Skip to main content

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Aurora.

General​

What is Aurora?​

Aurora is an AI-powered root cause analysis tool that helps Site Reliability Engineers investigate and resolve incidents. It uses LLM agents to query your cloud infrastructure and observability tools using natural language.

Is Aurora open source?​

Yes. Aurora is licensed under Apache License 2.0. The source code is available at github.com/arvo-ai/aurora.

Do I need cloud provider accounts?​

No. Aurora works without any cloud provider accounts. You only need an LLM API key (OpenRouter, OpenAI, or Anthropic) to get started. Cloud connectors are optional.

Setup​

What are the system requirements?​

  • Docker and Docker Compose >= 28.x
  • 8GB+ RAM recommended
  • Any OS that runs Docker (macOS, Linux, Windows)

How long does setup take?​

About 5 minutes for basic setup. The quickstart guide walks you through:

  1. Clone repository
  2. Run make init
  3. Add LLM API key
  4. Run make prod-prebuilt (or make prod-local to build from source)

Which LLM provider should I use?​

We recommend OpenRouter because:

  • Single API key for multiple models
  • Pay-per-token (no monthly commitment)
  • Easy to switch between models

Can I run Aurora without Docker?​

Docker is the supported deployment method. Running without Docker requires manually setting up all services (PostgreSQL, Redis, Vault, etc.).

Features​

What can I ask Aurora?​

Examples:

  • "Why did the API latency spike at 3am?"
  • "Show me all errors from the payment service in the last hour"
  • "What changed in our Kubernetes deployments this week?"
  • "Summarize the alerts from PagerDuty today"

Which cloud providers are supported?​

  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Microsoft Azure
  • OVH (multi-region)

Which observability tools are supported?​

  • Datadog
  • Grafana
  • PagerDuty
  • Netdata

Can I use Aurora with Kubernetes?​

Yes. Aurora includes a kubectl agent that runs inside your cluster. See the kubectl agent documentation.

Security​

Where are my credentials stored?​

All credentials are stored in HashiCorp Vault, not in the database. The database only stores references to Vault paths.

Is my data sent to external services?​

Only when you explicitly query cloud providers or LLM services:

  • Cloud queries go to your configured providers
  • Investigation prompts go to your LLM provider
  • No telemetry or analytics are collected

Can I self-host everything?​

Yes. Aurora runs entirely on your infrastructure. You can even use self-hosted LLMs (via OpenRouter-compatible APIs).

Development​

How do I contribute?​

See the Contributing Guide. The basic flow:

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Make changes
  4. Submit a pull request

Where do I report bugs?​

Open an issue at github.com/arvo-ai/aurora/issues with:

  • Clear description
  • Steps to reproduce
  • Error logs
  • Environment details

How do I request features?​

Open an issue with the enhancement label describing:

  • Use case
  • Proposed solution
  • Alternatives considered

Troubleshooting​

Aurora won't start​

See the Troubleshooting Guide. Common causes:

  • Missing .env file (run make init)
  • Port conflicts
  • Docker not running

"Vault token not set"​

After first startup, you need to extract the root token:

docker logs vault-init 2>&1 | grep "Root Token:"

Add it to .env as VAULT_TOKEN and restart.

Investigations are slow​

LLM latency depends on:

  • Model choice (GPT-4 is slower than GPT-3.5)
  • Query complexity
  • Provider load

Try using faster models for simple queries.

Pricing​

Is Aurora free?​

Aurora itself is free and open source. You'll pay for:

  • LLM API usage - Based on tokens processed
  • Cloud provider costs - If using cloud connectors
  • Infrastructure - If deploying to cloud (optional)

How much does the LLM cost?​

Depends on usage. Rough estimates:

  • Simple query: $0.01-0.05
  • Full investigation: $0.10-0.50
  • Complex RCA: $0.50-2.00

OpenRouter shows per-request costs for transparency.