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Sign-in methods

GitHub, Google and an emailed 6-digit code are three ways in, on both the CLI and the dashboard. None of them is the “real” one: pick whichever you like, and you can add the others later.
Each method you use is a connection on your account, listed under Dashboard > Account. They all open the same account, with the same sandboxes, settings and billing. Add or remove them at any time, as long as one remains. The connection marked primary decides which address receives account notifications, so making another one primary is how you change that address.
Signing in with a method that is not yet connected creates a separate account, even when the email address matches. To use a second method on an account you already have, sign in the way you always do and add the connection from the Account tab. Moving a connection between two existing accounts is a merge, which is support-side only.
Signing in with Google or email does not give Boat any access to your code. Cloning repositories needs a GitHub connection, which you can add whenever you first want one.

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Reinstalling, or a second machine

Your plan, environment, sandboxes and settings live on your account, not on the machine. Reinstalling Boat, or installing it on a new computer, only needs that machine signed in:
Sign in the same way you did the first time and boat onboard picks up the account you already have: it skips every step that account has finished, and does not open Stripe Checkout when your plan is active.
Use the same sign-in method as before. A method that has never been connected to your account opens a separate one, with its own empty plan, which is the usual reason a reinstall looks like it is asking you to subscribe again.

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What the sandboxes are for

Onboarding asks whether the sandboxes are for your own work, or for a platform of yours driven by third-party users. The second is the default, and it marks your environment safe for third parties so none of your credentials reach those sandboxes. Change it any time from Dashboard > Environment.

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Four ways to drive Boat

Everything is the same platform behind four front doors. Code examples across these docs come as CLI, curl, TypeScript and Python tabs; pick your tab once and the rest of the page follows it. They are not identical, and the differences are deliberate: Creating, rotating and revoking API keys and turning on zero data retention need a browser sign-in on either the CLI or the dashboard, and are refused to an API key on purpose. An agent can also sign itself in and claim a human: see Agent sign-in.