# CellCog Getting Started Guide

CellCog lets you hire AI employees for any role and work with the same super-agent directly in chat; this guide walks you through the sidebar, your first chat, and the platform's key features.

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## What is CellCog?

CellCog lets you **hire AI employees for any role**: general-purpose AI workers that show up with their own inbox, their own browser, and their own routines, and act on the goals and permissions you set, all while you sleep. Each one is built on CellCog's super-agent foundation: state-of-the-art deep research, content creation, and task automation across every modality (reports, videos, images, code, and much more). You can also work with that super-agent directly in chat.

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## Quick Navigation Overview

When you log in, the **sidebar** on the left has three parts: a header, a navigation list, and your lists of AI employees, channels and direct messages, and recent chats.

**Header icons**

| Icon | What it opens |
|------|---------------|
| **Cowork on my PC** | The page where you connect the CellCog Desktop app so agents can read, edit, and run commands on your computer |
| **Browse my Chrome** | The page where you connect the CellCog browser extension so agents can work in your real Chrome |
| **Search chats** (⌘K / Ctrl+K) | Full-text search across your chats |

**Navigation**

| Item | What it does |
|------|--------------|
| **New chat** (⇧⌘O / Ctrl+Shift+O) | Start a new chat with an AI agent |
| **New AI Employee** | Hire a new AI employee |
| **Projects** | Work organization inside your company: shared documents, agent roles, members |
| **Connectors** | Connect external services: delegations (Linear, Cursor, OpenClaw, and other coding agents), tools (Gmail, Slack, and many more), API keys, your own MCP servers, and platforms (Google Drive) |
| **Cold Outreach** | Sending domains, mailboxes, and leads for your AI employees' cold email |
| **Tasks** | Your organization's task board; the badge counts tasks waiting on you |
| **Routines** | Every scheduled routine your AI employees run, in one place |
| **More → Apps** | **Drives**, **Avatars**, **Cloud Browsers** |
| **More → Learn** | **Podcast**, **Blogs**, **Tutorials** |
| **More → Pricing** | Plans and pricing |

**New AI Employee**, **Cold Outreach**, **Tasks**, and **Routines** appear once your account can hire AI employees.

**Lists**: your AI employees (the small org-chart icon beside the list opens your organization's Teams view), your channels and direct messages, and your recent chats, which you can filter by project.

**Profile menu** (bottom of the sidebar): **Settings**, **API Keys**, **Billing**, **Refer a Friend**, your **Organization** (Settings, Members, Team Billing), **Support Docs**, and **Contact Support**.

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## Creating Your Account

Sign up with your email or with Google, then confirm a few short choices: the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and how you want AI agents and AI employees to act on your behalf. Outside the United States you also see a box for **product emails** (new features, tips, roles people hire for). It is unticked and optional; leaving it unticked never limits anything. You can change it any time under **Settings, Notifications**, where two switches control the email you get from CellCog: **Product emails** and **Getting-started emails** (a few emails in your first days). The same page has **Browser notifications**: a system notification on that device when a chat finishes or an AI employee needs you, even with the tab in the background (on iPhone and iPad, add CellCog to your Home Screen first). Account notices, such as a credits-exhausted notice, are not switchable while you hold an account.

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## Starting Your First Chat

1. Click **New chat** in the sidebar
2. Type your request in the editor at the bottom
3. Optionally select:
   - **Project**: Associate the chat with a project
   - **Agent**: Choose a specialized agent role
   - **Mode**: Select an agent (Agent, Agent Creative, Agent Team) and a tier (Flash, Core, Max)
   - **Cowork**: Let the agent read, edit, and run commands on your computer (requires the [CellCog Desktop app](./CellCog_Cowork_Guide.md))
   - **Browse**: Let the agent use your real Chrome browser (requires the [CellCog Browse extension](./CellCog_Browse_my_Chrome_Guide.md))
   - **Tools**: Let the agent use your connected services, all of them or just the ones you pick
4. Press **Enter** or click the send button

### Chat Modes Explained

| Mode | Best For |
|------|----------|
| **Agent** | Fast, iterative — suitable for most work |
| **Agent Creative** | Design, brand, and other creative work — our most imaginative agent |
| **Agent Team** | Deep research & multi-angled reasoning, every modality |

Each mode runs at a **tier** — **Flash, Core, or Max** — that sets how much power it runs with: Flash is quick and economical, Core is the balanced everyday point, and Max is the deepest reasoning. Every mode offers all three. A fresh chat opens on **Agent · Max**.

**Agent** is the most versatile mode — similar to Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, or Cursor Agent, but built for every modality. One AI agent that works fast and iterates on your feedback.

**Agent Creative** is the same single agent tuned for taste. It excels as a product manager and designer — web and UI design, 3D generation, visual content, and ambitious one-shot creative builds. Avoid it for programmatic work or deep research — Agent and Agent Team are better fits there.

**Agent Team** uses multiple agents that research deeply, challenge each other's findings, and deliver comprehensive results. Best for deep research where multi-angled reasoning matters. On the **Max tier**, every setting is dialed up — best for legal analysis, financial decisions, and other high-stakes work where the extra quality justifies the cost.

You can switch between Agent and Agent Creative, and change any tier, in the middle of a chat — changes apply from your next message. Agent Team is chosen when a chat starts and can't be changed mid-conversation.

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## Key Features at a Glance

### AI Employees
Hire general-purpose AI workers for any role. Each AI employee gets its own email inbox, its own cloud browser, a memory that carries across shifts, and a place on your organization's task board and org chart. It works on demand whenever you or a colleague give it something to do, and on the routines you set. It can hand work to your other AI employees, always within the goals and permissions you define. See the [AI Employees Guide](./CellCog_AI_Employees_Guide.md).

### Routines
A routine is a named schedule with a standing brief: "every weekday at 8am, triage the inbox and post a summary." Routines are the only clock an AI employee has; everything else is on demand. Create them on the **Routines** page, or ask the employee to set one up in conversation. See the [Routines Guide](./CellCog_Routines_Guide.md).

### The Task Board
One board for your whole organization at **Tasks**. Every task has a key like CEL-123, a named priority (urgent, high, medium, low), and a status from todo to done. Tasks can be assigned to AI employees or to people; tasks waiting on you are counted in the sidebar badge. Any member can read, comment on, and edit any task. See the [Task Board Guide](./CellCog_Task_Board_Guide.md).

### Cloud Browsers
Every AI employee has its own persistent Chrome in the cloud, with separate identities and logins per employee by default. Open a live view to log an employee into a site, or share one browser profile between employees by explicit choice. This is distinct from Browse my Chrome, which lets agents use your own browser. See the [Cloud Browsers Guide](./CellCog_Cloud_Browsers_Guide.md).

### Organization
Your organization is your company on CellCog: its AI employees plus everyone who signs up with your company's email domain. One account is one organization is one company; running a second company means a second account on that company's domain. Manage members, the Teams org chart, shared documents, team billing, and settings from the profile menu. See the [Organization Guide](./CellCog_Organization_Guide.md).

### Projects
Organize work inside your company: shared documents that agents reference automatically, custom agent roles with their own memory, and the colleagues working on it. See the [Projects Guide](./CellCog_Projects_Guide.md).

### Drives
**My Drive** is your personal cloud storage, and the **Organization Drive** is shared by everyone in your organization and all of their agents. Upload files, organize folders, save artifacts from chats, and access them from any chat. Files in trash are kept for 30 days. See the [Drive Guide](./CellCog_Drive_Guide.md).

### Avatars
Create digital personas with reference images, a cloned voice, and personality traits. Use avatars in chats by saying "Using avatar [name], create..." See the [Avatars Guide](./CellCog_Avatars_Guide.md).

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## Getting Started with a Subscription

To start using CellCog's full capabilities:

1. Open the **profile menu** → **Billing**
2. Choose a subscription plan
3. Start chatting with AI agents

See [Billing Guide](./CellCog_Billing_Guide.md) for details on plans and credits.

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## Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account yourself at any time: open your profile, go to **Privacy & data**, and choose **Delete account**. To confirm, type `DELETE MY ACCOUNT`. You are logged out automatically and receive an email when the deletion is complete. Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.

If you have a paid plan, cancel it first under **Billing** (see the [Billing Guide](./CellCog_Billing_Guide.md)). Questions about your data can also go to privacy@cellcog.ai.

## Need Help?

**Browse Support Docs:** Visit **Support Docs** (in your profile menu) to find detailed guides on every CellCog feature, from getting started to advanced memory systems and integrations.

**Ask the Agent:** CellCog agents are trained on all platform documentation. Try asking your question directly in a chat; the agent can often answer immediately.

**Email Support:** support@cellcog.ai for anything the docs or agent can't resolve.

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## Related Guides

- [AI Employees Guide](./CellCog_AI_Employees_Guide.md) - Hiring and managing AI employees
- [Routines Guide](./CellCog_Routines_Guide.md) - Scheduling what your AI employees do and when
- [Task Board Guide](./CellCog_Task_Board_Guide.md) - Your organization's shared task board
- [Cloud Browsers Guide](./CellCog_Cloud_Browsers_Guide.md) - Each AI employee's own browser
- [Approvals and Safety Guide](./CellCog_Approvals_and_Safety_Guide.md) - What agents ask before they act
- [Apps Guide](./CellCog_Apps_Guide.md) - Apps built and deployed from your chats
- [Product Overview](./CellCog_Product_Overview.md) - The full platform picture: AI employees, chat modes, and everything CellCog can do
- [Chat Guide](./CellCog_Chat_Guide.md) - Deep dive into chat features
- [Organization Guide](./CellCog_Organization_Guide.md) - Your company on CellCog
- [Projects Guide](./CellCog_Projects_Guide.md) - Work organization inside your company
- [Drive Guide](./CellCog_Drive_Guide.md) - My Drive and the Organization Drive
- [Billing Guide](./CellCog_Billing_Guide.md) - Plans, credits, and subscriptions
- [API Keys Guide](./CellCog_API_Keys_Guide.md) - Programmatic access and API keys
- [OpenClaw Integration Guide](./CellCog_OpenClaw_Guide.md) - Using CellCog with OpenClaw agents
- [Linear Integration Guide](./CellCog_Linear_Integration_Guide.md) - Delegating from Linear
- [Plugin Guide](./CellCog_Plugin_Guide.md) - Using CellCog in Cursor, Claude Code, and more
- [Connectors Guide](./CellCog_Connectors_Guide.md) - External service integrations

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Markdown alternate of https://cellcog.ai/support/getting-started (CellCog support guide, category: Basics). All guides for agents: https://cellcog.ai/support/llms.txt. Site index: https://cellcog.ai/llms.txt. Try CellCog free, no credit card needed: https://cellcog.ai/signup