Bootstrapping overview
Bootstrapping turns bare metal into your mesh host — the Incus hypervisor that runs Talos, VPN, and family apps. Pick the guide that matches your hardware; all paths end at tracker step 3 — Mesh host ready.
What bootstrapping does
- Installs an OS on your always-on box (NUC, mini PC, or Mac mini)
- Installs and exposes Incus on your LAN (https://<ip>:8443)
- Lets your workstation run incus remote add and later task home:up
App data stays on your mesh — bootstrapping only prepares the hypervisor.
Choose your guide
Intel / ASUS NUC or AMD mini PC
x86_64 — most common mesh host.
- Intel NUC BIOS update (recommended first)
- OS: IncusOS (recommended) or Ubuntu 24.04
Recommended order (NUC / mini PC)
- Update BIOS from manufacturer (ASUS/Intel support page)
- Choose IncusOS or Ubuntu
- Reserve a static LAN IP (router DHCP reservation or netplan)
- From laptop: incus remote add → incus list <remote>:
- Continue workstation setup and deploy mesh
Operator workspace (optional)
If you use the Windsor operator workspace, USB imaging tasks (device:write-incus-disk, device:write-ubuntu-img, etc.) automate boot media prep. The guides below include those commands alongside manual steps (Etcher, dd).