/dashboard/setup walks through the same steps in order. This page is the longer-form version, read it once to understand the full landscape, then use Setup to do the work.
The six steps
Welcome
A short intro to how Halo works and what you’re about to set up. No work to do here.Time: under a minute
Company
Tell Halo who you are. Name, brand color, support tone, and a short description of what you do. The AI uses this in greetings and signatures, and team members see it on the workspace card.Time: ~1 minute
Knowledge
Give the AI something to ground its answers in. The faster you can get a few good sources in, the faster the AI starts being useful.Recommended order:
- Crawl your help center or docs site, fastest way to get hundreds of pages indexed. See URL Sources.
- Upload internal SOPs, runbooks, and FAQ docs as files (PDF, Markdown, CSV, etc.). See Files & Internal Docs.
- Connect a meeting tool (Zoom, Fathom) so meeting transcripts feed in automatically. See Integrations Overview.
AI Agents
Create at least one agent to continue. Most teams start with a support agent (handles customer questions, escalates to your inbox), and optionally add a sales agent (handles pre-sale and qualification) later. You can edit instructions, skills, channels, and actions on each agent at any time.Each agent has its own:
- Instructions and tone
- Skills (web search, UI highlighting, etc.)
- Channels (web widget, email, Slack, help center)
- Escalation rules (who tickets get assigned to, which segments are priority)
- Connected actions (HubSpot, Linear, Stripe, etc.)
Deploy
Install the script tag on your site, identify users, and send context. The wizard includes a live verification step, you’ll see “Connected” once the SDK reaches Halo.For production, also set up identity verification so users can’t impersonate each other.See Web Widget Installation.Time: ~5 minutes
Invite Team
Add teammates from Settings > Team. Roles are Super Admin (full access including managing other Super Admins and deleting the workspace), Admin (full access except those two things), and Member (custom permissions, with one-click presets like “Support agent”, “AI specialist”, “Marketing / Lifecycle”). Each teammate gets their own profile, optional alias address (for teammate-mode email replies), and login credentials.See Team Settings.Time: ~1 minute
After the wizard: connect channels
The wizard handles the widget; the other channels live on each agent and are configured after the wizard:- Email, forward your existing support address to your inbound Halo address (e.g.
[email protected]). Add a custom sending domain so replies come from[email protected]. See Email Overview. - Slack, install the Halo Slack app, map channels to agents, and the AI replies in-channel. See Slack Channel.
- Help center, publish a hosted help center under
docs.yourcompany.comwith your articles searchable and AI-assisted. See Help Center Overview.
After setup
Once the basics are in place, the next set of decisions:Connect integrations
Each integration adds capabilities. Pick the ones that match your stack:| Integration | Adds |
|---|---|
| HubSpot | Bidirectional CRM sync; AI can create deals, log activities, update contacts, attach notes |
| Stripe | Customer + subscription data; AI can request refunds, cancellations, credits, trial extensions through a billing approval queue |
| Slack | AI runs in mapped channels; org-wide notifications routing |
| Linear | AI files bug tickets and feature requests; replies to dev comments on tracked issues |
| Zoom / Fathom | Meeting transcripts ingested as searchable knowledge |
| PandaDoc | Contracts ingested and matched to companies by signer email |
| Intercom | Imports your existing contacts, companies, conversations, and tickets |
Set up automation
Move beyond reactive support into proactive lifecycle messaging:- Broadcasts — one-shot announcements, feedback requests, feature launches.
- Series — multi-step nurture sequences (welcome series, re-engagement, onboarding).
- In-app messages and banners — non-email touchpoints inside your product.
- Triggers — manual, user-created, event-fired, or segment-match.
Build your help center
Your help center serves both your customers (self-serve) and your AI (extra training data). The same article powers both:- Block-style editor with AI assist
- Collections, SEO, custom domains, multiple languages
- Public, authenticated, and company-specific visibility
- Migration from Intercom or any URL-crawlable site
Configure customer health and renewals
If you’re tracking customer success outcomes:- Health Scores weight activity, support, sentiment, and payment signals into a 0–100 score with tiers (Healthy / Neutral / At Risk / Critical). See Health Scores.
- Renewals track contract terms, renewal dates, and statuses across companies and contacts, with auto-status rules from Stripe and PandaDoc data. See Renewals.
What “good” looks like
A workspace that’s set up well usually has:- 20+ knowledge sources (a crawled help center plus a handful of internal docs)
- At least one customer-facing agent with web search and UI highlighting enabled, and ticket escalation configured
- Escalation rules that route priority customers to a default assignee
- The widget on every authenticated page of your app, with
identify()andsetContext()called on login, plus server-side/api/sdk/users/identifyat signup when first login can be delayed - Email forwarding active so your existing
support@address feeds into Halo - At least HubSpot or Stripe connected so the AI knows who’s a paying customer
- A handful of teammates in the workspace
- A custom domain configured for both email sending and your help center
Where to go next
Web Widget
Install the widget and identify users.
AI Agents
Configure your first agent’s instructions, skills, and escalation.
Knowledge
Add docs, files, and internal articles for the AI to search.
Integrations
Connect HubSpot, Stripe, Slack, Linear, and more.