Onboarding Walkthrough

This page walks through every screen of alice's onboarding experience in detail, explaining what happens at each step, what choices you have, and what alice does behind the scenes. If you are looking for a faster setup guide, see the Quickstart.

Before onboarding: Slack authentication

Before you reach the onboarding flow, you need to sign in. alice uses Slack OAuth (OpenID Connect) as its sole authentication method. There is no email/password signup, no Google auth, and no GitHub login.

Navigate to app.alicehasnoidea.com and click Continue with Slack. Slack's OAuth flow asks you to authorize alice to read your profile information (name, email, workspace ID).

Workspace auto-join

After authenticating, alice reads your Slack workspace ID (team_id) from the identity data and uses it to determine your organization. This is the key mechanism that ties alice organizations to Slack workspaces:

If you are the first person from your workspace:

• alice creates a new organization using your Slack workspace name (e.g., "Acme Inc")
• You are assigned the owner role
• You are redirected to the onboarding flow starting at the Slack bot installation screen

If someone from your workspace already signed up:

• alice finds the existing organization linked to your team_id
• You are automatically added as a member (no invite link required)
• You are redirected to the dashboard (you skip onboarding since the workspace is already set up)

This auto-join behavior means your entire Slack workspace can access alice simply by signing in with Slack. There is no invite flow, no access codes, and no manual approval. Membership in the Slack workspace equals membership in the alice organization.

See Members and Roles for details on the three roles (owner, admin, member) and their permissions.

Screen 1: Slack bot installation

The first onboarding screen asks you to install the alice Slack bot into your workspace. This is a separate authorization from the Slack login -- the login grants alice access to your identity, while the bot installation grants alice permission to interact with your workspace.

What the bot enables

The installation screen explains three capabilities that the bot provides:

Installation process

Click Add to Slack. You are redirected to Slack's app authorization screen where you grant the bot the requested permissions. After authorizing, Slack redirects you back to alice and the onboarding advances to the source connection screen.

Skipping this step

You can click "Skip for now" to proceed without installing the bot. However, most of alice's core features require the bot:

• Without the bot, slash commands (/alice) will not work
• Scheduled reports cannot be delivered to channels
• Alert notifications cannot be sent
• Action buttons in Slack messages will not function

You can install the bot later from Dashboard > Settings > Workspace. See Slack Installation for the detailed setup guide.

Error handling

If the bot installation fails (due to insufficient Slack permissions, network issues, or workspace restrictions), an error message appears at the top of the screen. You can retry the installation or skip and install later. If your workspace restricts app installations, you may need a Slack admin to approve the alice app first.

Screen 2: Connect data sources

After Slack bot installation (or skipping it), alice presents the source connection screen. This is where you link your Stripe account and/or Supabase project so alice has data to query.

Available sources

Two sources are available during onboarding:

Supabase -- Click Connect to start the Supabase OAuth flow. After authorizing, alice loads your Supabase projects. If you have multiple projects, a project picker appears inline where you can search and select the project you want to query. alice reads the selected project's database schema (table names, column types, row counts) for use in skill generation and the visual query builder.

Stripe -- Click Connect to start the Stripe OAuth flow (Stripe Connect). After authorizing, alice reads your Stripe account data including customer count, subscription plans, and payment information. The connected account name appears next to the Stripe row.

Connecting both sources

If you connect both Stripe and Supabase, the status message changes to "All connected" and the Continue button activates. Connecting both sources is recommended because it unlocks combined queries -- the ability to join Stripe revenue data with Supabase application data in a single skill. Pro

Connecting one source

If you connect only one source, the screen shows a nudge: "Connect [Stripe/Supabase] to unlock combined sources." You can proceed with a single source by clicking "Continue with 1 source." The helper text below confirms that you can add more sources later in Settings.

Coming soon sources

Below the connection panel, a "Soon" label lists upcoming source integrations: PostHog, Linear, Crisp, HubSpot, and more. These are not yet available for connection.

Minimum requirement

You must connect at least one source to proceed. The Continue button is disabled and reads "Connect at least one source" until you have at least one source connected.

Skipping onboarding entirely

At the bottom of the screen, you can click "Skip for now" to go directly to the dashboard without connecting any sources, or "Sign out and try again" to log out and restart. If you skip, you can connect sources later from the Sources page in the dashboard.

Screen 3: AI analysis

After connecting sources, alice automatically begins analyzing your data. This screen shows a real-time feed of discoveries as alice examines your connected sources.

What alice discovers

The analysis proceeds through three phases:

Phase 1: Connecting -- alice establishes connections to your sources and confirms they are accessible.

Phase 2: Analyzing -- alice inspects your data. For Stripe, this includes customer count, subscription plans, and revenue metrics. For Supabase, this includes table names, row counts, and column types (alice specifically looks for useful columns like last_login_at, created_at, email, and plan).

Phase 3: Generating -- Based on what it found, alice identifies skill opportunities. Each discovered skill appears as a highlighted row in the feed (e.g., "Skill available: /alice mrr").

Discovery feed

Each discovery appears as a row in a scrolling feed with:

• A source icon (Stripe purple or Supabase green) indicating which source it came from
• A type indicator showing what kind of discovery it is (connection, count, table, insight, or skill)
• A message describing what was found (e.g., "Found 847 customers", "Detected last_login_at column", "Skill available: /alice churn-risk")
• A checkmark confirming the item was processed

The analysis screen shows a progress summary at the bottom with the count of items discovered from each source.

Automatic advancement

This screen does not have a manual Continue button. After the analysis completes, alice automatically redirects to the skills selection screen. The transition happens after a brief "Generating skill suggestions" phase.

Screen 4: Skills selection

The skills screen presents the skills that alice discovered during analysis. These are pre-configured skills based on your actual data -- not generic templates. alice suggests up to 6 skills, with the top 3 marked as "Recommended."

The 6 pre-discovered skills

The first three (MRR Tracker, Churn Risk, Active Users) are pre-selected as "Recommended" because they cover the most common operational queries. The recommendation reason is shown on each card (e.g., "Based on your 847 Stripe customers" or "Detected last_login_at in your users table").

Skill cards

Each skill is displayed as an interactive card with:

• Name and description -- What the skill does
• Recommended badge -- Green badge on the top 3 skills
• Command preview -- The exact slash command (e.g., /alice mrr)
• Data preview -- A sample of what the result would look like based on your data (e.g., "Current MRR: $34,200 | +8.2% vs last month")
• Source badges -- Which sources the skill queries (Stripe, Supabase, or both)
• Checkbox -- Click the card to toggle selection

Selecting skills

Click on any card to toggle its selection. The recommended skills are pre-checked, but you can deselect them or add others. The sticky footer bar at the bottom shows the selection count (e.g., "3 of 6 skills selected") with a Clear all button and an Enable button.

You must select at least one skill to proceed. If none are selected, the Enable button shows "Select at least one skill" and is disabled.

Staggered reveal

The skill cards appear with a staggered animation -- they fade in one at a time with skeleton placeholders showing while the remaining cards load. This gives the impression that alice is actively generating each skill.

What happens when you click Enable

Clicking the Enable button saves all selected skills to your workspace. Each skill is immediately available as a slash command in Slack (assuming the bot is installed). You are then redirected to the completion screen.

Note: Currently the skills are pre-configured during the discovery phase. You can edit any skill later from the skill detail page in the dashboard.

Screen 5: Complete

The final onboarding screen confirms that setup is finished and presents your first suggested command.

Animated setup confirmation

The screen shows three setup steps that animate to completion:

1. Skills enabled -- "3 skills ready to use" (the count matches your selection)
2. Slack connected -- "Commands available in your workspace"
3. You're all set -- "Try your first command"

Each step transitions from a pulsing "active" state to a green checkmark "complete" state, creating a brief moment of satisfaction before the main content appears.

First command suggestion

After the steps complete, a highlighted card appears suggesting your first command:

Open Slack and type this command to see your MRR:

/alice mrr

The command box is clickable -- clicking it copies /alice mrr to your clipboard, with a "Copied!" confirmation that appears briefly.

Next actions

Two buttons appear below the command card:

• Open Slack -- Opens Slack in a new tab so you can try the command immediately
• Go to Dashboard -- Navigates to the skills page where you can view and manage your enabled skills

Help text

A small link at the bottom reads "You can manage skills and add more sources in Settings" with a link to the Settings page.

After onboarding

Once onboarding is complete, you land on the alice dashboard. From here you can:

• View your skills -- See all enabled skills on the Skills page, run them from the dashboard, or edit their configuration
• Create new skills -- Use the skill builder, templates, or AI generation to create additional skills
• Manage sources -- Add, change, or disconnect sources from Settings
• Set up automation -- Add scheduled reports and monitors to your skills Pro
• Invite your team -- Anyone from your Slack workspace can sign in and auto-join your organization. See Members and Roles

Re-running onboarding

Onboarding only runs once for the first user from each workspace. Subsequent users from the same workspace are auto-joined and taken directly to the dashboard. If you need to reconnect sources or change your setup, use the Settings pages:

• Sources: Dashboard > Sources or Connect Stripe / Connect Supabase
• Slack bot: Dashboard > Settings > Workspace or Slack Installation
• Skills: Dashboard > Skills or Create a Skill

Troubleshooting

"Continue with Slack" does not work

Make sure third-party cookies are enabled for Slack's domain. Some browser privacy extensions block the OAuth redirect. Try disabling extensions or using an incognito window.

Bot installation fails

Your Slack workspace may restrict app installations. Check with your workspace admin to ensure the alice app is approved. You can also ask them to install the bot from the Slack App Directory.

Source connection fails

OAuth connections can fail if your browser blocks popups or if the service (Stripe, Supabase) is experiencing downtime. Try again after a few minutes. If the problem persists, check that your Stripe account or Supabase project is active and accessible.

No skills discovered

If the AI analysis does not discover any skills, it may be because your connected source has no data yet. alice needs at least some data (customers in Stripe, rows in Supabase tables) to generate useful skill suggestions. You can still create skills manually after onboarding.

Second user from workspace sees the dashboard instead of onboarding

This is expected behavior. Onboarding runs only for the workspace owner (the first person to sign in). All subsequent users from the same Slack workspace are auto-joined and taken to the dashboard. The skills and sources configured during onboarding are shared across the entire organization.

Next steps

• Quickstart -- Condensed setup guide
• Core Concepts -- Understand Skills, Sources, Triggers, Actions, and Logs
• Create a Skill -- Build a custom skill beyond the onboarding suggestions
• Members and Roles -- Manage workspace access and permissions
• Plans and Limits -- Understand what is available on Free, Pro, and Business
• Security -- How alice handles your credentials and data