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Welcome to Urbit, a personal server. Urbit isn't ready for serious use yet, but it's available to try out. If you have an Azimuth point, you can follow this step-by-step guide to get your point's _keyfile_, which you need to boot your ship. Then you can install Urbit and join the community.

If you don't have an Azimuth point, you can always [create a comet](@/docs/using/creating-a-comet.md) to join the network before committing to a point, or [create a development ship](@/docs/using/creating-a-development-ship.md) and start using Urbit offline first.

### [Step 1: Using Bridge](@/docs/getting-started/using-bridge.md)

In order to join the Urbit network, you need an Azimuth point, which acts like an identity and a password for your Urbit ship. Bridge is our client for managing Azimuth points, and lets you get your keyfile and claim the point.

### [Step 2: Installing Urbit](@/docs/getting-started/installing-urbit.md)

The Urbit software is a command-line application that runs the Arvo operating system. This guide walks you through the installation process.

### [Step 3: Booting a Ship](@/docs/getting-started/booting-a-ship.md)

This guide teaches you how to get your ship operational and onto the Arvo network.

### [Optional: Contributing](contributing)

This document will get your started with contributing code or contributing to the community.

## Terminology

You've already encountered some new terminology on this page, and you'll encounter more as you proceed with this guide. Let's go over the basics:

- Arvo is the name of the Urbit operating system.
- An instance of the Arvo operating system is called a _ship_.
- Ships communicate with one another over "the Arvo network."
- Azimuth is an Ethereum-based PKI used to give each ship a unique identity on the Arvo network.
- An Azimuth identity is called a _point_. You'll need a point to use the Arvo network.
- Urbit refers to the project as a whole, including Arvo, Azimuth, and other system components.