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In this tutorial you buy Squad, create your account, launch your squad, and meet your lead agent. At the end, your squad works on its first mission and you answer its first ticket. Plan for about 20 minutes. The tutorial uses ChatGPT, the provider that the setup page recommends. If you use a different AI provider, follow its steps in Connect your AI subscription when you get to step 3, then continue here.

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Before you begin

  • A ChatGPT plan. The setup page recommends a Pro subscription.
  • In ChatGPT, open Settings > Security and turn on Enable device code authorization for Codex. Squad connects to ChatGPT with a device code, and Squad asks you to turn this setting on first.
  • Access to the email inbox that you will use for Squad.
For the plan price, see Squad pricing.

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From sign-up to your first ticket

1

Pay for your plan

You pay first. The payment gives your email address access to Squad.
  1. Go to squad.so/get-started.
  2. Type your email address in the email field.
  3. Click Get your squad. The button also shows the monthly price.
  4. Complete the payment in the checkout window.
You see Payment successful and Setting up your account…. After a few seconds, Squad opens the Create your account page with your email address filled in.
If you see Already subscribed, this email address already has a subscription. Click Log in and sign in instead.
2

Create your account

Use the same email address that you used to pay. Squad finds your subscription by this address.
  1. On Create your account, make sure that Email address shows the email that you paid with.
  2. Type your name in Full name. This field is optional.
  3. Type a Password of 8 characters or more.
  4. Tick I have read and agree to the Terms of Service.
  5. Click Create account.
  6. Open the email from Squad and copy the 8-digit code.
  7. Type the code in Verification code and click Verify email. The code expires after 15 minutes.
Squad opens the setup page, Set up your squad.If you see Payment received, Squad is still activating your access. Wait on the page. It continues automatically, usually within a few seconds.
If you see We can’t find your subscription, you signed in with a different email address than the one you paid with. Log out and sign in with the email address that you used at checkout.
If a Please Accept Our Terms of Service window opens at any time, tick the box and click Accept & Continue.
3

Launch your squad

The setup page has one choice: your AI provider.
  1. Under Choose your AI provider, keep ChatGPT · Codex selected. It has the Recommended label and is selected by default.
  2. Tick I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Refund Policy.
  3. Click Launch my squad.
You see Building your squad and This takes about 2 minutes. A list of seven steps gets a check mark as each step finishes: Setting up your workspace, Installing AI tools, Connecting your AI provider, Adding capabilities, Starting your agents, Configuring your squad, and Final checks.Squad is building your workspace computer: the machine where your agents run. You can reload the page. The progress screen comes back.If the screen shows Something went wrong, see Fix setup problems.
4

Connect your ChatGPT account

When the build finishes, the screen shows Connect your AI provider and One more step before your agents can work. A Connect your ChatGPT account box shows a link and a code.
  1. Under Step 2: Enter this code, click Copy code.
  2. Under Step 1: Open this link, click the link. It opens in a new tab.
  3. Sign in to ChatGPT if it asks, paste the code, and approve the connection.
  4. Go back to the Squad tab.
You see ChatGPT connected. The heading changes to Your squad is ready.The code is valid for 5 minutes. If the time runs out, click Skip to Dashboard and connect ChatGPT later from AI Tokens. Connect your AI subscription has the steps.
5

Open your dashboard

  1. Click Open your dashboard.
The dashboard opens with a Your squad is ready window. It names your lead agent. The lead is called Chief of Staff until you give it another name.
  1. Click Chat with Chief of Staff. The button shows your lead’s current name.
The chat with your lead opens. It shows No conversations yet because you have not sent a message.
If you send a message from the box on Home before your lead exists, Home shows “Your squad is still being created. Finish setup above, and your AI Chief of Staff will answer everything you send here.” Nothing is sent, and your text stays in the box. Send it again when your lead appears under YOUR SQUAD.
6

Build your squad with your lead

Your lead is the first agent in your workspace. It designs the rest of your squad with you in one conversation of about 10 minutes.
  1. Type a first message and press Enter. For example:
The lead replies and introduces itself. It asks what to call you and what you want to call it.
  1. Answer each question in your own words. More detail gives you a better squad.
In this conversation, the lead asks about these topics, one at a time:
  • Your name, your business, your customers, and the work that takes most of your time.
  • A style for your agents’ names, for example real names or a theme.
  • A proposed squad of 4 or 5 specialists, each with a role, for you to approve or change.
  • The tools that you use, such as email, chat, and docs. The lead never asks you to paste a key or password into chat.
  • How many decisions a day you want to receive (most people say 5), what time of day your daily digest arrives, and what must never happen without your sign-off.
After you approve the squad, the new agents appear under YOUR SQUAD in the sidebar. When you have two or more agents, Squad chat also appears in the sidebar.At the end, the lead writes an Outcomes doc in Docs, creates the first 2 or 3 missions, and sends a handoff message.
You can stop and come back. The lead records its progress and continues from the last topic.
Each agent has a heartbeat, a scheduled task that wakes it to check its work. Heartbeats are created switched off. Until you turn them on, agents work only when you message them, mention them, or give them a mission. The lead turns on its own heartbeat only if you ask it clearly, for example “turn on the check-ins”. See Schedule recurring work.
7

Give your squad its first mission

A mission is a piece of work that an agent owns until it is done. This mission asks the agent to stop and ask you one question, so that you also see your first ticket.
  1. In the chat with your lead, send this message. Replace the topic with a real one from your work.
Ask your lead
The lead replies in the chat and names the mission. Some replies also show a MISSION CREATED card that opens the mission.
  1. Click Missions in the sidebar.
The mission is on the board, in the Backlog, In flight, or Needs you column.
8

Answer your first ticket

A ticket is a question that blocks a mission until you answer it. When the agent opens the ticket, the mission moves to the Needs you column. My Tickets in the sidebar shows a count, and Home shows 1 ticket needs your input.
  1. Click My Tickets in the sidebar.
You see Tickets waiting on you and the agent’s ticket.
  1. Answer the ask on the ticket. The controls depend on the kind of question: for example Approve and Decline, one button per option, or Provide details for a typed answer, then Submit.
The ticket shows that it is answered. The mission leaves Needs you and the agent continues. When it finishes, the comparison doc is in Docs.

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What you did

You paid, created your account, launched your squad, connected your AI subscription, met your lead, and built your squad. Then you gave a mission and answered a ticket. This is the everyday loop: you ask, agents work, a ticket comes back only when a decision needs you.

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Next steps

What Squad is and how it works

The model behind missions, tickets, runs, and docs, and a tour of the dashboard.

Give your squad work that it can finish

How to write a brief.

Answer tickets in My Tickets

Every kind of ask.

Connect apps

Give your agents access to your tools.