# PowerCloud > PowerCloud is an operating system for running your own encrypted cloud across home servers, colocated machines and any public cloud at once. Storage providers only ever hold ciphertext, and data is replicated or erasure-coded across them, so no single provider can read it, change it or take it away. Nodes run a minimal Linux kernel with an all-Go userland and have no shell or login: everything is done with the pcctl command-line tool, over mutually authenticated TLS. AI assistants operating a PowerCloud cluster should read "Using PowerCloud with an AI assistant" first: it says which commands are safe to run, which need a person's confirmation, and how to handle the passphrase and other secrets. The pcctl reference lists every command and flag. ## Get started - [Concepts](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/overview.md): What PowerCloud is and the ideas every other page builds on - trusted and untrusted nodes, the cluster and its storage locations, the passphrase and recovery key, the cluster CA, nodes, pcctl, the mesh and apps - with a glossary. - [Quickstart](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/quickstart.md): Try PowerCloud on one computer with no hardware - create a cluster over three local directories, store and read a file, lose a provider and repair it, then run the node daemon locally and enroll it. - [Install a node](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/install.md): How to run PowerCloud OS on a physical machine, a QEMU, libvirt or Proxmox VM, AWS, Google Cloud or Azure - the image files, writing and booting them, cloud upload scripts, firewall ports, supported hardware and Secure Boot. - [Enroll a node](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/enroll.md): How to bring a freshly booted node into a PowerCloud cluster - from its console with an enrollment code, or unattended with a join bundle given as cloud user data or a QEMU fw_cfg file - and what the node does on its first boot and when it joins the mesh. ## Plan - [Deployment designs](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/designs.md): The architectures you can build with PowerCloud, from storage-only to multi-site clusters on confidential VMs, what each protects against, how it unlocks, and how to choose between them. - [Costs and sizing](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/sizing.md): How to size PowerCloud nodes, storage and network, what confidential cloud VMs and object storage cost, worked monthly estimates for common designs, and how to spend less. - [Use cases with the Unidatum Data Engine](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/data-engine.md): How the Unidatum Data Engine (document collections, SQL over parquet, content-addressed files) could run on PowerCloud nodes and keep its data in PowerCloud's encrypted storage, what works today, what is untested, and designs for concrete use cases. ## Storage - [Storage](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/storage.md): How PowerCloud's encrypted store works, how to set up storage locations on directories, S3-compatible buckets and your own nodes, and how to keep them in step with check, repair and gc. - [S3 gateway](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/s3-gateway.md): How to serve the cluster's encrypted, replicated storage as an S3-compatible HTTPS endpoint from your nodes, manage its access keys, and use it from the AWS CLI and boto3. ## Apps - [Apps on a node](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/apps.md): How to deploy, inspect and remove sandboxed apps (static binaries or container images) on one PowerCloud node, with their limits, ports, links, egress and microVMs. - [Cluster apps](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/cluster-apps.md): How to publish apps for the whole PowerCloud cluster, how the nodes place them and fail them over, and how to use exclusive apps, app storage, app volumes, the nodes' consensus and the kv commands. ## Operate - [Managing nodes](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/nodes.md): Day-to-day operation of PowerCloud nodes with pcctl, including status, node info, the web console, power, storage sync, changing addresses, the mesh, NAT traversal, relays and how pcctl finds and authenticates to nodes. - [Upgrades and releases](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/upgrades.md): How to keep PowerCloud nodes and pcctl current, from checking a release's files to rolling it out to every node one at a time, upgrading a single node by hand, and what happens when an image fails to boot. - [Unlocking nodes after a reboot](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/unlock.md): How a PowerCloud node's encrypted state volume is unlocked after a reboot, by an admin, by the node's TPM under Secure Boot, by key shares held by its peers, or with AMD SEV-SNP attestation on confidential VMs, and how to choose between them. - [Admins, keys and revocation](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/access.md): Who can manage a PowerCloud cluster and how, from the passphrase and recovery key to admin certificates, revoking admins, renewing node certificates, removing nodes and rotating the cluster keys after a leak. - [Troubleshooting](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/troubleshooting.md): Common PowerCloud problems by symptom - pcctl errors about passphrases, storage locations, certificates and key rotation, nodes that won't boot, join, unlock or mesh - with the cause and the fix for each. ## Reference - [pcctl command reference](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/pcctl.md): Every pcctl command, flag, default, environment variable and local file, with what each command needs (the admin certificate, --repo, or --repo or --via) and an example. - [Using PowerCloud with an AI assistant](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/docs/ai-agents.md): How an AI coding assistant such as Claude Code should read these docs, run pcctl safely, handle secrets, and which commands need a person's go-ahead. ## Optional - [All documentation in one file](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/llms-full.txt): every page above, for loading the whole manual at once - [Security model](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/security): what PowerCloud protects against and what it can't - [Roadmap](https://powercloud.unidatum.com/roadmap): what is built and what is planned