Set up SquadRoom and get your first report

Before you begin

• A card. The Launch plan is $49 a month during early access. Its full price is $99. You pay before setup starts. You can cancel any time, and a subscription payment is refundable within 7 days. See Get a refund.
• An email inbox you can open now, or a Google account.
• An AI account: a paid ChatGPT plan such as Plus or Pro, or a Claude Pro or Max subscription. Or an API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, or OpenRouter. An API key is a secret code from your AI provider that lets SquadRoom use your account. Your provider bills that usage, not SquadRoom.
• For ChatGPT: in ChatGPT, open Settings > Security and turn on Device code authorization for Codex. This lets you connect ChatGPT with a code instead of your password.
• For a Claude subscription: a computer with a terminal (the app where you type commands) and Claude Code, Anthropic's tool for the terminal. To install it, run npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code in the terminal.
• Your company in a sentence or two: its name, its website if it has one, what it does, and who it is for.
• Pop-ups allowed for squadroom.app, if you want to connect apps during setup.

Your workspace usually builds in under a minute. The conversation with your lead takes as long as you want. If you leave partway, setup picks up at the same step when you log in again.

Set up your squad

1. 1

   Create your account

   Go to squadroom.app/pricing and click Build your AI team. Then sign up with your email or with Google.

   EmailGoogle

   1. Fill in First name, Last name, Work email, and a Password of 8 characters or more.
   2. Click Create account. You see "Verify your inbox."
   3. Open the email "Verify your SquadRoom email" and click Verify email. The link works for 60 minutes.
   4. On "You're confirmed.", click Continue to sign in. Log in if SquadRoom asks.
2. 2

   Pay for your plan

   1. Click Continue to checkout · $49/month and complete the payment.

   You come back to SquadRoom, and setup moves on once the payment is confirmed.

3. 3

   Wait for your workspace

   You see STEP 1 OF 6 and "Your squad is moving in." SquadRoom builds a private workspace that only you and your squad can reach. Keep the tab open.

   1. When you see "Your workspace is ready.", click Enter workspace.
4. 4

   Name your lead

   You see STEP 2 OF 6 and "Who should lead your squad?". Your lead runs the setup conversation and hands out your work.

   1. Type a name of up to 32 characters in Lead agent name.
   2. Click Continue.

   You can rename your lead later on Squad.

5. 5

   Connect your AI account

   You see STEP 3 OF 6 and "Connect your AI providers". Your squad thinks with the AI account you connect here. Connect one provider now. You can add more later in Settings > Model Providers.

   ChatGPTClaude subscriptionAPI key

   1. Click OpenAI Codex, then the ChatGPT sign-in tab.
   2. Click Connect, then Open authorization page. It opens in a new tab.
   3. Copy the code under Enter Verification Code.
   4. In the new tab, sign in to ChatGPT if it asks, paste the code, and approve.
   5. Go back to SquadRoom. The window closes when the connection finishes, and OpenAI Codex shows Configured.

   Then pick the model, the AI your squad thinks with:

   1. Under Default Model, keep the Recommended model or pick another.
   2. Leave Reasoning Level on Automatic.
   3. Click Continue.

   If you connect more than one provider, the one under Active Provider runs your workspace.

6. 6

   Connect your apps (optional)

   You see STEP 4 OF 6 and "Connect your integrations", with eight common apps such as Gmail, Slack, and Notion. Show all 56 integrations lists the rest. Connecting an app lets your squad read it, and do more there if you allow it.

   1. Click an app, sign in to it in the pop-up, and allow access. The app shows a check mark and Read only.
   2. To let your squad do more in that app, click it, choose Read + Write or Full access, and click Save access.
   3. Click Continue. If you connected nothing, the button reads Skip for now.

   Every app starts at read only. You can connect more apps and change access later in Settings > Integrations.

7. 7

   Describe your company

   You see STEP 5 OF 6 and "What are you building?". Your lead starts reading your site and connected apps while you finish, so setup asks only what it can't find.

   1. Type the name in Company or product name.
   2. Type your site in Website, if you have one.
   3. Under What it does and who it is for, write a sentence or two, at least 20 characters.
   4. Click Continue.
8. 8

   Build your squad

   You see STEP 6 OF 6 and "Build your squad with" and your lead's name.

   1. Wait until the button stops reading Finishing setup....
   2. Click Build my squad. Chat opens, and your lead writes first.
9. 9

   Talk with your lead

   Your lead asks what to call you. It says in a line what it learned from your form and your site, then asks its first question. Answer in your own words, one reply at a time.

   • It asks only what changes your squad's work: who your customers are, who you compete with, and why people pick you. It also asks what you tried, where you want to go, and why you started. For competitors, it shows the ones it found for you to keep or drop.
   • You can add a slide deck, a doc, or a list. Your lead skips any question the file already answers.
   • It asks where your time goes. For each problem you name, it recommends one squad member. It says what that squad member will do and how often, and how you will both know it works. It also says what the squad member starts on and what comes to you to approve.
   • When you have nothing to add, say so. Your lead asks how to name your squad members, for example after characters from a film, show, book, or game you like. Or it picks the names itself.
   • It creates your squad, gives each squad member its first work, and introduces them in Chat with an Open the board button.
10. 10

    Follow your first task

    When your squad is ready, a card in the sidebar reads "Your squad is ready" and names the task that started first. That is often your lead's "Enrich company context", which learns about your company from your site and apps.

    1. Click Follow the first Task. The task opens on Tasks.
    2. Read the brief and click Follow its progress.
    3. Click Continue exploring, then Minimize to make the card smaller.

    The task's card on the board says what the squad member is doing now. You can close the page. The work carries on. Skip tour on the sidebar card ends the tour. It doesn't come back.

11. 11

    Answer a decision, if one comes

    When a squad member needs something only you know, the card reads "Your squad needs one decision", and the task moves to Blocked.

    1. Click Review decision. The task opens.
    2. Click the box marked "waiting on you", then Review. Tasks > Tickets opens on the question.
    3. Answer each ask: approve a draft or request changes, pick an option, or type an answer.

    After your last answer, the task goes back to In Progress. See Answer questions and approve drafts.

12. 12

    Read the report

    When the task is done, the card reads "Verify the outcome". The report shows on the task and under Latest outcomes on the Dashboard.

    1. Read the report and open the files under Documents saved with this Report.
    2. Click I reviewed the Report.

    To fix something, type what to change in the task and click Request changes. The same squad member takes it back.

If something goes wrong

For any other message, see When setup won't finish.

What setup doesn't do

• During the setup conversation, your lead can only read.
• Your squad's first tasks draft and recommend. Nothing is published, sent, or paid for until you approve it.
• A retry never charges you again or creates a second workspace, squad, or task. It creates only what is missing.

Next steps

• Get a Morning Brief. The sidebar card goes on to "Make useful work recur". Click Review Morning Brief, then Set up. Each morning you get one Chat message with one to three actions for the day. See Run a playbook.
• Give your squad a task of your own. Click New Task on Tasks, or ask your lead in Chat. See Hand over work that comes back finished.
• Learn the parts of SquadRoom. See How SquadRoom works.
• Connect another AI account or a fallback. A fallback is another provider that takes over when your account hits its limit. See Connect the AI account your squad runs on.
• Connect more apps. See Connect apps through Integrations.