---
layout: docs
page_title: Run and log in to Boundary
description: >-
  Run and authenticate to Boundary in dev mode using pre-configured credentials. Dev mode lets you try Boundary in an environment with ephemeral sample resources.
---

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> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation previously located in `/website` has moved to the [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs) repository, where all product documentation is now centralized. Please make contributions directly to `web-unified-docs`, since changes to `/website` in this repository will not appear on developer.hashicorp.com.
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# Run and log in to Boundary

To start Boundary in dev mode:

```shell-session
$ boundary dev
```

## Log in to Boundary

Boundary uses a predictable login name (`admin`) and password (`password`) in
dev mode. These can be overridden, or randomly generated, with flags to
`boundary dev`. The auth method resource in the global scope is set as the primary auth method for that scope. This allows you to omit the auth method ID when authenticating, enabling the short-form `boundary authenticate`:

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="CLI">


```shell-session
$ boundary authenticate
Please enter the login name (it will be hidden):
Please enter the password (it will be hidden):
```

If you are on Windows or macOS, the system password store will be used to store
the new token. On any other operating system, you may get an error indicating
that the token could not be stored. Boundary defaults to using
[pass](https://www.passwordstore.org/) on these machines, which uses [GNU
Privacy Guard](https://gnupg.org/) to encrypt values. If it is not available,
the token will be displayed and can be stored in a system of your choice and
passed in via the `BOUNDARY_TOKEN` environment variable.

It is recommended to make use of `pass` or another alternative (such as any
implementation of the freedesktop.org Secret Service feature). Installation and
configuration of `pass` or other alternatives is beyond the scope of this
article; consult the documentation for `pass` or your specific OS distribution
help pages.

Note that if `-format json` is used on this command, Boundary will not save the
token to the system password store. In this case, the authentication information
will only be printed to your terminal in JSON format. You can use the
`BOUNDARY_TOKEN` environment variable or `-token` flag to provide the token in
subsequent commands.

</Tab>
<Tab heading="Admin Console">


To authenticate to the Admin UI, open
[http://127.0.0.1:9200](http://127.0.0.1:9200) in a browser and enter the login
name and password:

<video muted playsInline autoPlay loop class="boundary-clickthrough-video">
  <source
    type="video/mp4"
    src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/2885/1602260993-boundary-clickthrough-getting-started-run-and-login.mp4"
  />
</video>

</Tab>


<Tab heading="Desktop Client">

To authenticate using the Boundary desktop client, launch the Boundary desktop client
and connect to Boundary using [http://127.0.0.1:9200](http://127.0.0.1:9200),
then enter the login name and password:

<video
  muted
  playsInline
  autoPlay
  loop
  class="boundary-clickthrough-video boundary-clickthrough-desktop-video"
>
  <source
    type="video/mp4"
    src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/2885/1613612831-boundary-desktop-clickthrough-authenticate-v1-0-0.mp4"
  />
</video>

</Tab>


<Tab heading="Terraform">


You can also use these overrides to configure the [Terraform provider for
Boundary](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-provider-boundary):

```hcl
provider "boundary" {
    base_url             = "http://127.0.0.1:9200"
    auth_method_id       = "ampw_1234567890"
    auth_method_username = "admin"
    auth_method_password = "password"
}
```

Note in the example above we're setting `base_url` to `http` and not `https` as
the Boundary server does not use TLS in development mode.

</Tab>
</Tabs>


## Next steps

See [connecting to your first
target](/boundary/docs/getting-started/dev-mode/connect-to-dev-target) for how to use Boundary to
run your first SSH session.
