# Get started

You'll need about ten minutes. By the end, an agent you wrote answers a call from your own code.

![Your code starts a run through the Maitento API; Maitento runs your agent against the model with your key and returns the finished run.](https://github.com/maitento/maitento/raw/main/docs/assets/diagrams/how-a-run-works.svg)

1. [**Get access.**](https://docs.maitento.com/get-started/1-access.md) Sign up for a tenant on the Free plan, and sign in to the portal.
2. [**Create an API key**](https://docs.maitento.com/get-started/2-api-key.md) in the portal and put it in an environment variable.
3. [**Add a model key.**](https://docs.maitento.com/get-started/3-model-key.md) Maitento runs your agents on your own account with the model provider.
4. [**Install an SDK or the CLI.**](https://docs.maitento.com/get-started/4-install.md) TypeScript, Python, C#, or the `mt` command line.
5. [**Run your first agent.**](https://docs.maitento.com/get-started/5-first-agent.md) Write two small files, deploy them, and run them.

Then carry on with the [tutorials](https://docs.maitento.com/tutorials.md), which build up from there to code pipelines and a small
support desk.