Quickstart is not working for me

[sedol1339]

Hello, I try to follow the quickstart, but despite being very simple, it does not work for me. I describe my actions step by step:

First, I run pip install wandb --upgrade and wandb server start

It says "Paste an API key from your profile and hit enter, or press ctrl+c to quit". The quickstart doesn't say anything about it. To complete this step, I register at wandb.ai, get my API key and paste it.

Then, the quickstart says to go into the /system-admin page. However, the page says: "403 - Log in required to access this page". To solve this, I press the "log in" button, however, it does not work: the link directs me to the page /system-admin/login that shows the same error again.

At this moment, I decide that the link is broken and I actually need to go to the /login page. This page redirects me to the /signup page. Here, the system asks me to Create account. This is confusing since I have already registered at the wandb.ai site. If the local accout is different from the one from wandb.ai, then why did I need to paste my API key when starting the server?

So, I followed the quickstart, but it didn't work for me. Can you please explain how to fix, and the relation between the local accout and the wandb account?

[exalate-issue-sync]

Jason Davenport commented:

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out, and I really appreciate the detailed explanation — it helps a lot.

It looks like there’s some confusion between W&B Cloud (wandb.ai) and W&B Local (self-hosted server).

Here’s what’s happening in your setup:

• When you run wandb server start, you’re launching a local W&B server instance on your own machine.
• The API key prompt you see is for authenticating your local instance with a W&B account, but this is only needed if you’re using a self-hosted or licensed deployment.
• Since you’re on the free SaaS plan, you don’t need to run wandb server start at all — that command is meant for users hosting their own W&B server.
  To get started successfully:

1. Remove or stop your local server if it’s running.

Simply install the W&B client and log in to the cloud service:

pip install wandb --upgradewandb login

(You’ll paste your API key here — that’s the right step.)

3. After that, you can follow any of the Quickstart examples in the W&B Docs — all your runs and projects will appear on https://wandb.ai.

If you actually intended to run a local, self-hosted instance, that requires a separate setup and license (not part of the free plan). In that case, I can share the correct guide and help you set it up properly.
Would you like to confirm whether you want to use W&B Cloud (wandb.ai) or try W&B Local (self-hosted)?

Best,
Jason

[exalate-issue-sync]

Jason Davenport commented:
Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out, and I really appreciate the detailed explanation — it helps a lot.

It looks like there’s some confusion between W&B Cloud (wandb.ai) and W&B Local (self-hosted server).

Here’s what’s happening in your setup:

• When you run wandb server start, you’re launching a local W&B server instance on your own machine.
• The API key prompt you see is for authenticating your local instance with a W&B account, but this is only needed if you’re using a self-hosted or licensed deployment.
• Since you’re on the free SaaS plan, you don’t need to run wandb server start at all — that command is meant for users hosting their own W&B server.
  To get started successfully:

1. Remove or stop your local server if it’s running.

Simply install the W&B client and log in to the cloud service:

pip install wandb --upgradewandb login

(You’ll paste your API key here — that’s the right step.)

3. After that, you can follow any of the Quickstart examples in the W&B Docs — all your runs and projects will appear on https://wandb.ai.

If you actually intended to run a local, self-hosted instance, that requires a separate setup and license (not part of the free plan). In that case, I can share the correct guide and help you set it up properly.
Would you like to confirm whether you want to use W&B Cloud (wandb.ai) or try W&B Local (self-hosted)?

Best,
Jason

[exalate-issue-sync]

Jason Davenport commented:
Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out, and I really appreciate the detailed explanation — it helps a lot.

It looks like there’s some confusion between W&B Cloud (wandb.ai) and W&B Local (self-hosted server).

Here’s what’s happening in your setup:

• When you run wandb server start, you’re launching a local W&B server instance on your own machine.
• The API key prompt you see is for authenticating your local instance with a W&B account, but this is only needed if you’re using a self-hosted or licensed deployment.
• Since you’re on the free SaaS plan, you don’t need to run wandb server start at all — that command is meant for users hosting their own W&B server.
  To get started successfully:

1. Remove or stop your local server if it’s running.

Simply install the W&B client and log in to the cloud service:

pip install wandb --upgradewandb login

(You’ll paste your API key here — that’s the right step.)

3. After that, you can follow any of the Quickstart examples in the W&B Docs — all your runs and projects will appear on https://wandb.ai.

If you actually intended to run a local, self-hosted instance, that requires a separate setup and license (not part of the free plan). In that case, I can share the correct guide and help you set it up properly.
Would you like to confirm whether you want to use W&B Cloud (wandb.ai) or try W&B Local (self-hosted)?

Best,
Jason