> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://squad.so/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Get started: from sign-up to your first mission
> Pay, create your account, launch your squad, meet your lead agent, and hand over your first mission.
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](/docs/connect-your-ai) when you get to step 3, then continue here.
## 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](https://squad.so/#pricing).
## From sign-up to your first ticket
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.
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**.
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](/docs/setup-troubles).
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](/docs/connect-your-ai#steps-for-each-provider) has the steps.
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.
2. 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**.
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:
```text theme={null}
Hi! I'm Sam. Let's set up my squad.
```
The lead replies and introduces itself. It asks what to call you and what you want to call it.
2. 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](/docs/scheduled).
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.
```text Ask your lead theme={null}
Create a mission: research the pricing pages of my three closest competitors and write a doc that compares their plans. Before you start the research, open a ticket to ask me which three competitors to use.
```
The lead replies in the chat and names the mission. Some replies also show a **MISSION CREATED** card that opens the mission.
2. Click **Missions** in the sidebar.
The mission is on the board, in the **Backlog**, **In flight**, or **Needs you** column.
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.
2. 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**.
## 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.
## Next steps
The model behind missions, tickets, runs, and docs, and a tour of the dashboard.
How to write a brief.
Every kind of ask.
Give your agents access to your tools.