> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.frictionai.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting Started

> Complete onboarding and create the first brand measurement graph in friction AI.

# Getting Started

Onboarding turns a brand website into the first measurement graph: brand profile, market context, competitor context, prompt coverage, and optional shopping coverage.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/friction/GwaVVezuSSMLCKiT/images/onboarding-flow-v2.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=GwaVVezuSSMLCKiT&q=85&s=98f9f16eea976289bacc7d649d77837d" alt="Six onboarding steps from brand discovery through dashboard readiness" width="960" height="420" data-path="images/onboarding-flow-v2.svg" />
</Frame>

## Before you start

Have these ready:

* Your primary brand name and website domain
* The industry or category you want to be measured in
* One or more competitors to benchmark against
* A few prompts customers might ask AI before choosing a vendor or product
* Product or shopping pages, if you want to track purchase intent

## Brand onboarding flow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Brand discovery">
    Enter the brand name and website. friction AI enriches the profile with logo, domain, description, and basic entity signals.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Industry detection">
    Confirm the suggested industry or select a better fit. Industry controls the category and prompt suggestions shown later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Subcategory selection">
    Pick focused subcategories that represent where the brand should appear. Start narrow if you are unsure.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Competitor collection">
    Add competitors for benchmarking. Growth and higher tiers can promote one competitor into the head-to-head deep-dive.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Brand visibility prompts">
    Add or accept suggested prompts for discovery, comparison, category, and brand-awareness questions.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Shopping prompts">
    Add optional buying prompts if purchase intent matters for your brand or products.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What happens after completion

After onboarding, friction AI begins analyzing your brand context and selected prompts. Dashboard sections may populate in stages as results become available.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Dashboard" icon="gauge" href="/dashboard/overview">
    The first place to check after onboarding. It shows summary scores, prompt performance, top sources, shopping prompts, and experiments.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Prompts" icon="list-check" href="/tracking/prompts">
    Review the prompts you added during onboarding and add more specific tracking coverage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Analysis" icon="chart-line" href="/brand-audit/analysis">
    Use the brand health view when Growth or higher access is enabled.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Actions" icon="wrench" href="/actions/prompts">
    After analysis completes, use blindspots to find prompts that need action.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Choosing good competitors

Use competitors that make the benchmark meaningful:

* **Direct competitors**: brands customers already compare with you
* **Search competitors**: brands or publishers AI often cites in your category
* **Aspirational competitors**: category leaders you want to catch

<Warning>
  Do not add unrelated market leaders just because they are large. The competitor view is most useful when the comparison reflects a realistic buying or discovery decision.
</Warning>

## Choosing good prompts

Good prompts are specific enough to reflect a customer moment, but broad enough that AI can answer naturally.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Discovery">
    ```text theme={null}
    What are the best AI visibility platforms for agencies?
    Which tools help marketing teams track ChatGPT recommendations?
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Comparison">
    ```text theme={null}
    friction AI vs Profound for AI visibility tracking
    Best alternatives to Otterly AI for AEO teams
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Brand">
    ```text theme={null}
    What is friction AI?
    Is friction AI good for tracking AI recommendations?
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Shopping">
    ```text theme={null}
    Where can I buy [product]?
    Best [product category] for [use case]
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Individual onboarding

The individual product has a separate onboarding path for AI identity tracking. It asks for profile details, categories, channels, markets, and optional competitors.

<Card title="Individual AI Identity" icon="user" href="/individuals/ai-identity" horizontal>
  Use this flow when the product is monitoring a person rather than a company or product brand.
</Card>

## Troubleshooting setup

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Some dashboard sections are still preparing">
    Initial results can appear in stages. Check again shortly, or open the related page for the most detailed view.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The wrong brand is selected">
    Use the brand selector in the sidebar. If the brand profile itself is wrong, go to [Brand Profile](/workspace/brand).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A feature is not available">
    Some pages depend on plan access or setup. See [Subscription](/workspace/subscription) for plan details.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>