  The Automated Planet Finder (APF) is a facility purpose-built for the
discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets through high-cadence
Doppler velocimetry of the reflex barycentric accelerations of their host
stars. Located atop Mt. Hamilton, the APF facility consists of a 2.4-m
telescope and its Levy spectrometer, an optical echelle spectrometer optimized
for precision Doppler velocimetry. APF features a fixed format spectral range
from 374 nm - 970 nm, and delivers a "Throughput" (resolution * slit width
product) of 114,000 arc-seconds, with spectral resolutions up to 150,000.
Overall system efficiency (fraction of photons incident on the primary mirror
that are detected by the science CCD) on blaze at 560 nm in planet-hunting mode
is 15%. First-light tests on the RV standard stars HD 185144 and HD 9407
demonstrate sub-meter per second precision (RMS per observation) held over a
3-month period. This paper reviews the basic features of the telescope, dome,
and spectrometer, and gives a brief summary of first-light performance.
