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title: Quick Start
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This guide walks you through creating a Private Cluster and deploying your first workload on it.

## Step 1: Navigate to Private Cluster

1. Go to the **TIR Dashboard**.
2. In the left sidebar, click **Private Cluster** under **Products**.

## Step 2: Create a Private Cluster

1. Click **Create Private Cluster**.
2. Select the required **compute configuration** (GPU type and node count).
3. Choose a **pricing option**:
   - **Hourly** – Flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing
   - **Committed** – Lower cost for predictable workloads with a fixed commitment period
4. Enter the **Cluster Name**.
5. Specify the **Node Count**.
6. Click **Create**.

<br />
You can also create a Private Cluster using the API. Refer to the [Private Cluster Creation API documentation](/api/tir/#/paths/private-cluster/post) for detailed request parameters, authentication requirements, and sample request/response examples.


:::info Your cluster will be provisioned within a few minutes. 
:::


## Step 3: Allocate Nodes to a Project

Once the cluster is running, assign nodes to a project so your team can launch workloads.

1. Open your cluster and navigate to **Project Allocation**.
2. Locate the project you want to assign nodes to.
3. Open the **Actions** menu and select **Add Nodes**.
4. Specify the node count.
5. Confirm the allocation.

<br />

:::info Nodes move from the **Free** state to **Allocated** once assigned to a project.
:::


## Step 4: Launch a Workload

With nodes allocated, your team can now launch services within the cluster:

- **Nodes** – GPU-backed Jupyter notebook environments
- **Inference Endpoints** – Production model serving
- **Training Clusters** – Distributed training jobs
- **Vector Databases** – Similarity search for RAG workflows

:::info No additional charges are incurred for services deployed inside a Private Cluster.
:::

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## Commitment Options (Committed Plans)

If you selected a committed plan during creation, choose what happens when the commitment period ends:

| Option | Behaviour |
|--------|-----------|
| **Auto-Renew** | Automatically renews for another commitment period |
| **Switch to Hourly Billing** | Retains the cluster at hourly rates after the period |
| **Auto-Terminate** | Automatically deletes the cluster when the period ends |

:::tip
Committed plans provide cost benefits for steady workloads. Any additional nodes added after creation are billed at **hourly** rates.
:::

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## Next Steps

- [Explore Features](/docs/tir/private_cluster/pc-features) — Learn about node states, monitoring, and RBAC
- [Manage Allocations](/docs/tir/private_cluster/manage_private_cluster) — Allocate and deallocate nodes across projects
- [Billing & Plans](/docs/tir/private_cluster/pc-billing) — Understand fixed pricing and commitment options


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