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This guide walks you through launching your first GPU node on SF Compute.

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Install the CLI

curl -fsSL https://cli.sfcompute.com | bash

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Log in

sf login
This opens your browser to authenticate and stores your credentials locally. You can check your credit balance anytime with sf billing balance.

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Check availability

See which zones have GPUs available. 
sf zones ls

NAME             REGION  HARDWARE  NODES NOW  NEXT 48H
richmond         EMEA    H100             10  ▄▄▅▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▇█████████
marina           NA      H100              0  ▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
...
NODES NOW shows how many nodes are available to buy right now. Pick a zone with availability — in this guide we’ll use richmond.

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Create an empty capacity

A capacity tracks your compute allocation over time. You buy compute time into a capacity with orders, and nodes on the capacity run when there’s allocated time. 
sf capacities create --zone richmond --name dev

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Buy compute time

This will charge your account. Make sure you have credits — check with sf billing balance or top up on the dashboard.
Place a buy order for compute time on your capacity. The command will guide you through each option interactively, including number of nodes, start time, duration, and rate: 
sf orders create --capacity dev --side buy

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Check your order

sf orders ls

SIDE  STATUS  PERIOD   NODES  RATE             CAPACITY  ID
buy   filled  Mar 23       1  ≤$20.00/node/hr  dev       ordr_...
If the order shows cancelled, the price was too low or there was no availability. Try a higher price, or check sf zones ls to buy compute for a future time when more nodes are available.

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List images

Images are bootable OS disk images. You’ll need an image name or ID to create a node. 
sf images ls

NAME                      VISIBILITY  STATUS     CREATED
ubuntu-22.04.5-cuda-12.7  public      completed  Feb 23, 6:50pm
SFC provides public images with Ubuntu and CUDA pre-installed. You can also build and upload your own custom images.

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Create a node

First, create a startup script that injects your SSH key so you can connect to the node. 
cat >startup.sh <<SCRIPT
#!/bin/bash

mkdir -p /root/.ssh
cat >>/root/.ssh/authorized_keys <<"EOF"
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub 2>/dev/null)
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub 2>/dev/null)
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk.pub 2>/dev/null)
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub 2>/dev/null)
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk.pub 2>/dev/null)
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_xmss.pub 2>/dev/null)
$(cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub 2>/dev/null)
EOF
SCRIPT
Then create a node on your capacity with the public image. 
sf nodes create --capacity dev --image ubuntu-22.04.5-cuda-12.7 --cloud-init ./startup.sh
Your capacity already has compute time from the order you placed. Since the order’s start time was now, the node will be allocated within about a minute and begin booting. Compute ownership and nodes are separate: you can terminate and recreate nodes without losing your purchased compute time.

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Watch your node start

sf nodes ls
The image download and boot process takes up to 10 minutes before SSH is available.

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Connect via SSH

sf nodes ssh {node-name}
Verify the GPUs are available: 
nvidia-smi

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Next steps

You now have a running GPU node. Here are some things to try: Sell back unused compute. Place a sell order as a standing order — if someone buys it, you get credits back and the node loses its compute time. 
sf orders create --capacity dev --side sell --nodes 1 \
  --start now --duration 1h --min-rate 8.00 --allow-standing
Check your capacity’s allocation schedule to see the compute time you own. 
sf capacities get dev
Learn more:
  • Capacities — manage compute allocation
  • Orders — buy and sell compute time
  • Nodes — SSH, logs, images, and lifecycle