1. Plug a USB stick into this computer.
8 GB or larger. Everything on it will be erased.
2. Write the image — macOS or Linux.
One line does it all: lists your removable disks, asks which one, fetches the latest released image, verifies it, and writes it — your OS asks for your password once. Click to copy, paste in a terminal:
$ curl -sSf https://pipe.online/flash.sh | sh
Prefer to do each step yourself? The image, its digest and the dd line are on downloads.
2. Write the image — Windows.
Use Rufus, the standard free image writer — it reads the compressed image as-is:
| get | the image: pipeos-usb.img.xz, and Rufus from rufus.ie |
| pick | your USB stick under Device, then SELECT and choose the downloaded pipeos-usb.img.xz |
| write | START, and wait for the bar — everything on the stick is erased |
2. Write the image — from a pipeOS box.
A box you already run can make the next stick itself: plug the stick into the box and, from its terminal,
$ pipeos flash --to /dev/sdX
It fetches the latest release, verifies it, writes the stick, and stamps it with the box's identity backup path. Details in the manual.
3. Boot the box from it.
Move the stick to any spare x86_64 box, power on (Secure Boot off), and open http://pipeos.local/ from any device on the same network. Claiming it and connecting Claude takes about three minutes — the setup walkthrough.
Rather skip all this? A ready-made stick or box ships in days.