> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nuon.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create Your First App

> Use an example app to learn Nuon or package your app with Nuon.

Your first app can take one of two forms, and both deploy into your cloud account:

* **An example app (recommended)** — the fastest way to see Nuon work end to end. Use one of our pre-built [example apps](https://github.com/nuonco/example-app-configs).
* **Your own app** — your app packaged in Nuon's configuration format and referencing your existing Terraform, Helm, Kubernetes, and Docker assets.

<Tip>
  New to Nuon? Read the [App & Install Life Cycle](/guides/app-install-life-cycle) guide to understand how apps are packaged, installed and managed with Nuon.
</Tip>

## Use an Example App

Each guide below deploys a working example into your AWS account:

* [eks-simple](/get-started/app-aws-k8s): An AWS EKS (Kubernetes) Traefik `whoami` application (\~35 min)
* [cde](/get-started/app-aws-ec2): An AWS EC2 VM you connect to with `ssh` and VS Code Web (\~26 min)
* [aws-lambda](/get-started/app-aws-lambda): A Lambda function with DynamoDB and API Gateway (\~26 min)

Estimated times above include creating the initial VPC, Subnets, Nat Gateway, ASG, EC2 VM, and a healthy Nuon runner (\~11 min). For the fastest duration, approve all workflow steps when the app install begins.

cde and aws-lambda are less resource and cost intensive than eks-simple which provisions a Kubernetes cluster with 3 nodes.

For these and other examples, clone the [example-app-configs repository](https://github.com/nuonco/example-app-configs) and run:

```sh theme={null}
brew install nuonco/tap/nuon
nuon auth login
cd example-app-configs/<app directory>
nuon apps create --name <app directory>
nuon apps sync
nuon installs create --name <install-name> --region <region>
```

## Use Your Own App

When you're ready to try your app with Nuon, package your existing Terraform, Helm, Kubernetes manifest, and container image assets into a Nuon app — then install it into your AWS, Azure or GCP.

See [how apps are configured](/concepts/apps#how-do-you-configure-an-app) to structure your app, including connecting a GitHub repository.

Use agents like Claude Code to build your app by learning from Nuon's example apps. See our [AI and Apps Building docs](/guides/ai-and-apps) for more info.

## Prerequisites

* [Sign up for the free trial](https://app.nuon.co). You'll get a login and an org in Nuon Cloud.
* The example apps above need an AWS account to install into. [Set up an AWS account](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/SetUp/latest/UserGuide/setup-overview.html) if you don't have one. Nuon also has apps for Azure and GCP [in our example apps repo](https://github.com/nuonco/example-app-configs).