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Run Vera on your machine, then point your cloud tools at it. With a Pro plan or trial, the Vera launcher activates your license key and starts the emulator. On the Free plan, you can start it with Docker alone, without a key. Nothing here needs a real cloud account.

The commands on this page were checked with Vera 1.2.2 on Linux AMD64. macOS, Windows and ARM64 follow the same steps with their own launcher; they weren’t tested for these docs.

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • Docker, installed and running Linux containers. On Windows, use Docker Desktop in Linux-container mode. See Docker’s install guide.
  • Downloads for your CPU. The launcher and the image must both match it, AMD64 or ARM64. On a Mac, Apple silicon is ARM64 and Intel is AMD64; Windows calls AMD64 x64.
  • A terminal: bash or zsh on Linux and macOS, or PowerShell on Windows itself, not in WSL.
  • curl, for the checks and the first request. In PowerShell, run it as curl.exe.
  • For Pro or a trial: your license key, the Vera launcher, and an internet connection when the emulator starts. See Licenses and plans.

Download and check the launcher

Section titled “Download and check the launcher”

The Vera launcher activates your license key and starts the emulator. It’s a separate download from the emulator image. On the Free plan without a key, you don’t need it: skip to Download and check the image.

From your Vera account, download the launcher for your computer, the SHA256SUMS file, and your license key. The launcher saves as vera (vera.exe on Windows), and the key as activation-key. Run the commands on this page in the folder that holds the launcher and the image.

The launchers aren’t signed yet, so check the launcher’s SHA-256 checksum before you run it. A matching checksum shows the file arrived intact; it isn’t a signature. SHA256SUMS lists each launcher under its original name, so compare with your launcher’s line:

Terminal window
sha256sum ./vera

Compare it with vera-linux-amd64 in SHA256SUMS, or vera-linux-arm64 on ARM64.

Keep the key file private. You give the launcher its path, never its contents, and you can download it again from your account at any time.

Download and check the image

Section titled “Download and check the image”

From the same page, download the emulator image for the same CPU as your launcher. In the commands from here on, choose your system, then your CPU: AMD64 for Intel and AMD processors (Windows calls it x64), ARM64 for Apple silicon and other ARM processors. Each command then names that CPU’s archive and image, and your choice carries to the other setup pages. The ARM64 archive, checksum and tag are the release catalog’s; only AMD64 was run for these docs.

Check the archive’s SHA-256 checksum. It must match the one shown under the command:

Terminal window
sha256sum vera-emu-1.2.2-amd64.tar.gz
AMD64 archive checksum
3de56ef0ee554ceef1ff1f2bc06e314c611eaea7b221865a33cda1117b862eb7

Load the image

Section titled “Load the image”

Load the archive into Docker. The command is the same in every terminal:

Terminal window
docker load --input vera-emu-1.2.2-amd64.tar.gz

Docker prints the tag it loaded, vera:1.2.2-amd64 or vera:1.2.2-arm64, which the start commands use. It’s a local name, not a registry address, so there’s nothing to docker pull.

Start the emulator

Section titled “Start the emulator”

If you already have a container named vera, look at it first with docker ps --all --filter name=vera: removing it discards everything you created in it.

With Pro or a trial, activate your key and start the emulator with the launcher. Change the key’s path if you saved it somewhere else:

Terminal window
chmod +x ./vera
./vera activate "$HOME/Downloads/activation-key"
./vera start vera:1.2.2-amd64 --detach
./vera status
  • activate installs the key from the file you give it.
  • start takes the exact image tag, and runs the emulator in a container named vera. The first start binds your license to this computer, and your account page then shows it as the license’s bound host.
  • --detach makes start return at once, so the next command runs. Without it, start follows the emulator’s console: Ctrl+C stops following and leaves the emulator running, and vera logs follows it again.
  • status shows the container’s Docker state. It doesn’t show whether the emulator is ready or Pro is active: that’s the next check.

Free plan: start with Docker

Section titled “Free plan: start with Docker”

To use only the Free services, start the image with Docker instead. You don’t need the launcher or a key:

Terminal window
docker run --detach --rm --name vera \
  --publish 127.0.0.1:5003:5003 \
  --publish 127.0.0.1:8081:8081 \
  --publish 127.0.0.1:8543:8543 \
  vera:1.2.2-amd64
  • --rm removes the container when it stops, and with it everything you created: see Running the emulator.
  • 127.0.0.1 keeps each port on this machine. Without an address, Docker publishes a port on every network interface.

This can’t turn on Pro, even with a key file: Pro starts with the launcher. See Licenses and plans.

Check access

Section titled “Check access”

Ask the emulator for its license status:

Terminal window
curl --fail --silent --show-error http://localhost:5003/_license

If curl can’t connect yet, the emulator is still starting. Check its progress with docker logs --tail 100 vera, then try again. Started with the launcher and your key, the response includes:

Output (selected fields)
{
  "tier": "ultimate",
  "access": "full",
  "reason": "verified_online"
}

access is full when Pro or a trial is active, and free on the Free plan. The license check calls Pro ultimate, so check access, not tier. A running container on its own doesn’t mean Pro is active.

Make a first request

Section titled “Make a first request”

List a project’s Compute Engine networks, which works on the Free plan and on Pro:

Terminal window
curl --fail --silent --show-error \
  http://localhost:8081/compute/v1/projects/example-project/global/networks

The response lists the project’s networks, including the default network the emulator creates. IDs, timestamps and the subnet list vary. It’s emulated configuration, not a real network, and example-project doesn’t have to exist in Google Cloud.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”

Each cloud has its own address on your machine. They aren’t interchangeable, and Azure’s is HTTPS: see Azure over HTTPS.

CloudAddress on your machine
Amazon Web Services (AWS)http://localhost:5003
Google Cloudhttp://localhost:8081
Microsoft Azurehttps://localhost:8543

The launcher also publishes a few ports for specific services, listed in Running the emulator.

Make a first request in the cloud you use:

AWS: your first requestSend a message through SQS and receive it back, with the AWS CLI.
Google Cloud: your first requestCreate a Compute Engine network, read it back and delete it, with gcloud or REST.
Microsoft Azure: your first requestFetch the emulator's certificate and list its subscription over local HTTPS, with curl.

Running the emulator covers logs, stopping, updating, troubleshooting and getting help.