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Step 1: Install doctl

Install doctl following the directions for your package manager or operating system:

brew install doctl

sudo snap install doctl

sudo snap connect doctl:kube-config

sudo snap connect doctl:ssh-keys :ssh-keys

sudo snap connect doctl:dot-docker

cd ~
wget https://github.com/digitalocean/doctl/releases/download/v1.163.0/doctl-1.163.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

tar xf ~/doctl-1.163.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

sudo mv ~/doctl /usr/local/bin

Invoke-WebRequest https://github.com/digitalocean/doctl/releases/download/v1.163.0/doctl-1.163.0-windows-amd64.zip -OutFile ~\doctl-1.163.0-windows-amd64.zip

Expand-Archive -Path ~\doctl-1.163.0-windows-amd64.zip

New-Item -ItemType Directory $env:ProgramFiles\doctl\
Move-Item -Path ~\doctl-1.163.0-windows-amd64\doctl.exe -Destination $env:ProgramFiles\doctl\
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(
    "Path",
    [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path",
    [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine) + ";$env:ProgramFiles\doctl\",
    [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
$env:Path = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","Machine")

Step 2: Create an API token

Create a DigitalOcean API token for your account with read and write access from the Applications & API page in the control panel. The token string is only displayed once, so save it in a safe place.

Step 3: Use the API token to grant account access to doctl

Use the API token to grant doctl access to your DigitalOcean account. Pass in the token string when prompted by doctl auth init, and give this authentication context a name.

doctl auth init --context <NAME>

Authentication contexts let you switch between multiple authenticated accounts. You can repeat steps 2 and 3 to add other DigitalOcean accounts, then list and switch between authentication contexts:

doctl auth list
doctl auth switch --context <NAME>

Step 4: Validate that doctl is working

Now that doctl is authorized to use your account, try some test commands.

To confirm that you have successfully authorized doctl, review your account details by running:

doctl account get

If successful, the output looks like:

Email                      Droplet Limit    Email Verified    UUID                                        Status
[email protected]          10               true              3a56c5e109736b50e823eaebca85708ca0e5087c    active

To confirm that you have successfully granted write access to doctl, create an Ubuntu 24.04 Droplet in the SFO2 region by running:

doctl compute droplet create --region sfo2 --image ubuntu-24-04-x64 --size s-1vcpu-1gb <DROPLET-NAME>

The output of that command includes an ID column with the new Droplet’s ID. For example:

ID           Name            Public IPv4    Private IPv4    Public IPv6    Memory    VCPUs    Disk    Region    Image                       Status    Tags    Features    Volumes
187949338    droplet-name                                                  1024      1        25      sfo2      Ubuntu 24.04 (LTS) x64      new

Use that value to delete the Droplet by running:

doctl compute droplet delete <DROPLET-ID>

When prompted, type y to confirm that you would like to delete the Droplet.

Step 5: Install Serverless Functions support (Optional)

To use doctl with our serverless Functions product, you must first install a software extension, then use it to connect to the development namespace.

To install the support for serverless Functions, run the serverless install subcommand:

doctl serverless install

This downloads and installs the extension, providing status updates along the way:

Downloading...Unpacking...Installing...Cleaning up...
Done

You are now ready to create a namespace and deploy your functions. See the Functions Quickstart to get started.