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

# Quickstart

> Get UltraBalancer running in 2 minutes

## Install

```bash theme={null}
curl -sSL https://package.ultrabalancer.com/install.sh | sh
```

That's it! Verify with:

```bash theme={null}
ultrabalancer --version
```

## Start Load Balancing

```bash theme={null}
# Basic - round-robin across 2 backends
ultrabalancer start round-robin backend1:8080 backend2:8080 -p 80

# Least connections - routes to least busy backend
ultrabalancer start least-connections backend1:8080 backend2:8080 -p 80

# Custom port
ultrabalancer start round-robin app1:8080 app2:8080 -p 8080
```

## Add Monitoring

```bash theme={null}
# One command to start Grafana + Prometheus
ultrabalancer dashboard --start
```

* **Grafana**: [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000) (admin/admin)
* **Prometheus**: [http://localhost:9090](http://localhost:9090)

## Use a Config File

Create `config.yaml`:

```yaml theme={null}
listen_address: "0.0.0.0"
listen_port: 8080
algorithm: "round-robin"

backends:
  - host: "192.168.1.10"
    port: 8080
    weight: 100
  - host: "192.168.1.11"
    port: 8080
    weight: 100
```

Run with the config:

```bash theme={null}
ultrabalancer start -c config.yaml
```

## Test It

```bash theme={null}
# Send requests
curl http://localhost:8080
curl http://localhost:8080/health
```

## Available Algorithms

| Algorithm           | Use Case                        |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| `round-robin`       | Simple equal distribution       |
| `least-connections` | Route to least busy backend     |
| `ip-hash`           | Session affinity by client IP   |
| `weighted`          | Priority-based with weights     |
| `random`            | Random selection                |
| `power-of-two`      | Pick 2 random, use least loaded |
| `fastest-response`  | Route to fastest responder      |

## Next Steps

* [Configuration](/configuration/overview) - All config options
* [Monitoring](/integration/monitoring) - Set up dashboards
* [Algorithms](/concepts/algorithms) - Choose the right algorithm