Get Started with Sentinel

This guide takes you from zero to a running Sentinel instance protecting a real form.

Before you begin

You'll need:

• A place to run Sentinel — Docker is the quickest way to get started, and doesn't require an external database up front.

Sentinel runs on an automatic 30-day trial if you don't configure a license key. A license is required for production use — see License.

Step 1 — Install Sentinel

Pull and run the Sentinel image from GitHub Container Registry:

docker run -d \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v altcha_sentinel_data:/data \
  ghcr.io/altcha-org/sentinel:latest

Open http://localhost:8080 and sign in with the default credentials root / root — change the password immediately. See Install with Docker for the other registries, port requirements, and persistence details.

Prefer Kubernetes, AWS ECS, Azure App Services, or Bunny.net? See the Install overview for the rest of the deployment targets.

Step 2 — Create a Security Group and API Key

Sign in to your Sentinel instance and:

1. Create a Security Group — this holds the detection settings (challenge difficulty, Autopilot, rate limits, and more) applied to a given app or environment. See Security Groups.
2. Generate an API Key for that Security Group — the widget uses this to fetch challenges, and you'll need the matching secret to verify submissions server-side. See API Keys.

Step 3 — Add the widget to your form

Install the widget and point its challenge attribute at your Sentinel instance:

<form method="POST" action="/submit">
  <!-- your form fields -->

  <altcha-widget
    challenge="https://sentinel.example.com/v1/challenge?apiKey=key_..."
  ></altcha-widget>

  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Full setup instructions (npm install, CDN script, configuration options) are on the Widget Integration page.

Step 4 — Verify submissions on your server

In your form handler, verify the payload's server signature using your API Key Secret. See Server Integration for library examples in your language.

Step 5 — Test and tune

1. Submit your form and confirm the request appears in the Sentinel dashboard.
2. Review the risk score and signals Sentinel captured for that request.
3. Leave Autopilot on to let Sentinel tune challenge difficulty automatically, or adjust your Security Group's policy manually.

Next steps

• Features — what each detection layer does and when to enable it.
• Use Cases — recommended configurations for common scenarios like sign-up, login, and forms.
• Integration Checklist — a launch-readiness checklist before you go to production.