# Getting started

> Install, invite, first task, connecting tools, approvals, memory, and schedules.

Source: https://heyray.io/docs/getting-started

Ray installs into Slack in about two minutes. There is no account to create and
no dashboard to learn. This covers everything from the install button to the
parts most teams ask about in week one.

## 1. Add Ray to your workspace

Adding Ray takes one click from https://heyray.io/install. Slack asks you to
pick a workspace and shows you the permissions Ray asks for. Approve it and Ray
is in.

Nobody creates an account. There is no password to set and no seats to assign.
Ray works with whoever talks to it.

## 2. Bring it into a channel

Ray only sees channels it has been invited to. Type `/invite @Ray` in the
channel where your team already works, or add it from the channel's
integrations menu.

When Ray joins, it reads what it missed and picks up any request that was aimed
at it and is still worth doing. Old chatter stays old. It will not answer a
question your team resolved last week.

You can also DM Ray. A DM is a normal working surface, not a settings panel.

## 3. Give it a real task

Ask the way you would ask a teammate. Ray reads the channels it is in and
answers when something is meant for it, so you do not have to mention it every
time.

> **Marco:** @Ray can you file a bug for the checkout error Priya hit? Refunds
> are unaffected.
>
> **Ray:** Drafted it. Approve below and I'll file it in Linear.

Ray does the research first. It reads the thread, pulls in what it already knows
about your team, and writes the ticket the way a good engineer would: a real
problem statement, what was expected, what happened, and acceptance criteria you
can check. Where it does not know something, it writes that down instead of
guessing.

## 4. Connect your tools

You do not set integrations up in advance. The first time a task needs a tool
Ray has not been connected to, it posts a Connect button. One click, the tool's
own OAuth screen, and the request you already made finishes on its own.

- Ray asks for the narrowest access that lets it do the work you requested.
- Each tool is connected once per workspace, by whoever gets there first.
- Disconnecting a tool in your provider's settings takes effect immediately, and
  Ray says so honestly the next time it needs that tool.

Every integration is on every plan, including the free one.

## 5. Approvals

Anything that changes the world outside chat stops and waits for you. Ray shows
what it is about to do, in plain language, with the actual content included: the
recipient and full body of an email, the title and description of a ticket, the
exact fields of an update. You click Approve or Decline.

Reading is free. Ray browses your tracker, reads a thread, or searches the web
without asking. Writing waits. Decline and nothing happens, and Ray tells you
plainly that nothing was created.

There is no setting that turns this off, for anyone, on any plan. Asking Ray to
skip it does not work either.

## 6. What Ray remembers

Ray keeps what your team tells it, so you stop repeating yourself. Preferences,
who owns what, which tracker a project lives in.

- Said in a public channel, kept for the workspace. Said in a DM or a private
  channel, kept only there.
- Ask *what do you remember about the pilot?* and Ray shows you, with where each
  fact came from.
- Say *forget that* and it is retired. Corrections supersede the old version
  rather than piling up beside it.
- An admin can switch durable memory off entirely, or purge everything. Purge is
  permanent and asks for confirmation in the channel.

Memory holds knowledge, never instructions. Something Ray remembered last month
cannot redirect a task you gave it today.

## 7. Digests and reminders

Ask for recurring work in plain language and Ray sets it up. It uses the
timezone of the person the schedule is for, so "9am Zach's time" means what it
says.

> **Priya:** @Ray post a standup digest here every weekday at 9
>
> **Ray:** Done. Weekdays at 9:00 in this channel. Say the word if you want it
> moved or stopped.

## 8. What counts as a task

One delivered piece of work, however many tool calls it took underneath.

Work that fails, loops, or gets declined never counts. You are not billed for
Ray getting it wrong. A message Ray decides not to answer is not a task either.

## 9. What Ray will not do

- It cannot see channels it has not been invited to, and it will say so rather
  than guess at what is in them.
- It runs in Slack today. Discord and Telegram are next.
- It will not claim a job is done when it is not. If something is beyond its
  tools, it says that instead of improvising.
- It never asks for your passwords or API keys. Tools connect through their own
  OAuth screens.