02 / Guided course
Start with installation, then build toward a shared company, safe access, durable handoffs, and reusable workers. Each lesson includes the full video and a step-by-step field guide.
Download the HQ desktop app, create your local HQ workspace, open it in an AI coding tool, and begin the guided setup flow.
Complete the setup interview, create your company workspace, make it shareable with a team, and save the finished session for later recall.
Submit a provider credential through HQ's secure form, choose who may use it, and verify access without putting the raw value in chat or documentation.
Turn an approved idea into a small web app, restrict it to company members, and prove the access gate in a private browser session.
Invite a teammate, choose least-privilege role and resource access, prepare a starter package, and verify the recipient's first HQ session.
Scope a session to a company and project, capture an early brainstorm, save it with a handoff, and let a teammate resume the same work elsewhere.
Create a narrow company worker, inspect its durable files, enrich it with reusable design knowledge, and share it as living team infrastructure.
Before you start
Head to hqforwork.com/install↗ and download the installer. Pick a folder for your HQ, create your account, and set up your first company. While you wait, the installer runs dependency installs in parallel and sets up the Sync app.
Pick a folder, create your account, set up your first company. Dependencies install in parallel while you configure.
Once installed, open the Sync app with the keyboard shortcut below. This keeps your local HQ in sync with the cloud — files, knowledge, and session state travel with you across devices.
Open your HQ folder in Claude Code or Codex. Run /setup to finish initial configuration — it wires up commands, verifies dependencies, and prepares your workspace.
Setup complete
Start a fresh session in your AI tool. Each session is a clean context window — no accumulated noise from prior work.
Run /startwork [company-slug] to begin.
This resolves your company context, loads policies, surfaces available worker routes, and persists session metadata. It's how HQ knows what you're working on and what tools are available.
Session started
Ready to work. Pick a story or describe what you need.
Create a knowledge file or skill — if you're not sure where to start, a knowledge file is a good default. This is where your team's context lives: decisions, architecture, specs, playbooks.
Created knowledge file
Knowledge files are available to every session automatically.
Sync your work using /hq-sync, or just tell your AI to sync. You can also click Sync in the app bar (top-right corner of the Sync app).
Run /hq-share or tell your AI to share. This mints an encrypted, single-use link and opens a browser picker to grant your teammates access to the shared vault paths.
Share link created
Send the link — your teammate picks what to accept, right in the browser.
Run /handoff when you're done.
Handoff commits your work, writes a thread file, and saves a small pointer so the next session picks up exactly where you left off. Index and learning updates run in the background. No context lost between sessions.
Handoff complete
Bookmark the Operator Cheat Sheet — every command, slash pattern, and worker shortcut on one page.
Keep going