Guided Cloud Setup

The guided installer can help you provision a hosted AutoMem backend and then configure your selected agents. This page covers the Hosted Cloud path in depth: how each provider flow works, what the installer captures, and how to script the supported options.

Reach it by running the installer and choosing Hosted Cloud at the first prompt:

curl -fsSL get.automem.ai | sh
# or, if Node 20.19+ is already installed:
npx @verygoodplugins/mcp-automem install

?  Where should AutoMem run?
❯  Hosted Cloud      InstaPods or Railway — guided deploy
   Local Docker      Clone AutoMem and start Docker Compose on this machine
   Existing Endpoint Use an AutoMem URL you already have

Choose Hosted Cloud for always-on memory that follows you across devices and machines. For an on-machine stack instead, see Quick Start → Local Docker and Docker & Local Dev.

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Pick a provider

After choosing Hosted Cloud, the installer asks how to stand it up:

?  How should we stand up your hosted AutoMem?
❯  InstaPods                      open the setup page — it deploys AutoMem and emails your URL + key
   Railway (guided)              sign in with the railway CLI and create a fresh deployment
   Other — I already have a URL + key   already deployed somewhere; just paste your endpoint + token

Provider	How it deploys	Credential flow
InstaPods	Opens the setup page	Paste the endpoint and key you receive
Railway (guided)	Signs in with the railway CLI and creates a fresh AutoMem deployment	The installer reads the endpoint and key after the deployment is available
Other	Uses an AutoMem instance you already run	Paste its endpoint and key

InstaPods

1. The installer opens the InstaPods AutoMem setup page. Complete the provider setup there.
2. Return when you have the API URL and key.
3. Paste them at the prompt — the installer does not read InstaPods credentials automatically:

?  AutoMem API URL  ›  https://your-automem.instapods.app
?  AutoMem API key (leave blank if this endpoint does not require one)  ›  ••••••••

The installer verifies the endpoint’s /health before touching any agent config.

Railway (guided)

1. The installer uses the railway CLI and its authenticated session to create a fresh AutoMem deployment.
2. It waits for the deployment’s generated domain, reads the AutoMem API token, and verifies the endpoint before it configures agents.
3. If the guided flow cannot complete, provide the endpoint and key manually instead.

Existing Railway deployments

Railway (guided) does not discover or reuse an existing Railway deployment in this release. If you already run AutoMem on Railway, choose Other and paste its endpoint and key; that connects the installer without provisioning another deployment.

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What the installer captures

Once it has an endpoint, the installer:

1. Uses the endpoint + token it read from guided Railway setup or that you pasted for InstaPods/Other.
2. Writes them to a .env in the current directory (AUTOMEM_API_URL, plus AUTOMEM_API_KEY if the endpoint needs one).
3. Wires your agents — review the plan, approve, and it registers the MCP server for each selected agent, backing up every file it changes with a .bak.

Nothing is written until you approve the plan, so a cloud run is as safe to preview as a local one.

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Customize and script it

Use these supported flags and environment variables to pre-answer the installer:

# Deploy to a hosted provider, fully interactive
curl -fsSL get.automem.ai | AUTOMEM_INSTALL_TARGET=cloud sh

# Pick the provider up front
curl -fsSL get.automem.ai | \
  AUTOMEM_INSTALL_TARGET=cloud \
  AUTOMEM_CLOUD_PROVIDER=instapods sh

# I already deployed — capture an endpoint without provisioning
curl -fsSL get.automem.ai | \
  AUTOMEM_INSTALL_TARGET=existing \
  AUTOMEM_API_URL=https://memory.example \
  AUTOMEM_API_KEY=sk-... \
  AUTOMEM_YES=1 sh

# Preview the whole plan, write nothing
curl -fsSL get.automem.ai | AUTOMEM_DRY_RUN=1 sh

The same flags work on the npm package, e.g. npx @verygoodplugins/mcp-automem install --target cloud --cloud-provider railway.

Flag	Environment variable	Purpose
--target	AUTOMEM_INSTALL_TARGET	cloud, local, or existing
--cloud-provider	AUTOMEM_CLOUD_PROVIDER	instapods, railway, or other
--endpoint	AUTOMEM_API_URL	AutoMem HTTP API endpoint (for existing/other)
--api-key	AUTOMEM_API_KEY	Bearer token for authenticated endpoints
--clients	AUTOMEM_CLIENTS	Agents to wire after deploy: codex,claude-code,cursor,openclaw,hermes
--no-agent-install	AUTOMEM_NO_AGENT_INSTALL=1	Provision the endpoint only; skip agents
--yes / -y	AUTOMEM_YES=1	Apply the reviewed plan without prompting
--dry-run	AUTOMEM_DRY_RUN=1	Print the plan, write nothing

Headless and CI

Without a TTY, the installer prints the plan and stops unless you explicitly pass --yes or set AUTOMEM_YES=1. Only CI, CODEX, and CLAUDE_CODE suppress the installer animation. GITHUB_ACTIONS is not a separate approval or animation trigger.

For CI, use --target existing with an endpoint and key rather than provisioning inside the pipeline.

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Verify

Confirm the hosted backend is healthy:

curl https://your-automem-url/health \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_AUTOMEM_API_TOKEN"

{
  "status": "healthy",
  "falkordb": "connected",
  "qdrant": "connected",
  "memory_count": 0,
  "enrichment": { "status": "running", "queue_depth": 0 }
}

If Qdrant is unavailable, health reports "qdrant": "disconnected" and the top-level "status": "degraded". See Quick Start → Verify it worked for the full field reference and a first end-to-end memory test.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Railway guided setup does not complete	The CLI flow could not finish in this environment	Choose Other and paste the endpoint + key for an existing AutoMem deployment
401 Unauthorized on /health	Wrong/missing token	Re-check the key the provider issued; provide it without a Bearer prefix
You already run AutoMem on Railway	Railway (guided) creates a fresh deployment in this release	Choose Other and paste the existing endpoint + key

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Next steps

• Connect more agents — Platform Installers and the Platform Guides.
• Deep deployment docs — InstaPods and Railway.
• Production hardening — Backup & Recovery and Health Monitoring.

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Release scope

The installer behavior on this page is validated against mcp-automem 0.16.0. The health-response vocabulary is validated against AutoMem 0.16.2.