Getting Access to a Cluster
RUAL clusters have no public sign-up: an administrator of the cluster creates your account and sends you a cluster URL, a username and a password. With those you sign in to RUAL Studio, and there is nothing to install.
An administrator creates your account
Every RUAL cluster is its own secured environment. Accounts are created by an existing administrator through User Access Management (UCM), who also decides which permissions your account gets.
Request an account
Contact an administrator of the cluster you want to work on. If you are new to the organization and don't know who manages the cluster, ask the person or team that invited you to the project.
The administrator creates your user
They use the
Userssection of RUAL Studio and assign the permissions for your role.You receive three things
The cluster URL, your username and a password. Keep these private: they identify you in the cluster's audit log.
Your first login happens on the cluster URL
Open your cluster URL
You are greeted by the cluster login screen.
Sign in
Enter your username and password.
Finish the setup
Depending on how your cluster is configured, you may be asked to change your password or set up two-factor authentication. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Land in RUAL Studio
The menu items you see reflect the permissions on your account.
/login?studio=1 on your cluster to get the default login page back. See Login Escape Hatch. You work on one URL, and your cluster serves another
| URL | What it serves |
|---|---|
| rual.at | RUAL Studio: the cluster management application where you build blueprints and manage your cluster. |
<cluster-url> |
The pages and APIs you build, as your end users see them. |
<cluster-url>/login?studio=1 |
Forces the default login page, used to recover from a broken custom login page. Any non-empty value works. |
Pressing Save in a blueprint publishes it to the cluster URL. Unsaved edits stay in Studio. See How to Deploy, which also covers the ?development parameter Studio adds to the URLs it opens.
Studio is for building, tokens are for API calls
RUAL runs in the cloud, so there is nothing to install. You need a modern web browser, your cluster URL, and your username and password. There are two distinct ways to work with a cluster, and it helps to separate them early:
| Access type | Used for | Authenticated by |
|---|---|---|
| RUAL Studio access | Building blueprints, managing users and storage through the browser. | Username and password authorized for RUAL Studio. |
| API access | Calling cluster APIs from custom frontends, scripts or external services. | An access_token obtained through the login APIs. |
To get an API token, a user logs in through the login APIs of the cluster, which return an access_token. Tokens are valid for 14 days and are extended automatically while actively used. You can pass a token as an Authorization: Bearer header, as x-authtoken or x-token, as a cookie named access_token, or in the URL as ?access_token=. See Cluster APIs for the full authentication reference.
Scopes decide what you can see and do
Administrators add scope values to the custom_scopes array on your user document, or assign you to user groups that bundle scopes for a role such as Sales or Support. Account settings such as is_root_user for cluster administrators control security-sensitive behavior. The full permission list is documented in User Access Management.
Security best practices for administrators and users alike:
- Least privilege: grant only the scopes a user needs for their role, preferably through user groups instead of individual scopes.
- Protect credentials: treat passwords and access tokens as secrets; never commit them to code or share them between users.
- Use the audit log: sensitive actions such as removing blueprints and accessing secured system settings are logged. Review the log regularly.
Next steps
Quickstart Build your first working page and API on the cluster in minutes. Core Concepts The key ideas behind RUAL: blueprints, blocks, flows, storage and publishing. User Access Management Full permission list, user groups and account security settings.Frequently asked
How do I get access to a RUAL cluster?
RUAL clusters have no public sign-up. An existing administrator creates your account in User Access Management and assigns the permissions for your role. You then receive three things: the cluster URL, your username and a password.
I lost my RUAL cluster URL, where do I find it?
The cluster URL is issued together with your account, so ask an administrator of that cluster. Every cluster is its own secured environment, and the URL identifies which one you are signing in to.