Quick Start: Your First Agent

When you sign up, Qlar offers to build your first agent with you. Create your first agent is a short guided flow: you fill in two pages, and Qlar creates a sample agent that analyzes your data and answers questions by referring to your documents. It sets up the AI models, connects the data, uploads the documents, designs a logo, and publishes the first version for you.

This page walks through every screen. The agent is called Tim unless you give it another name. Everything the flow sets up can be changed later.

Want to build an agent step by step instead? Create Your First Agent uses the New Agent wizard to build Atlas, the agent used throughout these guides.

Before you start

• You have a Qlar account and are signed in to the CMS.
• The flow runs in your own Individual organization, and the agent is a Personal agent: an assistant for you alone. To serve a team or customers, create a Service agent in a Collective organization later. See Personal vs Service Agents.
• Optional: your own data (an Excel workbook, or the details of a SQL database) and up to 3 documents. Without them, you can use Qlar's sample files for your industry.
• Optional: a Claude or ChatGPT subscription, or an API key from OpenAI, DeepSeek or an OpenAI-compatible server. Without one, the agent runs on Qlar credit.

What the flow sets up

Step 1: Open Create your first agent

You can start the flow from two places:

• The welcome screen. As long as your own Individual organization has no agent, the CMS opens with Hi and your first name, welcome to Qlar!, and the button Create your first agent. If you also belong to other organizations, Switch to other organization lists them; pick one to open its first agent, or its agents list.
• The Organizations page. When you select your own Individual organization and it has no agent, the empty state offers Create your first agent. See Organizations.

The welcome screen shows only once. When you create the agent, click Cancel in the flow, or switch to another organization, it doesn't show again, on any device. The button on the Organizations page stays until the organization has an agent.

Step 2: Read the intro

The flow opens with Let's create a sample agent. It explains what happens:

• You do only a minimal setup now: a name, your industry, a data source, a few documents, and an AI model source. Qlar suggests sample files that match your industry.
• Qlar creates the agent, connects your data, and uploads your documents. You can try it right away.
• Every setting can be changed and enhanced later, such as personality, behavior, WhatsApp, forms, or APIs.

Click Start. Cancel takes you to the Organizations page and the welcome screen doesn't come back.

The header of the flow shows Create your first agent, a Personal agent chip, and the page you are on: 1 of 2 · Agent and data or 2 of 2 · AI model source.

Step 3: Agent and data

Page 1 asks for the agent's name, your industry, a data source and documents.

Agent name and industry

Data source

Use Qlar sample shows the sample workbook for your industry, its size and its sheets, with Download sample so you can see what's inside.

Upload my own takes one .xlsx workbook, up to 20 MB. The first row of each sheet holds the column names. Not sure about the layout? Download the sample, change it in Excel, and upload it.

SQL connection asks for:

The agent reads up to 20 tables at first. You can pick others later in Setup.

Documents

Documents are optional: PDF, TXT or Markdown (.md), up to 3 files and 5 MB together. Drag files onto the box or click choose files.

Under the box, your industry has 2 example documents. Download saves one; Use adds it to the list, marked example. When you change the industry, the example documents in the list change with it. Your own files stay.

Industries and their sample files

All companies, people and figures in the samples are fictional, and the files are in English.

Click Next.

Step 4: Choose the AI model source

Page 2 asks Where should Tim's AI run? There are three cards. The setup of the card you choose shows below the cards. You can switch cards at any time: what you typed in each one is kept until you leave the flow.

You never pick models here. Qlar picks the right model for each job and shows them in a summary card, for example Tim will use your subscription. You can change any of them later in Organization → AI Models → Tasks.

Subscription

The subscription is the one Claude Code or Codex (ChatGPT) is signed in with on a computer of yours, connected to Qlar with the Qlar connector. See Use Your Claude or ChatGPT Subscription for how this works and what it protects.

• A computer is already connected, online and signed in. It is used right away: for example My laptop is online. ChatGPT subscription detected., followed by the model summary. When both Claude Code and Codex are signed in, ChatGPT is used.
• No computer yet. Connect your subscription runs the same connect wizard as on the AI Models page, here inside the flow: name the computer and pick its system, run the command on that computer, compare the fingerprint and approve, then sign in. There is no model checklist, because Qlar picks the models.
• A computer that isn't finished (not approved yet, offline, or not signed in) is picked up where you left it. The sign-in step shows each tool's state and updates by itself once a tool is signed in.

Subscriptions are only for Individual organizations, up to 2 computers each. If they aren't available for your organization, the card says Subscriptions aren't available for this organization yet. Choose your own API key or Qlar credit.

Until a computer is ready, Create agent stays disabled with Connect a computer with your subscription, or choose Qlar credit. or Finish signing in on followed by the computer's name.

Your own API key

Click Check key. Qlar asks the provider which models the key can use, before anything is saved. Key works. and the model summary appear when it succeeds; otherwise the error is shown under the fields. The key is saved in your organization, encrypted, only when you click Create agent. See Bring Your Own Key.

Using Azure OpenAI? It isn't offered here. Start with another source and add your Azure key later in Organization → AI Models.

Create agent waits until the key has been checked: Check your API key first, or choose Qlar credit. If the key works but none of its models can be used, the page says None of the models this key offers can be used yet. Try another key or source.

Qlar credit

Shows your credit balance (credits available), when your free credit expires (Free credit valid until a date), and Top up anytime. With no credit left you can still create the agent; chats need credit, so top up before you try it. See How Credits Work.

The summary reads Tim will use Qlar's models: Analyst for chat, data and documents, and Natural conversation on Qlar for voice. You can switch to a subscription or your own API key later in Organization → AI Models.

If your organization only allows its own models, the Qlar credit card is greyed out with Your organization only allows its own models. See Only Use Your Own Models.

Which models Qlar picks

Good to know:

• If your account doesn't offer a model in the table, Qlar takes the next one it does. A model you already added to the organization keeps its alias.
• The models become your organization's defaults on the Tasks tab: the chat model for Conversation, Reranker, KB Training, builder assistants and plugins; the quick model for Summarization, Personalization and chat helpers; the deep model for Conversation Analysis. The OpenAI voice, speech, document search and logo models are set only where your organization's Tasks tab offers those tasks.
• File check reads images. When the quick model can't, File check stays on a Qlar model that can, so uploads keep working.

What still uses Qlar

The sentence under the summary names what keeps running on Qlar:

Voice is off until you switch it on. See Voice.

When the chosen source is ready, click Create agent. Back returns to page 1 with everything you entered.

Step 5: Wait while Tim is created

The page shows Creating Tim and how many steps are done. Each row is a real step:

A row turns green when it is done. Yellow means the step needs a look later, for example This step didn't finish. You can do it in Setup. or The logo is still being drawn; it appears on its own when it's ready. The run goes on.

An error on Setting up your AI models or Creating your agent stops the run. The row turns red and the message explains why, with:

• Try again: runs again and skips what already worked (the models, the agent).
• Change AI model source: back to page 2, when the source was the problem and the agent doesn't exist yet.

While the steps run, tips change every few seconds. The first ones are about your choices, with a question your sample data or example documents really answer, and whether chats use your subscription, your key or Qlar credit (on Qlar credit, Tim starts on the Analyst model; you can pick another one on the Behavior page). Then come ideas for later: WhatsApp, Automations, personality, and a Service agent for your team.

When everything has run, you see Your agent is ready to try. If documents are still processing, it says so, and A few steps need a look; Setup shows them. appears when a row was yellow. Click Go to Setup.

Step 6: Try Tim on Setup

Tim opens on the Setup page, with the chat preview beside it. Right after the flow, Setup shows a few extras.

Processing documents

While a document is processing, or when one failed, a card shows Processing documents with how many are done, and each document's state. The page refreshes every 5 seconds while a document is processing. Tim can use a document once it shows Ready; chats before that answer without it. A failed document has Try again. If your documents are read with a subscription, make sure that computer is online, then try again.

Notes

The tour

A short tour points out four things, once per agent in this browser:

1. Your documents are being processed: Tim can use each one once it shows "ready". Only when you added documents.
2. Try your agent here: the preview always uses your latest draft. Ask one of the example questions to start.
3. Changes are saved as a draft: other users see configuration changes only after you click Publish. See Preview and Publish Changes.
4. Resources apply right away: documents and other resources need no Publish.

Example questions

When you used the sample Excel or example documents, the example questions in the chat come from them (up to 2 from the data and 2 from the documents), so the first try works. With only your own data and files, the generated examples stay.

Voice

The flow doesn't switch voice on. When you switch Voice conversations on in Conversation → Voice, Natural conversation is selected where it can run; otherwise the style stays Turn-by-turn. You can still pick Turn-by-turn before you click Save. On a ChatGPT subscription whose computer can do voice, or an OpenAI key with gpt-live-1, the flow already set Tim's Natural conversation to run there, so it costs no Qlar credits per minute. On the other sources, Natural conversation runs on Qlar's GPT-Live, billed per minute while the call is open. See Talk by Voice.

Check the result

• The Organizations page shows Tim in your Individual organization, with the Personal chip.
• The preview on Setup answers an example question. With the sample files, try one of these:

• A data answer comes as a table, a chart or a map; a document answer shows which document it came from.
• With a subscription or an API key, Organization → AI Models → Tasks shows your models as the defaults.

Troubleshooting

I don't see the welcome screen. It appears only while your own Individual organization has no agent and you haven't created one, cancelled, or switched away before. Select your Individual organization on the Organizations page and use Create your first agent in the empty state. In any other organization, use New agent.

"Your personal organization isn't ready yet." Your Individual organization is still being set up. Reload the page in a moment, or create an agent from the Organizations page.

"Tim is already created" after a reload. The page was reloaded while the agent was being set up. Click Go to Setup and finish what's left there.

Create agent stays disabled. The chosen source isn't ready. The text next to the button says what is missing: sign in on the computer, check the key, or choose Qlar credit.

"Some tasks still use Qlar. Review them in Organization › AI Models › Tasks." A few task defaults couldn't be set. Open the Tasks tab and pick your model for those tasks.

A document shows Failed. Click Try again in the Processing documents card. If your documents are read with a subscription, make sure that computer is online first.

Next steps