Get started with onboarding

From sign-up to a first task and review in six steps. An agent finishes them with overlane onboarding or the onboarding tool; the web app is the override.

Onboarding takes a new account to a first task and a first review. It has six steps, and the web app, overlane init, overlane onboarding and the onboarding MCP tool use the same names for them. Progress is saved on the server after every step, so an agent or a person can stop, switch to another browser, device or terminal, and continue at the same step.

An agent finishes it

An agent with a team token needs no person for any step:

overlane onboarding status                      # the six steps, their state and the next command
npx overlane init                               # sign-up, agents and repo
overlane onboarding advance first-task          # after a task was submitted
overlane onboarding review                      # read the first review
overlane onboarding advance first-review        # after a review ran
overlane onboarding invite pat@example.com      # optional; finishes the invite step

first-task and first-review finish only when a real record exists. The server looks for a task of your team that was submitted or verified, and for a review run of your team. A bare call is refused with evidence_required and the command to run first, and the records that backed a finished step are shown by overlane onboarding status. A person finishing a step in the web app attests for themselves.

overlane context shows onboarding and suggests overlane onboarding status first while onboarding is not complete. The same operations are in the onboarding tool (status, advance, review, invite).

const names = ["sign-up", "agents", "repo", "first-task", "first-review", "invite"];
assert.deepEqual([...STEP_NAMES], names);

Step	What you do	What it changes
`sign-up`	Create your workspace with an email address.	Creates your workspace. Nothing else yet.
`agents`	Pick the coding agents and bots you use and run each one’s connect command.	Registers the Overlane plugin or connector in that client. Overlane stores no vendor token.
`repo`	Choose a native Overlane repository, or connect GitHub by installing the GitHub App on a repository.	Creates one project per repository you pick.
`first-task`	An agent creates, works and submits a real task (the web app also offers a sample run).	Needs a submitted or verified task of your team when an agent completes it.
`first-review`	An agent runs a real review and reads it (the web app shows a labelled sample until one exists).	Needs a recorded review run of your team when an agent completes it.
`invite`	Add colleagues by email, or skip.	Sends each person an email with a link to join. It never blocks you.

In the web app

Open the web app at overlane.app/onboarding/ and choose Sign up. Each step shows what it needs and what it changes before you do anything, and a step that fails shows a repair action next to the problem. Earlier steps stay done while you repair a later one.

The web app shows a sample run and a sample review while there is no real record yet, marked “Sample” on screen so you can tell them from the real thing. Once an agent has submitted a task and run a review, the first review shows the live one.

In the terminal

Quick start covers this path in full. npx overlane init covers the first three steps for the project you are standing in, and prints the step names as it goes, so the web app opens at first-task.

npx overlane init --dry-run
npx overlane init

Then start your first task from the terminal, or continue in the web app:

overlane task new "Add a CONTRIBUTING.md"

See overlane init for every flag.

Connect each agent and bot

Every client signs in with its own screen. Overlane never asks for a subscription token, a ChatGPT session token or a coding-agent API key, and no onboarding screen has a field for one.

Client	Command or action
Claude Code	`npx overlane init --agents claude`
Codex	`npx overlane init --agents codex`
Grok Build	`overlane client install grok`
Cursor	`overlane client install cursor`
Gemini CLI	`overlane client install gemini`
ChatGPT Dots and other bots	Add Overlane as a connector in the bot’s own app and approve the Overlane sign-in screen.

The adapters are described in overlane client install. After you run a command, choose Check connection in the web app. The plugin reports in to the service, and the step moves on.

Connect a repository

Native repository. A repository hosted by Overlane, so you need no other account. Onboarding creates the project; create its repository with overlane repo create <name> and push to it.

Or connect GitHub. Choose Install the GitHub App, pick the repositories to share, and come back to choose one. Overlane creates a project for it. The app can read the repositories you share and no others, and you can change that on GitHub at any time.

When a step fails

A failed step stays where it is, keeps the earlier steps done, and names one repair action. The same ids are used by the web app and the service.

assert.equal(FAILURE_REPAIRS["install-cancelled"].id, "retry-install");
assert.equal(FAILURE_REPAIRS["agent-not-connected"].id, "retry-connect");
assert.equal(Object.keys(FAILURE_REPAIRS).length, 8);

Repair action	When it appears	What to do
`retry-sign-in`	Sign-in was cancelled.	Try again, or use the email link.
`retry-connect`	The agent has not reported in.	Run the plugin command shown, finish the agent’s own sign-in, then check again.
`reauthorise`	The agent’s own sign-in was denied.	Approve access in the agent, then check again.
`retry-install`	The GitHub App install was cancelled, or the organisation has not approved it yet.	Retry the install, or use a native repository.
`pick-another-repo`	The repository could not be read.	Pick another, or re-run the install and share more repositories.
`retry-task`	The sample run did not finish.	Retry it, or pick a smaller template.
`reload-review`	The sample review is not ready.	Reload it.
`retry-invite`	An email to a colleague could not be sent.	Check the address and try again, or skip this step.

Still stuck? Run overlane doctor to check each agent’s readiness. It prints one state per agent and the next repair command.

Teams and roles

People you add join as members. Roles can be changed later; see teams and roles. Each person has their own onboarding progress inside a shared team, and an agent’s progress is its member’s.