → step 5. * **Yes** → step 2. The CLI is faster, cheaper in context, and can read this machine's files. Two exceptions, in order: * You already know sign-in cannot finish here — no browser the user will see, and no `MODA_API_KEY` set. Go to step 5 now rather than installing something you will not be able to authenticate. * Unless there is no human present at all. Then stay on step 2: the connector needs someone to click through it, and step 3 names what the operator sets instead. A sandboxed code interpreter usually cannot reach the network, so the install fails and nothing you do there helps the user. If you cannot tell, step 2 will tell you. Decide by what you can do, not by what you are called. Do not look for your own name in a list. ## 2. Ask Moda what is missing Run `moda doctor --json`. It works before you have signed in, and one JSON object describes the whole install. If the command is not found: ```sh theme={null} npm i -g @moda-design/moda ``` * A 401 or registry error means a private registry is shadowing the package. Retry with `--registry https://registry.npmjs.org`. * **The install times out, or npm cannot reach the registry at all: you are in a sandbox with no network. Stop and go to step 5.** Do not retry, and do not ask the user to run the command for you — the connector is the path that works from where you are. * Installed but not on PATH: use `npx @moda-design/moda` everywhere below. * Never `sudo`, and never pipe `curl` to a shell. Installing is allowed only here. Once the skills exist their own Step 0 governs: a stale CLI you refresh with `moda update`, but a missing one you stop and hand to the user. ## 3. Fix only what doctor reports | Doctor says | Do this | | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `"authenticated": false` | `moda auth login` | | `"skills": {"installed": 0}` | `npx -y skills add moda-design/moda -y` | | `"below_minimum": true` | `moda update`. It cannot self-update on Homebrew, Windows, or a source checkout — if it prints a command instead of updating, give that command to the user and wait. | | `"connectivity": false` | Network or proxy problem. Report it and stop. | `moda auth login` opens the user's browser and stores a scoped key. Tell the user to finish signing in, then wait for the command to return — do not kill it while it waits. * No browser on this machine: **the user** runs `moda auth login --paste` and pastes the key themselves. You do not read it, relay it, or type it for them. * CI, or no human present: an operator sets `MODA_API_KEY` out of band, before you run. It is not something to ask anyone for. Never ask for, print, echo, or store a key yourself. That rule outranks both fallbacks above: if the only way forward is a credential passing through you, stop — use the connector in step 5 instead. Signing up is free and needs no card. ## 4. Re-run doctor until every state holds ```json theme={null} { "authenticated": true, "checks": { "connectivity": true, "version": { "below_minimum": false }, "skills": { "installed": 1 } } } ``` `skills.installed` must be one or more. Repeat step 3 until all four hold. Do **not** use the top-level `ok` field to decide this. It is doctor's exit status: `true` on a machine with no credential and no skills, and `false` when a saved key was rejected or the network is unreachable. It is never a readiness signal. If a command fails, `moda last-error` prints the full envelope. Once you are signed in, `moda ask ""` is free and answers with the exact commands — it needs a credential, so it cannot help you before the login in step 3. Tell the user Moda is ready, then go to step 6. ## 5. No shell? Use the connector Ask the user to add a custom MCP connector with this server URL, then sign in when prompted: ``` https://agents.moda.app/mcp ``` In ChatGPT they must first turn on developer mode: **Settings → Security and login → Developer mode**. Two things stall here more than anything else, and only the user can do them: * If their account has more than one workspace, sign-in asks which one this connection acts in. With one workspace the question never appears. * Some hosts also need the connector switched on per conversation — a **+** or **/** menu, under **Connectors**. If `moda_bootstrap` is not among your tools, that is almost always why. Setup is done when `moda_bootstrap` returns. Do not say it is connected before that. ## 6. Now make something Setup is finished. This is first use, not part of it — if this step fails, do not reinstall or re-authenticate. Moda is already working. Tell the user what you can do now, then wait for them: > I can use Moda to design anything — slides, one-pagers, social posts, graphics and more. > I can also set up your brand kit to start. The skills carry the method — installed on this machine if you came through step 2, served by the connector if you came through step 5, where you fetch one with `load_skill` and it never arrives unless you ask. Follow them.