getting-started.md

Get Mino running and watch it heal a container

This is a lesson, not a reference. Follow it start to finish and you will end with Mino watching a real container, catching it when it fails, and bringing it back. Set aside about fifteen minutes.

You need Python 3.13, Node, and Docker on your machine.

1. Start the backend

python3.13 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r backend/requirements.txt
AUTH_SECRET=dev-secret ENCRYPTION_KEY=dev-key DATABASE_URL="sqlite:///./oncall.db" \
  uvicorn app.main:app --app-dir backend --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

The backend now runs on port 8000 against a local SQLite file. Leave it running.

2. Start the frontend

In a second terminal:

cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173. Mino asks you to create the owner account. Pick any email and password. You are now looking at the Now view. It is quiet, because nothing is being watched yet.

3. Give Mino a host to watch

Mino watches a host through a small agent. You will run that agent against your own Docker.

1. Open Settings, then Connected servers, then Add server. Name it local.
2. Click Install. Mino shows a command with a token in it. Copy it.
3. Run it in a third terminal. It looks like this:

curl -fsSL http://localhost:8000/api/v1/agent/script \
  | python3 - --server http://localhost:8000 --token <your-token>

Within a few seconds the agent reports your containers, and they appear in Mino.

4. Break something on purpose

Start a throwaway container, then stop it and watch Mino notice.

docker run -d --name mino-demo nginx

Give the agent a moment to report it. Then stop it:

docker stop mino-demo

Switch to the Now view. Mino detects that mino-demo is down, opens an incident, reads the logs, and asks the LLM what happened. If you set an autonomy of auto-fix, the agent restarts the container and the incident resolves on its own. If you left it on ask-first, Mino waits with a diagnosis and an Approve button. Click it and watch the container come back.

5. Clean up

docker rm -f mino-demo

What you learned

You ran Mino, connected a host, and watched a full incident: detect, diagnose, fix, resolve. From here:

• To put this on a server, read Deploy with Docker Compose.
• To understand the decisions Mino just made, read How Mino works.
• For LLM diagnoses with a real model, read Choose an LLM provider.