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Quick start

This walkthrough takes a fresh install to a board with real, sourced material on it. It uses DeepState AI, the model access that comes with every license, so there is nothing to configure first.

  1. Activate and set up your first case

    Paste your license key when the app asks. DeepState AI is switched on for you, so there is no model to configure. A short setup follows:

    • Your case: a name for your first board and, optionally, what it's about. If you describe it, that question is left in the agent's input, ready to send.
    • Layout: board and agent side by side (Merged), the agent first (Agent), or the board first (Board). Switch any time from the bottom bar or Ctrl/⌘+1/2/3.
    • Look: theme and text size.

    Then a one-minute tour points out the toolbar, the agent, the layouts, presentations and dossiers, and the three settings worth knowing (AI provider, Integrations, Appearance). Skip setup goes straight to the board screen instead, for example to import a board or join a shared one. Replay the tour any time from Settings → Appearance.

    A board is a self-contained investigation: its own nodes, connections, narratives, AI conversations and media. Create more, or switch, by clicking the board name in the title bar.

  2. Ask the assistant to start

    The chat on the left is the research assistant. It is in Investigate mode by default, which means it can create and edit nodes. Try something concrete:

    Research the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Create actor nodes for the key executives and regulators, an organization node for the bank, event nodes for the main dates, and connect them. Cite sources.

    Watch the tool calls stream in: search_board first (it always checks what already exists), then web_search, search_wikipedia, scrape_url, and finally create_actor, create_event, create_connection. Nodes appear on the canvas as they are created.

  3. Look around

    Scroll to zoom, drag empty space to pan. Double-click a node (or select it and press Enter) to open it in the node sheet: an overview of it, and an Edit tab for its fields. Double-click empty canvas to drop a Note. Press / to search node titles. Click the timeline button in the title bar to see the events you just created laid out by date.

  4. Add your own material

    Paste a URL onto the canvas (Ctrl/Cmd+V): a tweet, Reddit or Bluesky post becomes a Social node with the post fetched; a YouTube link becomes an Embed; a news article becomes a News Article node that is scraped and summarized in the background; an image becomes a Media node. Or use the toolbar across the top of the canvas, or the Shift+letter shortcuts (Shift+N for a note, Shift+E for an event, and so on).

  5. Connect and group

    Drag from the handle on one node to another to draw a connection, then click the line to set its type: causes, funds, controls, contradicts, confirms and so on. Right-click a node → Add to narrative to start grouping findings into storylines, or ask the assistant to "create a narrative for the regulatory response and add the relevant nodes".

  6. Let it run on its own (optional)

    Start a new chat, switch the mode to Autoresearch, and give it a direction:

    Map the bank's largest depositors and what happened to them.

    Autoresearch runs up to fifteen investigation rounds, deciding the next question itself from what it found, until it judges the topic covered. Use Plan mode when you want to discuss approach without the assistant changing the board.

  7. Keep it fed

    Press Shift+R to add an RSS Feed node and paste a feed URL (or r/subreddit, a YouTube @handle, or a Bluesky handle). New items arrive on the board on the interval you choose, optionally filtered by keywords or by AI relevance to the board.

Where to go from here​

  • Working on the canvas - selection, editing, paste, undo.
  • Node types - what each of the 16 node types is for and what it captures.
  • Pivots - look up a domain, IP, email or phone from any node and add what it leads to.
  • AI assistant - modes, context, reasoning depth, conversation management.
  • Tools reference - every tool, grouped, with what it needs and which tier it belongs to.
  • Collaboration - share the board with a colleague.
Everything is saved as you go

There is no save button. Every change is written to the local database immediately and undo (Ctrl/Cmd+Z) covers node creation, deletion, moves and connections.