Install Edera

The installer sets up the Edera runtime and configures your system. Your machine will reboot when it completes.

Disposable infrastructure only. Edera modifies your bootloader and there is no automated uninstall. Only install on instances or VMs you can terminate and recreate.

Run the installer

The installer defaults to Xen. KVM support is coming soon — Xen is the current path for EderaON.

Option 1: Script

EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=<your-key> /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/edera-dev/learn/main/getting-started/edera-on-installer/scripts/install.sh)"

Verify UEFI boot

Xen requires UEFI. Run:

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

If the output is BIOS, Edera with Xen will not work on this machine.

Run edera-check

Verify your system meets the requirements before installing:

docker run --pull always --pid host --privileged \
  ghcr.io/edera-dev/edera-check:stable preinstall

If any required checks fail, resolve them before proceeding. Optional checks indicate features that won’t be available but won’t block installation.

Authenticate to the Edera registry

Set your license key as an environment variable, then authenticate:

export EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=<YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>

Docker / Podman (RHEL/CentOS)

docker login -u license -p $EDERA_LICENSE_KEY images.edera.dev

sudo podman login -u license -p $EDERA_LICENSE_KEY images.edera.dev

Pull the installer image

Docker / Podman (RHEL/CentOS)

docker pull images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

sudo podman pull images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

Run the installer

Docker / Podman (RHEL/CentOS)

docker run --rm --privileged --pid=host --net=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env "EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=${EDERA_LICENSE_KEY}" \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

sudo podman run --rm --privileged --pid=host --net=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env "EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=${EDERA_LICENSE_KEY}" \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

The machine will reboot when the installer completes.

Note: EDERA_LICENSE_KEY is automatically written to /var/lib/edera/protect/license.key during installation. You do not need to write the file yourself afterward.

KVM support is coming soon. KVM is not yet available for EderaON. Use Xen for now — it is the default and the recommended path.

Verify the installation

After reboot, SSH back in and verify:

# Check the daemon is running
sudo systemctl is-active protect-daemon
# Expected: active

# Confirm KVM device is present
ls /dev/kvm
# Expected: /dev/kvm

# Check you're running the Edera/Xen kernel
uname -r
# Expected: 6.x.y-edera

# Confirm Xen is present
ls /proc/xen
# Expected: capabilities  privcmd  xenbus

# Check the daemon is running
sudo systemctl is-active protect-daemon
# Expected: active

activating is not the same as active. The daemon should become active within a few seconds. If it stays in activating, it failed to start — a missing or invalid license key is a common cause. Check logs with sudo journalctl -u protect-daemon -n 50.