---
title: Guides
description: "Task guides for everyday work with Atomic: interactive use, sessions, context, providers, local models, security, and containers."
---

# Guides

Find a guide for the task you want to do with Atomic.

New to Atomic? Follow the [Quickstart](/quickstart) to install, authenticate, run a first session, and add project instructions.

Looking to extend or embed Atomic? Go to [Build with Atomic](/build). Looking up an exact flag, setting, event, or type? Go to the [Reference index](/reference).

## Recommended order

1. [Interactive use](/usage) — the interactive loop, slash commands, and context files.
2. [Configure Atomic](/guides/configuration) — write a settings file and override it per project.
3. [Sessions](/sessions) — save, resume, name, and branch sessions.
4. [Context and compaction](/compaction) — keep long sessions inside the context window.
5. [Providers](/providers) — subscription logins, API keys, and provider-specific setup.
6. [Local models](/llama-cpp) — run models locally with llama.cpp.
7. [Security](/security) — project trust and sandbox boundaries.
8. [Containerization](/containerization) — run Atomic inside a container.

For work that continues while you chat, follow [Background tasks](/background-tasks) to launch, inspect, and stop agents or shells. If you use Herdr panes, [Herdr](/herdr) explains Atomic's status indicators and troubleshooting.

## More guides and references

- [Computer use](/computer-use) covers desktop apps, browsers, and terminals across macOS, Linux, and Windows.
- [Environment variables](/environment-variables) lists Atomic/Pi aliases, provider credentials, and bash session metadata.
- [Settings](/settings) lists global and project settings.
- [Keybindings](/keybindings) lists default shortcuts and custom actions.