URL: /cloud

---
title: "Cloud Overview"
description: "What squirrelscan cloud adds on top of free local audits"
icon: "cloud"
---

Local audits are **free and unlimited, forever**. The cloud exists to do only what your machine can't:

- **AI analysis** - page classification, site-type detection, parsability scoring, authority assessment
- **Browser rendering** - audit JavaScript-heavy sites with a real headless browser
- **Shared data** - full adblock/privacy filter lists, a global dead-link cache, search demand data
- **Publishing & teams** - publish reports, track issues over time, share with your team in the [dashboard](/dashboard)

Cloud features are priced in [credits](/cloud/credits). Every new account gets **1,000 free credits** - no card required.

## Getting started

```bash
squirrel auth login
```

That's it. Your next `squirrel audit` automatically includes the [cloud rules](/cloud/rules) - results merge into the same report alongside the local rules.

```bash
squirrel credits   # check your balance and pricing
```

## How cloud rules behave

- **Logged in** - cloud rules run as part of the audit. Calls are batched during a dedicated cloud phase, and spend is shown in the audit summary.
- **Logged out** - cloud rules report `skipped` with a hint to log in. Your audit still completes; nothing fails.
- **Out of credits or service down** - same thing: rules skip, the audit completes, you see a one-line warning.

You stay in control of spend with a per-audit credit cap and a confirmation prompt for larger runs. See [Credits & Pricing](/cloud/credits#spend-controls).

## What's in the cloud

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Cloud Rules" icon="list-checks" href="/cloud/rules">
    The audit rules powered by cloud services, and what each costs
  </Card>
  <Card title="Credits & Pricing" icon="coins" href="/cloud/credits">
    How credits work, full pricing, and spend controls
  </Card>
  <Card title="Browser Rendering" icon="globe" href="/cloud/rendering">
    Render JavaScript-heavy sites with a cloud headless browser
  </Card>
  <Card title="Dashboard" icon="layout-dashboard" href="/dashboard">
    Published reports, issue tracking, and billing at app.squirrelscan.com
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Publishing reports

Publishing a report to the dashboard costs **2 credits** and gives you a shareable URL plus issue history for the site:

```bash
squirrel audit https://example.com --publish
```

See [Reports](/reports) for publishing details.

## Privacy

Cloud analysis works on slim page summaries - URL, title, and a short text excerpt - never your full raw HTML. Third-party data providers are proxied through our API; your pages are never sent to them directly.