Quick Start Guide

What you need before you start

• A paid AI assistant account (typically the $20/mo option will do fine): a Claude Pro or Max plan, ChatGPT Plus, or similar. Don't have one? No problem! This guide assumes you do not already have an AI Assistant. If you do, great! Skip step 2.
• Your kit: you received a link to the GitHub repo as well as a .zip file downloaded from your order page. Find a more complete guide with troubleshooting FAQs here: START_HERE.md (the link opens once your purchase gives you kit access).
• A Mac or Windows computer.

If you are having any issues at all getting set up, please email us at support@thefounderkit.ai.

Your kit reaches you two ways: a link to its GitHub repo, and a zip file from your order page. Both contain the same kit; you only need one.

• Easiest: from your order page, download the zip. It lands in your Downloads folder; its name ends in .zip.
• From GitHub instead: open the repo link you received, click the green Code button, then Download ZIP. The zip lands in Downloads the same way.
• On a Mac: double-click the zip file. A folder with the same name appears next to it.
• On Windows: right-click the zip file, choose Extract All, then click Extract. A folder appears.
• Drag that folder onto your Desktop. You can also right-click the folder, choose Move, and select your Desktop folder. That folder is your kit. Everything from here on happens inside it.

✓You are done with this step when there is a kit folder on your Desktop, and double-clicking it shows files inside.

Pick one assistant below and set it up. Either way, the app puts your assistant on your computer, where it can build real files for your business.

2a. Claude (click to expand)

• In your web browser, go to claude.ai/download.
• Click the download button for your computer (macOS or Windows).
• Open the downloaded file. On a Mac, drag the Claude icon into Applications when asked, then open Claude from Applications. On Windows, run the installer and let it finish; Claude opens when it is done.
• Sign in with your Claude account.

On Windows there is one more install: Git for Windows. It is a free helper program. The Claude app needs it to work with folders on a Windows computer, and the kit's built-in safety checks run on it. Anthropic's own setup instructions for Windows include it. This is only for Windows; a Mac needs nothing extra.

• Go to git-scm.com/downloads/win and download the installer.
• Run it and accept every suggested option: keep clicking Next, then Install. None of the choices need changing.

✓You are done with this step when the Claude app is open and you are signed in.

Now point your assistant at the kit folder from step 1, so it can see and work with your files.

In Claude:

• At the top of the Claude app, click Code.

• The app asks where you want to work. Choose Local, which means: on this computer.
• Click Select folder and pick the kit folder on your Desktop from step 1.
• If a button is not where this page shows it, the app has updated its look. Follow the names: Code, Local, Select folder.

In Codex:

• Open Codex and choose your kit in the project picker above the message box. Not listed yet? Click New project and pick the kit folder from step 1.

✓You are done with this step whenyou see a message box ready for typing, with your kit folder's name showing above or beside it.

A prompt is a message you send to your assistant. This one tells it to start your kit.

• Click the Copy button on the box below.
• Click into the message box in your assistant.
• Paste (Cmd+V on a Mac, Ctrl+V on Windows) and press Enter.

What happens next: your assistant checks that it can see your kit, shows you a welcome message with the map of what you will build together, and asks its first question about your business idea. Answer in your own words. There are no wrong answers, and this first conversation takes 10 to 15 minutes.

• As it works, your assistant asks your permission before each piece of work, with an Allow or Accept button. Saying yes is normal. Asking first is how the kit keeps you in charge.

✓You are done with this page when your assistant has welcomed you and asked about your business idea. From here, it leads and you decide.

This is the quick start guide for the standard kit. Setting up a family kit? Use the Family Quick Start Guide.

You can stop at any time

The kit saves your progress after every phase and every decision. Close the app whenever you like. To come back, open your kit the same way as step 3 and paste: "Continue my kit." Your assistant picks up exactly where you left off.

If something looks wrong

Ask your assistant first. It can check the kit itself and explain what it finds. Copy this message to it:

If that does not sort it out, email support@thefounderkit.ai and include what your assistant told you.

Why the app, and not a chat website

Your kit builds real files on your computer: your website, your records, your progress. The apps in step 2 work with those files directly. The claude.ai and chatgpt.com websites can chat with you, but they cannot open the folders on your computer, so the kit cannot run there.

Prefer the terminal?

That works too. Open START_HERE.md, the first file inside your kit folder: it has the terminal setup for both Claude and Codex. The four steps on this page are the simplest road, so start here unless you already know you want the terminal.