# Getting Started

Welcome to eesel AI! This guide will walk you through creating your account, setting up your first agent, and getting it working with your tools.

## Step 1: Create your account

1. Go to [dashboard.eesel.ai](https://dashboard.eesel.ai/api/auth/signup) and sign up
2. Your free trial gives you **7 days** to test everything — no credit card needed
3. If you need more time, you can extend your trial by another 7 days from your dashboard

See [Pricing](https://docs.eesel.ai/admin/pricing) for full trial and plan details.

## Step 2: Choose what you want to do

eesel AI works in three main ways. Pick the one that matches your goal:

| I want to...                                               | Quickstart guide                                                                       |
| ---------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Automate replies in my helpdesk (Zendesk, Freshdesk, etc.) | [Helpdesk Agent Quickstart](https://docs.eesel.ai/getting-started/quickstart-helpdesk) |
| Add a chat widget to my website                            | [Website Chatbot Quickstart](https://docs.eesel.ai/getting-started/quickstart-chatbot) |
| Create a knowledge agent for my team in Slack              | [Internal Agent Quickstart](https://docs.eesel.ai/getting-started/quickstart-internal) |

## Step 3: Train your agent

No matter which path you choose, you'll train your agent on your company's knowledge:

* **Help center articles** — Connect your existing help center and your agent learns from it automatically
* **Past tickets** — Train on your best past replies so the agent sounds like your team
* **Documents** — Upload PDFs, connect Google Drive, Notion, or Confluence
* **Your website** — Point it at your site and it crawls the content

The more knowledge you give your agent, the better it performs. See [Training Best Practices](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/training-best-practices) for best practices.

## Step 4: Test and customize

Before going live, test your agent in the built-in chat:

* Ask questions your customers typically ask
* Adjust the [instructions](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/instructions) to fine-tune how it responds
* Configure [actions](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/actions) like tagging, assigning, or closing tickets
* Turn on [Human in the Loop](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/human-in-the-loop) if you want to approve replies before they send

## Step 5: Go live

When you're happy with how your agent performs, activate it:

* For helpdesk agents: Enable the trigger so it starts responding to tickets
* For chatbots: Copy the embed code and add it to your website
* For Slack agents: Your agent is ready as soon as it's connected

See [Testing and Deployment](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/testing-and-deployment) for a full go-live checklist.

## Need help?

* Browse our [FAQ](https://docs.eesel.ai/support/faq) for common questions
* Check [Troubleshooting](https://docs.eesel.ai/support/troubleshooting) for common issues
* [Contact our team](https://docs.eesel.ai/support/contact) — we're happy to help