Digital Ocean

DigitalOcean offers a compelling combination of affordability and simplicity, making it a great choice for hosting applications like the General Intelligence Platform.  Key benefits include:

• Cost-Effectiveness: DigitalOcean provides competitive pricing with transparent billing, allowing you to scale your resources (and costs) as your platform grows.  You only pay for what you use.

• Simplicity:  DigitalOcean's user interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy to manage your infrastructure, even if you're not a cloud expert.

• Scalability: You can easily scale your application's resources (CPU, RAM, storage) up or down as needed, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency.

Step 1: Create a DigitalOcean Account

1. Sign Up: Navigate to the DigitalOcean website: https://www.digitalocean.com/

2. Create an Account: Click the "Sign Up" button and follow the on-screen instructions. You'll need to provide your email address, choose a password, and potentially verify your email.

Step 2: Create a New Project

Organizing your resources into projects helps keep things manageable.

• Navigate to Projects: In your DigitalOcean dashboard, find the "Projects" section (usually in the left-hand navigation menu).

• Create a New Project: Click the "Create Project" or "New Project" button.

• Project Details:

  • Name:  Enter general-intelligence-platform (all lowercase, with hyphens as separators).  This is important for consistency.

  • Description: (Optional) Add a brief description, such as "Deployment environment for the General Intelligence Platform."

  • Purpose: "Web Application"

Step 3: Generate an API Key

An API key allows your application (or deployment scripts) to interact with DigitalOcean's resources programmatically.

1. Access API Settings: In your DigitalOcean dashboard, click the "API" link in the left-hand navigation menu.

2. Generate New Token: Click the "Generate New Token" button.

3. Token Configuration:

   • Token Name: Enter general-intelligence-platform.  This helps you identify the key's purpose later.

   • Expiry: Select "No Expiry".

   • Select Scopes: Select "Full access"

4. Generate Token: Click the "Generate Token" button.

5. Copy and Secure Your Token: DigitalOcean will display your API key only once. Copy it immediately and store it in a secure location, such as a password manager. You will not be able to retrieve it again. If you lose it, you'll need to generate a new one.