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This is the conversational path into formae. Instead of writing Pkl and running CLI commands yourself, you describe what you want and your assistant does the work: picking plugins, writing the forma, simulating, and applying. You will install formae, connect your assistant, deploy something real, and tear it down. It works the same on AWS, Azure, or GCP, because you tell the assistant which cloud you are on.
Prefer to drive the CLI yourself? Follow the Quick start instead. Both end in the same place.
1

Install formae

Add the binary to your PATH:
Verify with formae --version.
2

Start the formae agent

Your assistant talks to the agent, so it needs to be running. Start it in its own terminal and leave it there:
3

Connect your assistant

Install the formae MCP server and skills in your client. Claude Code is a one-liner; other clients need the server registered manually.
For Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, and other MCP clients, follow the installation instructions.Check the connection. Ask your assistant:
Is my formae agent healthy?
It should report live agent status. If it errors, the MCP server is not registered: see the setup guide above.
4

Make sure your cloud credentials are available

formae uses your existing cloud credentials. Set up whichever cloud you are deploying to:
aws configure, or export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY.
5

Describe what you want

Now just ask. Name your cloud and what you want to deploy:
I want to deploy an S3 bucket to AWS in us-east-1 with formae.
Your assistant uses the formae-author skill to work out which plugins you need, pull version-matched examples, write the forma file, and design the stack. It simulates the change and shows you what will be created before anything happens.Review the simulation, then tell it to go ahead:
Looks good, apply it.
Your assistant always simulates before applying and asks before anything destructive. That behaviour is built into the skills, not something you have to remember to ask for.
6

Verify

Ask what you now have:
What resources do I have under management?
It calls list_resources against the agent and shows you what formae is tracking. You can cross-check in your cloud console.
7

Clean up

Destroy the stack you just created.
Your assistant confirms first, then tears it down.

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What you just did

You never opened a Pkl file, but you now have a real forma in your project that you own and can edit. The assistant is not a black box: it wrote IaC code you can read, commit, and apply yourself with formae apply.

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What’s next

Write your first forma

Build a forma by hand to understand what your assistant generated.

AI coding assistants

All 19 skills, all 31 tools, and setup for every MCP client.

Core concepts

Stacks, targets, resources, and formas.

Fix code drift

Ask your assistant to absorb out-of-band changes back into your code.