# GPU Forge documentation

> **API base address:** `https://api.gpuforge.io`. Every path in these docs starts with `/v1/`; send your API key as `Authorization: Bearer <key>`.

GPU Forge is a GPU cloud service for developers, small teams and AI agents. One account, one prepaid balance and one API give you two things:

- **Ready AI programs.** Open image and video models that we package, run and update: FLUX 3 Klein and Krea 2 (make and edit images), LTX-2.5 and MiniMax H3 (video with sound). You can send one request per result (a **job**) and pay only for the seconds it renders, or run a program on a machine of your own.
- **GPU machines.** Rent a GPU machine from Vast.ai, RunPod, Nebius or Jarvis Labs and run your own software on it, billed per second at a price you see before you start.

Everything works through a REST API, a command-line tool and a web console. AI agents can use GPU Forge with their own API key, inside the limits you set.

## Core concepts

| Concept | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Account** | You sign in with Google or GitHub. Everything you run and pay for belongs to your account. |
| **API key** | A secret token (`gf_...`) that lets a script, agent or the CLI act for your account. Sent as `Authorization: Bearer <key>`. You create and revoke keys in the console. |
| **Balance** | Prepaid credit in US dollars. You add it by card (processed by Stripe). Usage is deducted as it happens. At $0 nothing new starts. |
| **Program** | Software that runs on a GPU machine. GPU Forge's ready programs are listed in the **catalog**. Your own programs are called **capabilities**: a description of what your software needs (GPU, disk, files) and how to start it. |
| **Machine** | A rented GPU computer running one program. The API calls a machine a **pod** and identifies it by `pod_id`. |
| **Parked machine** | A machine that was stopped with its disk kept. It costs only its storage price and wakes again in seconds instead of minutes. |
| **Job** | One request to a ready program that returns one result (an image or a video clip). GPU Forge finds or starts the machine for you; you pay for the render seconds only. |

## Two ways to use the ready programs

| | Jobs (pay per result) | Your own machine |
|---|---|---|
| How | `POST /v1/jobs` with the program, route and input | Add the program to your account, start a machine, call the program's own API |
| You pay | The seconds the result took to render, at the program's hourly price (minimum $0.002 per job) | The machine's hourly price, per second while it runs, and its storage price while parked |
| Machines to manage | None | You start, park and release it (it also parks or stops itself when idle) |
| Best for | Occasional or bursty work | Steady, high-volume work |

## Pages

| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| [Quickstart](quickstart.md) | Sign in, add credit, create a key, run your first job, rent your first machine. |
| [How GPU Forge behaves](principles.md) | Prepaid billing, prices before you run, how machines are chosen, parking, what happens at $0, limits for agents, security. |
| [Authentication](authentication.md) | API keys, sign-in, the CLI login, what a key may and may not do. |
| [Jobs](jobs.md) | The Jobs API: quote, create, wait for and list jobs. |
| [Ready programs](programs.md) | The catalog and each program's routes, fields and responses. |
| [Machines](machines.md) | Search offers, start, scale, watch, park, wake, release and destroy machines; SSH access. |
| [Capabilities](capabilities.md) | Describe your own software once and run it on any provider; add a catalog program to your account. |
| [Billing](billing.md) | Balance, top-ups, automatic top-up, daily caps, usage history, pricing, refunds. |
| [Command-line tool](cli.md) | The `gpuforge` CLI for people and agents. |
| [Errors](errors.md) | Error format, status codes and what to do. |

## Machine-readable references

- `GET https://api.gpuforge.io/openapi.json`: the OpenAPI description of the API.
- `GET https://api.gpuforge.io/v1/agent-guide`: a short plain-text guide written for AI agents (no key needed).
- `GET https://api.gpuforge.io/v1/help`: a full reference in one JSON response (needs a key).

## Support

Email [support@gpuforge.io](mailto:support@gpuforge.io). We aim to reply within one business day.