Angal-Kalinin, D. Brynes, A.D. Buckley, S.R. Cash, R.J. Clarke, R.F. Corlett, P.A. Cowie, L.S. Cox, G. Dumbell, K.D. Dunning, D.J. Hodgkinson, C. Hornickel, P.C. Jackson, F. Jones, J.K. McKenzie, J.W. Militsyn, B.L. Moss, A.J. Noakes, T.C.Q. Roper, M.D. Scott, D.J. Shepherd, B.J.A. Smith, R.J. Snedden, E.W. Thompson, N. Tollervey, C. Walsh, D.A. Weston, T.M. Wheelhouse, A.E. Wilson, J.T.G. JACoW Publishing Geneva, Switzerland 2226-0366 978-3-95450-194-6 10.18429/JACoW-LINAC2018-MOPO035 English 98-101 MOPO035 linac laser GUI cathode MMI Contribution to a conference proceedings 2019 2019-01 https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-LINAC2018-MOPO035 http://jacow.org/linac2018/papers/mopo035.pdf CLARA (Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications) is a Free Electron Laser (FEL) test facility under development at Daresbury Laboratory. The principal aim of CLARA is to test advanced FEL schemes which can later be implemented on existing and future short wavelength FELs. We report on the commissioning of the CLARA front end, consisting of a photoinjector and the first linac section, and merger into the existing VELA (Versatile Electron Linear Accelerator) beamline.