# Get started with help.ai

> Five steps from an empty workspace to an AI agent answering customers on your website.

help.ai puts an AI agent in front of your customers that answers from your own knowledge, hands the conversation to your team when it needs a person, and shows you what customers ask. This guide takes you from a new workspace to a live chat widget on your website.

Your workspace lives at **help.ai/w/your-workspace**. Every step below starts from the sidebar. Until you're set up, the **Dashboard** also shows a card with your next step: **Create your first Agent**, then **Add deployment**, then **Start a Chat**.

## 1. Add your knowledge

1. Open **Library** and select **Create Library Item**.
2. In **Type**, keep **File**, choose a document such as your returns policy and select **Upload File**. Or choose **Website**, enter its **URL** under **Links** and select **Create Website**.
3. Wait until the item's **Content Extraction** column shows **Ready**.

<Tip>
Start with the pages customers already read: shipping, returns, setup guides and FAQs. You can add more at any time.
</Tip>

## 2. Create an AI agent

1. Open **AI Agents** and select **Create Agent**.
2. Under **Basics**, give it a **Name**. Under **Instructions**, describe its job, its audience and what it must never do.
3. Under **Model**, choose an **AI model**.
4. Under **Knowledge**, leave **Library** empty to use every ready item added on the **Library** page, or pick the items this agent should read.
5. Keep **Enabled** on under **Availability** and select **Create Agent**.

## 3. Test it in the dashboard

In the **AI Agents** list, open **Chat** on your agent's row and choose **New conversation**, or select **Try it in chat** while you edit it. Ask the questions your customers ask most. If an answer is thin, add the missing knowledge to Library or tighten the agent's **Instructions**, then ask again. Saved changes apply from the agent's next reply.

A test chat runs the agent as you set it up: its instructions, knowledge, model, tools and skills. To try it in the widget the way visitors will, use the deployment's **Preview** after the next step. See [Test your AI agent before customers see it](https://support.help.ai/getting-started/test-your-agent-before-launch).

## 4. Add a deployment

A deployment decides where the agent meets people. Open **Deployments**, select **Create Deployment** and choose a **Channel**:

| Channel | Use it for |
| --- | --- |
| Website widget | A chat on your own website, added with one snippet |
| Hosted page | A chat page at your-link.help.chat, no code needed |
| API | Your own app or backend, with no help.ai interface |

This guide follows the website widget. For the API channel, see [Call your agent from your own app](https://support.help.ai/deployments-and-the-widget/call-your-agent-from-your-own-app).

Under **Basics**, give it a **Name**, check its **Link** and pick the **AI Agent** that answers. Select **Create Deployment**. The deployment opens on its **Settings** tab. **Chat widget** is where you style the chat (website widget and hosted page only), and **Install** has the code.

Visitors reach the agent only while the agent is **Enabled** and the deployment is **Live** under **Availability**. Both are on when you create them.

## 5. Install the widget

Open the deployment's **Install** tab, copy the **Quick install (auto-mount)** snippet and paste it into your site inside `<head>` or just before `</body>`. Reload your site and the chat bubble appears in the corner.

## What to do next

- Turn on **Talk to a person** in the deployment's **Chat widget** tab → **Features** so visitors can ask for a person, then answer their requests in **Inbox**.
- Add **Help center** and **News** tabs from your **Content** collections, under the deployment's **Settings** → **Tabs** (up to 4 tabs).
- Check **Analytics** → **Conversations** after a few days to see what customers ask and where answers fall short.

## Related

- [Create your first AI agent](https://support.help.ai/ai-agents/create-your-first-ai-agent)
- [Add the chat widget to your website](https://support.help.ai/deployments-and-the-widget/add-the-chat-widget-to-your-website)
- [Let visitors talk to a person](https://support.help.ai/inbox-and-cases/let-visitors-talk-to-a-person)