Portal quickstart¶

Goal: from "I just signed up" to "I have a Business Central URL I can use." No CLI, no Azure, no Terraform.

Go to bcdock.io/signup, enter your email, and follow the one-time code we send. The signup wizard captures your time zone and default Azure region — both can change later under Profile → Settings.

After signup you land on the dashboard with no environments yet.

2. New environment¶

Click New environment at the top of the dashboard.

The form has three required choices:

Name — DNS-safe, 3–40 chars (e.g. acme-test, pr-42, training-cohort-q2). Becomes part of the URL.
BC version — pick from the cascading dropdown. Recent versions show a ⚡ badge if there's a pre-built image in your region (provisioning in ~2 minutes); slower options take ~15 minutes for the first env on that version × country combo, then drop to the fast lane for everything after.
Country — the BC localisation. Defaults to your company's home country.

Optional:

Region — defaults to your company default; override per env if you need a US/EU/AU split.
Multi-tenant — leave on unless you have a specific reason to use single-tenant.

Click Create. The environment lands in the creating state immediately.

3. Wait for provisioning¶

The environment card shows live progress: VM provision → Docker setup → BC artifact download → container start. Most envs reach running in 1–2 minutes once the pool is warm; the very first env on a new version × country combo can take ~15 minutes for image build (one-time per combination).

You can leave the page — refreshing comes back to the same state. We don't email you when it's done; the dashboard just goes green.

4. Open your environment¶

When the card flips to running:

Web Client URL — the BC interface. Sign in as Administrator with the password the card surfaces (and stores in your browser's password manager if you let it).
OData endpoint — for API integrations.
Dev endpoint — for AL extension publishing (CLI users — see Agent quickstart).

5. Hibernate when done¶

When you're not actively using the env, click Hibernate. The container is gzipped to blob storage; the URL stops responding; billing drops to the flat A$25/month stored rate. Your data, extensions, users, and configuration all survive — resume any time and they're back exactly as you left them.

Active rate (running):    A$0.59/hour pay-as-you-go, or per-tier monthly cap
Stored rate (hibernated): A$25/month flat, regardless of plan

To resume: click Resume on the env card. ~1–2 minutes back to running (longer if the platform decides you need a cross-version upgrade — the UI will prompt for confirmation).

To delete entirely: Delete removes the env and the stored backup after a 7-day operator-recovery grace window.

What's next¶

CLI quickstart — the same five steps from a terminal. Useful once you find yourself doing this often.
Agent quickstart — point Claude / Copilot / your favourite agent framework at bcdock. The agent reaches BCDock through the CLI on your behalf.
Concepts — pool vs environment, hibernation economics, why the model is shaped this way.
Limitations — what BCDock is and isn't. Read before using on real client work.

Troubleshooting¶

Stuck in creating past 30 minutes — likely a first-time image build for an unseen version × country combo. Check the env card's logs view; it'll show the current stage. If it's been past 90 minutes, reach out at hello@bcdock.io.

Web Client login fails — refresh the env card; the password may have rotated if the env was recreated. The current password is always on the card and via bcdock env get <name>.

"Sandbox use only" warning — yes, BCDock environments are not for production data. Use synthetic or anonymised data. See limitations.