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This takes about 2 minutes. You need OpenCompany installed and one AI key added (or a local model connected) — see Add your AI key.

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What you’ll see on first launch

The first time you open http://localhost:3000, the Welcome Guide opens over the canvas. It has five short steps: Welcome, Concepts, API Keys, Canvas, and Get Started. Click Next to walk through them, or Skip for now — you can bring it back any time from Settings, under Help, with the Replay button next to Replay Welcome Guide. The API Keys step has an Open Credentials button that jumps straight to the key setup from the previous page.

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The three example workflows

OpenCompany ships with three ready-made workflows. They load automatically on first launch and appear in the left sidebar.
Diagram of the three example workflows: AI Assistant, AI Employee, and Claude Assistant

The three workflows that ship with OpenCompany

  • AI Assistant — a personal assistant with chat, web search, and file tools. Start here: its core works with just one AI key.
  • AI Employee — a multi-agent showcase that coordinates specialist agents. It needs several extra accounts; explore it later.
  • Claude Assistant — the same idea built around the Claude Code agent; it needs a Claude subscription or API access.

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Run your first chat

You need one AI key first. If you skipped it, do Add your AI key now — it takes 2 minutes.
1

Open the AI Assistant workflow

Click AI Assistant in the left sidebar. The workflow’s nodes appear on the canvas.
2

Start the workflow

Press the green Start button in the top toolbar. The button changes to Stop, and the Chat Trigger node begins a gentle pulse — it is listening.
3

Open the chat panel

Click the Chat / Console bar at the bottom of the screen. The panel expands: a Chat box on the left, Console and Terminal tabs on the right.
4

Say hello

Type Hello! What can you do? into the box that reads Type a message… and press Send (or Enter). Your message appears in the Chat pane.
5

Read the reply in the Console tab

Click the Console tab on the right side of the panel. The AI’s answer appears there within a few seconds.
The reply appears in the Console tab, not as a chat bubble. The Chat pane shows what you sent; the workflow’s Console node prints what the AI answered.
You sent a message, the nodes lit up as they worked, and the AI answered in the Console tab. You have run your first workflow.

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What just happened

Your message woke the Chat Trigger node. The trigger handed your text to the AI Agent, which asked your chosen model for an answer. The agent passed that answer to the Console node, which printed it in the Console tab.

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Next step

Build your own workflow

Recreate that chat pipeline yourself, from an empty canvas, in about ten minutes.