Prerequisites

This guide walks through everything you need before running vybn deploy. Choose your provider — GCP (managed VM) or SSH (bring your own server) — and follow the relevant sections.

GCP Provider

1. Google Cloud account & project

You need a GCP account with a project that has billing enabled.

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console and sign in (or create an account)
2. Create a new project — or use an existing one
3. Enable billing on the project

Note

vybn creates a single e2-standard-4 VM by default. See GCP pricing for current costs. You can change the machine type with VYBN_MACHINE_TYPE in ~/.vybnrc.

2. Install the gcloud CLI

Install the Google Cloud SDK for your platform:

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install google-cloud-sdk

macOS / Linux (manual):

curl https://sdk.cloud.google.com | bash

Other platforms: see the official install docs.

After installing, initialize and authenticate:

gcloud init
gcloud auth login

gcloud init will prompt you to select a project and default region. Pick the project you created in step 1.

Tip

To change your project later: gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

3. Enable the Compute Engine API

vybn creates VMs through the Compute Engine API, which must be enabled on your project:

gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com

SSH Provider

The SSH provider deploys to an existing server you manage. No GCP account or gcloud CLI required.

1. Server requirements

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04+, Ubuntu 24.04, or Debian 12+
• Access: root or a user with passwordless sudo
• Network: outbound internet access (to install packages and connect to Tailscale)
• SSH: the server must be reachable from your local machine via SSH

2. SSH client

You need an SSH client on your local machine. macOS and Linux include one by default. Verify with:

ssh -V

3. SSH credentials

Ensure you can connect to your server:

ssh user@your-server.example.com

If you use a specific key file, note its path — you’ll provide it during vybn init (or set VYBN_SSH_KEY in ~/.vybnrc).

Tailscale account & auth key

Tailscale is the default network backend for both providers. It creates a WireGuard mesh so your VM is reachable from any device on your tailnet.

Using IAP instead? (GCP only)

If you’re using the GCP provider and prefer to tunnel SSH through Google’s infrastructure, you can skip this section. See the IAP Setup guide.

1. Create a free account at tailscale.com
2. Install Tailscale on your local machine: tailscale.com/download
3. Log in and verify it’s running:

tailscale status

4. Generate an auth key in the admin console

   • Use a reusable key if you plan to redeploy VMs frequently
   • Set an appropriate expiration (90 days is the maximum)

5. Save the key in your vybn config:

cat >> ~/.vybnrc << 'EOF'
VYBN_TAILSCALE_AUTHKEY="tskey-auth-..."
EOF

For more Tailscale options (custom hostname, ACL tags), see the Tailscale Setup guide.

Next steps

You’re ready to install vybn and deploy your first VM. Head to Getting Started.