Create your first agent

When you sign up, HelpShelf takes you straight into agent creation. You can also start it any time from + New in the site switcher.

Step 1: Choose how your agent learns

You'll be asked where your product knowledge lives:

• Scan my website (recommended) — enter your URL. HelpShelf fetches your homepage and sitemap, pulls out your brand colours, builds a first pass at your product context, and drafts a starter knowledge base.
• Connect GitHub — an alternate path that reads your repo's README, docs, and manifest.
• I used the CLI — for developers. Run npx helpshelf scan in your project and this screen picks the scan up automatically. See CLI quickstart.

If you pick the CLI path, the wizard hands off to your terminal and brings you back when the scan finishes.

Step 2: Scanning — and naming your agent

The scan runs for up to 30 seconds and reports what it understood. While it reads, you'll be asked to name your agent — visitors trust a name more than a search box, and it appears on the launcher, in greetings, and on every handoff.

The scan also sets up your page rules: sales mode is pinned on your pricing and marketing pages, support mode on docs and app pages. You can adjust these later under Floatie → Page rules.

Step 3: Your Self-Serve Score

Next you'll see your agent's starting score out of 100 — how often a visitor gets a real, cited answer without waiting for you — along with the single best thing to do next to raise it.

Step 4: Try it, then install it

The final screen puts your agent in a live preview — ask it something a real customer would ask and watch it answer with citations. When you've seen it work, install it with one snippet:

<script src="https://app.helpshelf.com/widget/YOUR_SITE_HASH.js" data-helpshelf-site="YOUR_SITE_HASH" async></script>

Paste it just before the closing </body> tag.

Which site? Your marketing site is day one — pricing and feature pages are where buyers ask questions, and where sales mode and lead capture earn. Add the widget inside your app later with the identify snippet for personalized answers. If you built a vibecoded app, your app is the site — one snippet covers both.

Full instructions, including Google Tag Manager and common platforms, are in Install the widget.

What to do next

Your agent works immediately, but it gets noticeably better with a little attention:

1. Check your readiness score on the agent home screen — it tells you exactly what's missing, including connecting your support inbox and a notification channel (both optional, both set up from the dashboard).
2. Add or import content to fill obvious gaps.
3. Set your contact options so visitors can reach a human when they need one.
4. Watch Sales Pulse on your agent home — sales conversations, captured leads, and the buying questions visitors actually asked.