Getting started

First, how Tico thinks about a team of humans and bots. Then, finish setup and get a first result.

Shared primitives

When humans and bots work together, they need the same building blocks. In Tico, everyone uses the same ones:

• Goals: what you’re trying to achieve.
• Tasks: pieces of work toward a goal, each with one owner.
• Updates: regular reports on progress.
• Docs: what the team knows.
• Meetings and Market: what the team hears and learns.
• Needs you: questions and work waiting for your input.

A human and an agent can own the same kind of task, write to the same doc, and report on the same goal.

Two kinds of bots

Bots on your team chart are teammates: support, sales, content, and more, each owning a job, just like the humans on your team. Message bots clear one human’s inbox: they sort mail, draft replies, and flag what needs you. See Bots and examples.

Mix your agents

No single agent fits every job. Pick the right one for each seat:

Buy or build?

• If you can buy an agent that solves the whole problem, buy it.
• To start fast, a ready-made agent like Grok Bot is a good first step.
• For reliability and scale, build. Black-box agents can’t build their own software. Agents with their own repo can.

The team chart is home

Every agent and human sits on one team chart. Use it to jump between them. For agents that support it, you can chat and see their full history, across everyone’s computers, on your own subscriptions.

1. Build your team chart

For a local install, open the installer’s private owner sign-in link; it can be reused, so keep it private. The first time you sign in, Finish setup builds your team. See the local walkthrough for sign-in recovery.

1. Choose AI providers: pick one, or use Skip for now. Bots wait until you add one in Settings → AI providers.
2. Names: your team’s name and the app’s.
3. About the team: what you do and who you sell to.
4. Your team chart: pick groups, like Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Finance, Operations, Legal, HR, Product, and Engineering. Then go one group at a time: answer one question, and Tico suggests bots to recruit. Check the ones you want, or skip a group. Choose Operations and Project Coordinator for the first-result example below.
5. Add a computer: a Mac or a Linux or cloud computer that runs your bots. For a local Docker install, choose A Linux or cloud server (Docker) and run its generated command on this same computer; it uses the local server’s Docker network. You can create your team first; bots move onto a computer when one joins. See Add computers.
6. Connect an external agent: optional. Bring Grok, Muse, Claude, Cursor, Codex, or another external agent you already use.
7. Review and click Create my team.

Every team also gets four Built-in bots that sit beside the team chart: your Assistant, BotOps (builds and manages your other bots), the Librarian (answers from your docs), and the Goal Manager (keeps your goals and KPIs accurate).

New bots wait as Needs setup, idle and free, until you click Set up or message them. Each then walks you through its setup and turns on its first routine.

Group suggestions come from Tico HQ when Suggestions from Tico HQ is on. This sends your answer and team description, including customer type and software answers, plus the group, catalog version and install ID when present. See Privacy. Turn it off, or turn off the install count, and Tico suggests bots on its own.

Our default team templates

Every group in the team builder comes with our opinion of where to start. Each group has a head that reports to you and runs the group’s week, plus the bots we check for you. Other common bots are shown unchecked, and the rest are under More. Your answer to the group’s question can add a bot to the checked list. Change anything before you click Create my team.

Sales and Marketing start picked for every team. Engineering starts picked only when software is your product. The same pattern covers Customer Support, Finance, Operations, Legal, HR and Product. See every template in Starter bots.

Rules and Tools start from defaults

You don’t have to configure anything before your team starts working. Change any of it later.

• Rules start open, the fast way, and the owner can tighten each one in Settings → Humans. For example, your Assistant makes tasks without a confirm card, BotOps can set AI providers and raise limits, and when you leave a bot’s question unanswered for 3 days, it goes ahead with its own default if that default is internal and reversible.
• Tools start from each template’s defaults. A bot may touch only the Tools its template lists, and only once you grant it a Credential. For example, the Sales Development Representative starts with read-only access to the public web.
• Messages to outsiders stay drafts until you turn sending on for that bot.
• Each bot starts with one routine, like the weekly summaries above. It switches on when you set up the bot.

Rough monthly budget

You pay your AI providers and your hosting directly. As a rough guide:

Without subscriptions, paying per use with API keys, it costs substantially more. These are estimates, not quotes. What you spend depends on how many bots you run and how much work you give them.

Get your first result

1. Connect a model. If you skipped providers, choose one in Settings → AI providers, then select the bot’s model in Settings → Bots. In Settings → Computers, wait for its harness to install and use Sign in beside Codex or Claude Code. Finish the provider flow and wait for ready. For an API key, open Tools → Credentials, enter the provider’s variable name (for example OPENAI_API_KEY) in the variable field, and grant the model key to Every computer. Tool credentials are granted to each bot separately.
2. Give it a meeting. In Meetings → Add notes, name it “Example launch meeting”, choose Paste under Transcript, and paste the example below. Leave Private off for this fictional team meeting, then press Add notes. This needs no Zoom account or other external Tool.
3. Set up Project Coordinator. Choose Project Coordinator from Operations during Finish setup, or add it with Settings → Bots → Add from template. Open its page and press Set up. Tell it: “Cover this example team meeting only. Send the summary to me only. Skip private meetings. Leave unclear owners and dates open and ask me. No customer recap.” Answer any remaining questions and review its first draft.
4. Finish one task. In Tasks → New task, assign Project Coordinator: “Summarize the example launch meeting in under 150 words. List its decision, action items with the named owners and dates, and open questions. Quote the notes; create no follow-up tasks for this exercise.” Read the result in the task and mark it done if it is still open. Success is a reviewed summary and a completed task, with the computer online and no blocking Health issue.

00:00 Ana: We will launch the example app on October 15, 2026.
00:15 Sam: I will draft the launch checklist by October 8, 2026.
00:30 Ana: I will review the checklist by October 9, 2026.
00:45 Sam: Who will write the help page? We have not chosen an owner or date.

No GitHub account is needed. Bots draft messages to outsiders until sending is turned on for that bot.

If the bot is waiting

• Add an AI provider: choose one in Settings → AI providers and select the bot’s model in Settings → Bots.
• Offline: check Settings → Computers and keep the joined computer running.
• Sign-in rejected: repeat the computer’s Sign in flow for a subscription. For a stored model key, replace it in Tools → Credentials and check its variable name and Every computer grant.
• Needs setup: open the bot’s chat, press Set up, and finish its questions.
• Missing Tool or Credential: use the bot’s connection or Credential card and grant the Credential to that bot.

More help: Setup troubleshooting and Harnesses.

2. Take the tour

Six quick stops: Updates, Tasks, your bots, Docs, Market, and Meetings. Replay it any time from ? → Take the tour.

3. Add bots by talking to BotOps

To add or change a bot, message BotOps. Brief it like a new hire:

4. Find your way around