# Welcome to Nuvolos

Nuvolos is a cloud platform that brings computation, data management, and collaboration together in a single browser-based environment. Everything runs in containerised [applications](/features/nuvolos-basic-concepts/applications.md) inside your own [instance](/features/nuvolos-basic-concepts/organisational-hierarchy.md#instances), so there is nothing to install locally.

<div data-full-width="false"><figure><img src="/files/MPn3ixq2vY7riqris2nU" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

## Get started

Pick the guide that matches your role:

* [**Instructors**](/getting-started/instructors.md) — set up a course, distribute materials, manage assignments, and invite students.
* [**Students**](/getting-started/students.md) — join a course, start applications, and snapshot your work.
* [**Researchers**](/getting-started/researchers.md) — create projects, manage data, run applications, and collaborate with colleagues.

## What you can do on Nuvolos

| Capability                     | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Run applications**           | Launch [RStudio, JupyterLab, MATLAB, VS Code, and more](/features/applications.md) — any Linux-compatible tool runs on Nuvolos. [Scale resources](/features/applications/application-resources.md) from 1 CU to dedicated GPU nodes as your workload demands.                                                            |
| **Manage data**                | Store files on a high-performance [file system](/features/file-system-and-storage.md), query structured data in the [Scientific Data Warehouse](/features/database-integration.md), or attach [add-on databases](/features/applications/add-ons.md) like PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Neo4j.                                 |
| **Version your work**          | Take [snapshots](/features/nuvolos-basic-concepts/snapshots.md) to create immutable, point-in-time records of files, tables, and application configurations. Restore or compare any previous state.                                                                                                                      |
| **Distribute and collaborate** | [Distribute](/features/nuvolos-basic-concepts/distribution.md) materials to students or collaborators in one step. Work in parallel [instances](/features/nuvolos-basic-concepts/organisational-hierarchy.md#instances) and merge results when ready.                                                                    |
| **Automate workflows**         | Use the [CLI and Python API](/features/nuvolos-cli-and-python-api.md) to script application runs, schedule jobs, and build reproducible pipelines.                                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Control costs**              | Track compute and storage usage through [resource pools](/pricing-and-billing/resource-pools-and-budgets.md), [right-size applications](/features/applications/application-resources.md#changing-application-resources), and [rest unused spaces](/administration/space-management/resting-spaces.md) to optimise spend. |

## Learn more

* [Basic concepts](/features/nuvolos-basic-concepts.md) — understand the organisational hierarchy, snapshots, distribution, and applications.
* [Administration](https://github.com/nuvolos-cloud/nuvolos-docs/blob/main/administration/README.md) — manage roles, spaces, instances, and resource usage.
* [Pricing and billing](https://github.com/nuvolos-cloud/nuvolos-docs/blob/main/pricing-and-billing/README.md) — learn about subscriptions, credits, and cost control.
* [User guides](https://github.com/nuvolos-cloud/nuvolos-docs/blob/main/user-guides/README.md) — step-by-step guides for education, research, and application-specific workflows.
* [Help and reference](https://github.com/nuvolos-cloud/nuvolos-docs/blob/main/help-and-reference/README.md) — FAQs, glossary, and troubleshooting.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.nuvolos.com/readme.md?ask=<question>
```

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The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.