> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bowerlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# An onboarding checklist that actually helps

> A guided first-time setup, with progress shown in the sidebar, that tracks the steps that matter most for getting value from Bower.

**Shipped 2026-03-27 · Workspace**

Most onboarding tours throw twenty things at a new user and hope something
sticks. We've tried for the opposite — a short checklist of the steps that
have been observed to actually predict whether someone gets value out of
Bower in their first week.

## What's new

A new sidebar entry shows your onboarding progress as a circular ring. Open
it to see the checklist:

* Make your first capture (voice, photo, or text)
* Try mobile capture
* Create a collection
* Run a Bird query
* Invite a teammate
* Seed your workspace with a few existing files

Each step is dismissable, and the whole panel can be hidden once you've
found your rhythm.

## Why this matters

We tracked which steps correlate with sustained week-2 use, then built the
checklist around those. It's not exhaustive — it's load-bearing.

## Related docs

* [Quickstart](/quickstart)
* [Mobile capture](/capture/mobile-capture)