Setting up your agent's operating account: sign up at cai.com/app in 4 steps

Your agent needs an operating account. Here is how to set one up in about 2 minutes, no card required, no private key to paste in chat.

The signup at cai.com/app is four steps. This post walks through each step with what the user sees, the actual fields, and what to do if a step fails. The steps below match the current cai.com/app page.

Step 1: Open cai.com/app and pick "Apply for @cai.com email"

Go to cai.com/app. The page has a single CTA: "Apply for @cai.com email." Click it. The first form field is your name.

Step 2: Enter your name

That's the only field on the first screen. There is no email field on this step; the email is collected next. Enter your name, click continue.

Step 3: Enter your existing email (this is where the 6-digit code goes)

CAI emails a 6-digit verification code to the address you provide. The code expires in 15 minutes. Enter the code into the form when it arrives.

If the code doesn't arrive:

• Check spam. CAI's verification email is plain text with a 6-digit code; some providers sort it to spam if you haven't seen mail from cai.com before.
• Wait 60 seconds. The email is sent immediately after you submit the form, but delivery can lag.
• Click "Resend code" if the form has the option. A new code invalidates the old one.

If the code expires before you paste it: you can request a new one from the same form. The old code is invalidated; the new code has a fresh 15-minute window. There is no waiting for support.

Step 4: Enter the code, create a password, and you're done

Enter the 6-digit code, set a password (8+ characters, the form's complexity rules apply), and the signup completes. You are redirected to the account dashboard.

What you have at the end

After the four steps, you have:

• A @cai.com email address. The SMTP/IMAP credentials are in the account dashboard if you want to use a desktop client.
• A custodial multi-chain stablecoin wallet. The wallet is empty until you top it up; the four product pillars post covers the wallet in detail.
• A user vault for site credentials. Empty until you add credentials; the same post covers the vault.
• An API key for the agent you build or use. The key is in the account dashboard. Free tier covers read scopes; pay and full scopes may require verification.

The wallet has a $200/day auto-limit while CAI completes its security audit. New recipients and new devices always require confirmation. Think of it like cash in your pocket, perfect for daily spending. The vault product (multi-sig, time-locks) is coming for larger balances.

The signup takes about 2 minutes. No card is required. The email is free.

What to do next (technical reader)

If you are the technical reader, the one who reads dev.to to install things, the next step is npm i -g @cailab/mcp. The package drops the CAI MCP server into any MCP-compatible host: OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex, Cursor. The full quickstart is in cai.com/developers.html.

The contract an agent reads first is cai.com/skill.md. The companion artifact is the A2A Agent Card at cai.com/.well-known/agent.json.

How the agent logs in on your behalf

Once the account exists, the agent does not need your password. The CAI API exposes a hosted login flow: an agent calls POST /create-hosted-action with { "action_type": "login" } and gets back a url. That URL is a CAI-hosted page the user opens and confirms. The agent never types your credentials into chat, and the login link is one-time and short-lived.

That pattern is the same shape as the wallet's user-confirmation flow. The agent's API key is the authorization; the user's tap on a hosted page is the consent. You keep the password, and the agent keeps the ability to act on your behalf within the confirmations you allow.

Apply at cai.com/app. The signup is four steps, about 2 minutes, no card.

---

If you went through the signup flow described above and the code didn't arrive, expired too fast, or failed silently

Comment below with:

1. What you ran: the install command, the request, the MCP host config. Copy the actual command or request.
2. What you expected: one sentence.
3. What you got: the error message, the empty response, the unexpected behavior. Paste it verbatim.
4. Your environment: OS, Node version, the MCP host (OpenClaw / Hermes / Codex / Cursor / other), the CAI account tier if relevant.

Every comment on this article gets read. Bug reports will be replied to within 24 hours. Friction points shape what we document next.

Documentation: cai.com/skill.md · cai.com/developers.html · cai.com/app to sign up.