---
title: "First run"
description: "What happens the first time Startica starts, and how the three-step welcome wizard connects an AI provider, adds your product and starts its intel."
---

The first time you open Startica, it creates its data folder and database, then opens **Welcome to Startica**: a short setup in three steps. You connect an AI provider, tell Startica what you're marketing, and pick a few extras. It takes about two minutes, and you can skip any part of it. There's no sign-up.

After the wizard, Today shows a **Getting started** checklist for the rest of setup. See [Your first day](/getting-started/first-day).

> [!TIP]
> Want to look around before you set anything up? In the desktop app, click **Look around with a sample product first** at the bottom of the wizard. See [Try the demo](/guides/demo-mode).

## What happens on launch

When Startica starts, it:

1. Shows a "Starting Startica…" screen while its local server starts.
2. Creates the data folder if it doesn't exist, and opens `startica.db` inside it.
3. Applies any database migrations that haven't run yet.
4. Creates your workspace with the default model for each AI task.
5. Starts the background job runner and its schedules.
6. Opens **Welcome to Startica** on a fresh install, or the [Dashboard](/guides/dashboard) once setup is done.

The data folder is:

| OS | Data folder |
|---|---|
| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/Startica` |
| Windows | `%APPDATA%\Startica` |
| Linux | `~/.config/Startica` (or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Startica`) |

See [Data folder](/reference/data-folder) for what's inside.

Startica also adds an icon to the menu bar (macOS) or system tray (Windows, Linux). Closing the window keeps Startica running there, so scheduled jobs continue. Choose **Quit Startica** from that icon's menu to stop it.

## When the wizard appears

The wizard opens while you have no product and haven't finished or skipped it. Until then, every page in the app sends you back to it. Once you click **Finish** or **Skip setup**, it doesn't come back on its own, even if you never added a product.

To open it again, go to **Settings** → **General** → **App** and click **Run setup again**. See [Run setup again](#run-setup-again).

The progress row at the top shows the three steps: **AI · Your product · Extras**. A finished step gets a check mark.

## Step 1: Connect AI

![The Connect AI step of the welcome wizard, with the provider choice, the API key and Monthly budget fields](/images/setup/welcome-claude.png)

Startica uses AI to research your product, score conversations and write drafts, with your own API key from Claude or OpenAI. The step links to the guide for the provider you pick: [Anthropic API key](/credentials/anthropic) or [OpenAI API key](/credentials/openai).

1. Under **Provider**, pick **Claude (Anthropic)** or **OpenAI**.
2. Paste your key into **Anthropic API key** (keys start with `sk-ant-`) or **OpenAI API key** (keys start with `sk-`). The link under the field opens the page where you create one: platform.claude.com or platform.openai.com.
3. Set **Monthly budget (USD)**. It starts at $50. As the note under the field says: "A typical month for one product is a few dollars; building intel costs about $0.60."
4. Click **Save and continue**.

You can add the other provider's key later in **Settings** → **General** → **AI**. Which provider to pick is up to you: both work for every feature. See [How Startica uses AI](/concepts/ai) for the models each one uses.

The key is encrypted with your OS keychain before it's stored. On macOS, you may see a Keychain prompt the first time. Click **Always Allow**.

The budget is a hard cap: when this month's spend reaches it, Startica stops calling the AI until the next month or until you raise it. See [Costs and budget](/concepts/costs).

No key yet? Click **Skip for now**. Nothing that needs the AI runs until you add one in **Settings** → **General** → **AI**, and Today's checklist reminds you.

> [!NOTE]
> If a key for your provider is already saved in Settings, the wizard starts at step 2.

## Step 2: What are you marketing?

![The What are you marketing step, with Product name Fieldnote, Website fieldnote.example and the Start building intel now checkbox ticked](/images/setup/welcome-product.png)

Startica reads your website and researches the market to learn who the product is for and where those people talk.

| Field | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| **Product name** | Your product's name | Fieldnote |
| **Website** | Its address. You can leave off `https://`; Startica adds it. | fieldnote.example |

With an AI key, a checkbox is ticked for you: "Start building intel now: the AI reads the site and researches the market (about 3–4 minutes, under $1). You can keep setting up meanwhile." Leave it ticked to start right away, or untick it to build intel later from Today.

Without a key, there's no checkbox. Instead the step says "Without an AI key there's no intel yet: add one later, then click Build intel on Today's checklist." Adding the key later doesn't start intel by itself, because a build costs money: once the key is saved, click **Build intel** on Today's checklist.

Click **Continue**. Startica adds the product, makes it the active product, and starts intel if the box was ticked. **Back** returns to step 1.

The wizard only asks for the name and website. To fill in the one-liner and stage (the stage starts as Launched), click the pencil next to the product in **Settings** → **Products**. See [Settings](/reference/settings#products).

## Step 3: A few extras

![The A few extras step, with the Mastodon server field, links to the Google, Stripe and Supabase guides, and the Finish and Back buttons](/images/setup/welcome-extras.png)

While intel builds, the top of this step follows it live:

| Status | What it says |
|---|---|
| Building | "Building intel for _product_… (3–4 minutes)", with a spinner |
| Done | "Intel for _product_ is ready." |
| Failed | "Intel didn't finish; you can retry it from Today." |
| Not started | "All optional; you can change these later in Settings." |

Everything here is optional:

- **Open Startica when I log in.** Only in the installed app (not dev mode), ticked by default. Startica starts in the menu bar or tray when you log in, so scans and engagement checks keep running. Untick it to turn launching at login off. It's the same setting as **Launch at Login** in the tray menu and the checkbox in **Settings → General → App**. See [Running in the background](/guides/background).
- **Your Mastodon server (optional).** Only if you post on Mastodon: replies go out from your own server, for example `mastodon.social`. It's the same setting as **Settings** → **Channels** → **Posting**. See [Posting with Startica](/guides/assisted-posting).
- **See what works (later).** Links to the [Google](/credentials/google), [Stripe](/credentials/stripe) and [Supabase](/credentials/supabase) (product database) guides. Connecting analytics takes 5 to 30 minutes each, so it's on Today's checklist rather than in the wizard.

Click **Finish**. Startica saves these settings and opens **Today**.

**Back** goes to step 1, **Connect AI**, to add or change your key. It skips step 2 because your product is already saved; to edit it, use **Settings** → **Products**.

## Skip, demo and help

Below every step:

| Link | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Look around with a sample product first** | Desktop app only. Restarts Startica with Fieldnote, a sample product, in a separate data folder. Your own data is untouched. See [Try the demo](/guides/demo-mode). |
| **Skip setup** | Closes the wizard and opens Today. Anything you already saved (key, product) is kept. The wizard won't open again on its own. |
| **Help with setup** | Opens this page. |

If you skip before adding a product, Today says "Set up your first product (or add one in Settings) to get a daily plan." The first link reopens the wizard.

## Run setup again

**Settings** → **General** → **App** → **Run setup again** reopens the wizard and brings back the **Getting started** checklist on Today if you hid it.

The wizard starts at the first step that isn't done. With a key and a product already in place, that's **A few extras**. With a product already saved, setup goes from **Connect AI** straight to the extras (through **Save and continue** or **Skip for now**) and never shows the product step. To add another product, use **Settings** → **Products** → **Add product**: the wizard only sets up your first one.

## Check that the key works

Open **System** and click **Run test job**. Within a few seconds, a `ping` row appears under **Job runs** and a call appears under **AI calls** with status `ok`. If it fails, the error is in the **Result / error** column.

To change the key or budget later, open **Settings** → **General** → **AI** and click **Change keys or budget**. Leave a key field blank to keep the saved key. The same dialog switches provider; see [Switching provider](/concepts/ai#switching-provider).

## How intel builds

Intel is the foundation for everything else: listening, scoring, drafting and the roadmap all read from it. Scans skip a product until it has a brief.

If you didn't start it in the wizard, click **Build intel** on Today's checklist, or open **Intel** and click **Build intel**. On the Intel page you can first write what the website doesn't say under **Your notes for Startica** (who it's really for, what makes it different, current numbers, communities you already know) and click **Save notes**. Better notes make better intel.

On the Intel page, the badge next to the button shows progress:

1. "Step 1 of 3: reading the product's website"
2. "Step 2 of 3: researching competitors and communities (a few minutes)"
3. "Step 3 of 3: writing the brief, personas and lists"

A build takes 3 to 4 minutes and costs well under $1 (about $0.60 on Claude's defaults). It uses your `strategy` and `research` models with web search. When it's done, the badge says "Ready" and the tabs fill in: **Brief**, **Personas**, **Competitors**, **Communities** and **Keywords**. Suggested communities are listed strongest first.

If the build fails, the error shows under the button on the Intel page, and the checklist offers **Retry**. Fix the cause (often a missing API key or the budget cap) and try again. Builds never retry on their own, so you're never charged twice without asking.

> [!TIP]
> Rebuilds replace only what the AI wrote. Anything you add or edit, and every community you mark Watch or Ignore, is kept. If you edit the brief, rebuilds keep your version until you click **Let rebuilds update it**.

## Next

Work through the checklist on Today, from picking communities to your first posted reply: [Your first day](/getting-started/first-day).