onboarding.md

Onboarding GLS- Arda Setup

Last Update: April/2026

Hey Miner, welcome to GLS! This document is here to guide you through your first encounter with Arda. But you may ask - what is Arda?

Arda is the world in Tolkien's legendarium — and it's also the name of our entire GLS system.

You'll quickly notice that GLS is packed with Tolkien references. You'll get used to seeing pieces of software named as Gandalf, Bombadil, Saruman, or Smaug. To help you navigate, we’ve prepared a special glossary with some of the terminology you’ll encounter.

Remember that this is a living document, so it may become outdated as things evolve. If you spot anything broken, unclear, or missing, feel free to DM @fernando.lisboa or create a brand new gist based on this one. Most importantly: Don’t hesitate to ask for help — Arda is a complex system, and it’s totally expected to run into issues.

See ya, and good luck on your journey through Arda! 🧙‍♂️

Before You Start: Useful Links

• GLS Quick Onboarding Guide (Updated March '26) — start here for a broader overview of the company and its business.
• For general or business-related questions, we have a RAG-powered Claudinho loaded with GLS Onboarding docs at https://claude.ai/ask-your-org. You can request a GLS Claude subscription through ConductorOne

Arda Setup

Once you receive your @glssolutions.us/ @gls.ai account, follow these steps:

1. Access M365
2. Access Slack through the M365 account
3. Access ConductorOne through the M365 account and request access to the following apps:
   1. 1Password
   2. Arda (Development)
   3. Arda (Staging)
   4. Argo (Staging): Role => Read Only
   5. Datadog: Role => Session Replay Viewer
   6. Figma: Role => Viewer
   7. Linear: Role => User, Team => Arda
4. Sign in to 1Password using email invitation
   • Install chrome extension (optional)
   • Install desktop application (WSL users, please check this section)
     • Authorize the app using web application
   • Install 1Password CLI
     • Associate the CLI using desktop application
5. Configure GitHub:
   • Sign in to GitHub through M365
   • Visit Settings/Email
   • Link your e-mail [your.name]@glssolutions.us
   • Verify the account through your inbox mail (M365 Outlook)
   • Visit https://github.com/settings/notifications
     • Add Custom Routing: glssolutions ➝ [your.name]@glssolutions.us
   • Visit https://github.com/settings/emails
     • Make sure that Keep my email addresses private option is turned off, so you can merge your PRs using the @glssolutions.us email
   • Create SSH Key locally ssh-keygen -t ed25519
   • Configure your new SSH Key in ~/.ssh/config using GitHub SSH configuration snippet.
   • Visit https://github.com/settings/keys
     • Click New SSH Key
       • Add an Authentication Key
         • Title = you can choose, but maybe GLS is a good one
         • Key type = Authentication Key
         • Key = paste your .pub key from ~/.ssh
         • After creation, click on configure SSO ➝ glssolutions
       • Add Signing Key
         • Title = you can choose, but maybe GLS is a good one
         • Key type = Signing Key
         • Key = paste your .pub key from ~/.ssh
         • After creation, configure Git to sign commits using your new SSH Key (see on Github SSH configuration)
6. Setup Arda following the README
   • Disclaimer: Arda setup tends to take some time, and there are some common issues that everyone usually encounters. Please make sure to check the troubleshooting steps in the README, and don’t hesitate to ask for help if you get stuck.
7. Complete Drata compliance process (ask @gui if you need any help). (Ubuntu users, please check here)
8. If you're using VSCode/Cursor, install Aikido extension

After your first saruman up

The following GitHub steps must be completed after following the project README's instructions.

• After the project runs successfully using saruman up, an email will be sent to you through the local email platform (localhost:1080)
• Upon accessing the email, you will find a link to validate your account on the platform.
• Once the account is validated, you can log in to the platform by adding the ?show_login=true flag to the URL, where a new button will be displayed.

Github SSH Configuration

Create ~/.ssh/config and replace gls_ed25519 with your SSH Key file name:

Host github.com
 IgnoreUnknown AddKeysToAgent,UseKeychain
 AddKeysToAgent yes
 UseKeychain yes
 IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gls_ed25519

Open your global .gitconfig and add these extra configurations. Don't forget to replace gls_ed25519 with your actual SSH Key file name:

[user]
 signingkey = ~/.ssh/gls_ed25519.pub
[gpg]
 format = ssh
[commit]
 gpgsign = true

Drata

Drata is required to access some of GLS's sensitive services. If you're working on Ubuntu, these articles may help you with your disk encryption:

• Tutorial: Encrypting an existing root partition in Ubuntu with dm-crypt and LUKS
• Common Bug: Unlock LUKS encrypted Debian root with key file on boot partition

WSL

When installing on WSL, everything should be installed inside Ubuntu. Exceptions:

• Twingate
• 1Password

These are installed on Windows, but accessed from Ubuntu. You can run Docker via Docker Desktop on Windows, while keeping your codebase inside Ubuntu.

Additional Links

• [video] Concept of business loans, the role of private lenders, and the process of loan origination and investment in platform. Passcode: uDm#D%F4
• Money Movement 101

How to onboard a loan on a fresh stack: a guide by @beatriz.mitre ❤️