# Account & access (/protocol/account-and-access)

<Cards>
  <Card title="Start a free trial →" href="https://console.shelby.xyz" description="Sign up at console.shelby.xyz to get your credentials and a bucket. The console shows your usage and your trial's limits." external />
</Cards>

## Your Shelby account

A Shelby account gives you:

* **An access key ID and an API key.** Together they authenticate every request. In S3
  tools, the access key ID (it starts with `SHLB`) is the access key, and the API key is
  the secret.
* **A bucket.** It's named when your account is created, for example
  `shelby-managed-account-1`, and it exists as soon as your account does.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    ### Sign in to the console

    Go to [console.shelby.xyz](https://console.shelby.xyz) and sign in, or sign up for a free
    trial.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Copy your credentials and bucket name

    The console shows your access key ID, your API key and your bucket name.

    Treat the API key like a password. Anyone who has it, with your access key ID, can read
    and write your bucket.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Make your first request

    <Cards>
      <Card title="S3 API" href="/tools/s3-gateway" description="Use the AWS CLI, boto3, rclone or DuckDB." />

      <Card title="MCP server" href="/tools/mcp" description="Use Shelby from your agent client." />
    </Cards>
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Running at scale

Have larger-scale requirements? Talk to our team about managed onboarding or how Shelby
can support your use case.

<ContactForm topic="scale" />