Initial Setup
This guide will walk you through initializing your project, deploying an actor, and setting up your client SDK.
If you get stuck at any point, you can ask a question on Discord/GitHub Discussion or file a bug report on GitHub Issues.
Install CLI
Run this command to install Rivet on your system:
curl -fsSL https://releases.rivet.gg/rivet/latest/install.sh | sh
Initialize project
Once you've installed the Rivet CLI, run this command in your project root to create a new project:
rivet init
Follow the instructions to initialize your project.
Deploy project
After initializing your project, will deploy your actor to Rivet's servers:
cd my-app # Replace "my-app" with your project name
rivet deploy
If self-hosting, this will prompt you to input a custom API address.
Once complete, visit the Rivet Hub to see the build you uploaded:

Create a test actor
Now that you've uploaded a build to Rivet, we need to create an actor. To test the actor can be created & connected to, run:
npx tsx counter_test.ts
Once complete, visit the Rivet Hub to see the actor you created:

Setup client
Now that you have an actor deployed, integrate the Rivet client SDK with your actor.
Install the Actor client package:
npm add @rivet-gg/actor-client
Once installed, we need to find the endpoint that your actors connect to. Run this command in your project:
rivet manager endpoint
Use this code to create & connect to the actor. Replace /* CONNECTION ADDRESS */
with the value from the previous step.
import { Client } from '@rivet-gg/actor-client';
const client = new Client(/* CONNECTION ADDRESS */);
const counter = await client.get({ name: 'counter' }); // Get or create a `counter` actor
const newCount = await counter.increment(5); // Call the method `increment` on the `counter` actor
console.log('New count', newCount);
Visit the Rivet Hub to see the actor you created.