The goal of this guide is to get your first Step cluster running in minutes. After this you can follow our additional tutorials to learn how to create and deploy your first distributed automation scripts (called “Keywords”) on this freshly created cluster.

Step SaaS and Step on-prem

Step is available in different versions as described in Step pricing. Since we already prepared everything for you in the full-serviced SaaS solution, the easiest way to start using Step is to follow the quickstart description on this page. If you however want to host your own instance of Step, follow the Getting started with Step on-prem.

Getting started with Step SaaS

In this quick tutorial Step SaaS is set up and started, ready to be used. For this our Step Portal is used, with which one or more Step SaaS instance can be managed. You can find out more about the Step Portal here.

To start using Step SaaS, sign up on the Step portal:

Enter your details and click Get started. Use your full name also in the Organization field if you do not represent an organization.
Click Create a Cluster
Add your credit card details. You will only be charged once all promotional credits have been used and continue using your cluster.

Set up your cluster in the Step portal:

Enter the name of the Cluster (default: your company name)
By default, your cluster has one “Agent [java, ui-automation]”, you can change this now or later. For this tutorial keep it as is.
Click Create Cluster

Start your Step instance:

After creating the Step instance you are redirected to the cluster detail page and your cluster automatically starts up.

Wait until the cluster switches to the running state, this can take up to 5 minutes
Click on the cluster URL to open your cluster
Log in with the credentials listed in the cluster details page (4 click eye-icon to display password)
- Save your credentials. They will only be available on the Step portal for the duration of your session.

To manage your cluster familiarize yourself with the important settings: With “Edit Cluster” (6) you activate the edit-mode and can add/remove/scale agents, including adding agents of different types. The auto start/stop (5) is activated by default and will shut down your cluster if no input was received for a defined threshold (30min by default), this mechanic prevents unexpected costs and is highly recommended.

To further use Step, we encourage you to explore our tutorials or refer to the Step user guide for detailed instructions.