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# Quickstart

This guide takes you from an empty workspace to an expert anyone can talk to through a link. You need to be a workspace **admin**: members can talk to experts but can't create them or make them live.

#### Describe your expert

Open **Home** or **Experts** in the sidebar and choose **New expert** → **Describe it**.

In **What should your expert do?**, say what the expert is for in plain words: who it serves, what it should answer, what it should do. For example: *"A receptionist for a dental clinic that books appointments in English and Hindi, answers questions about treatments and prices, and sends urgent cases to the dentist."*

![The Describe your expert dialog with a brief for a dental clinic receptionist](/_fern-files/_img/08881df64bdeb434d155721d6b222b294a50837ed8812543a52ffcaaa47f6296.webp)![The Describe your expert dialog with a brief for a dental clinic receptionist](/_fern-files/_img/8375bdb5157f9028bb77da94dde9411f46ee1c5eefba3cec9db7903cc968da7d.webp)

You can also:

* choose **Attach documents** to add price lists, FAQs or policies (PDF, Word, Markdown, text or CSV; up to 5 files, 8 MB in all);
* type your **Website (optional)**, so Rydhm can research your business.

Choose **Build expert**. Rydhm reads your brief, researches on the web, writes the expert's greeting and instructions, chooses a voice and languages, and saves what it learned as knowledge. A build usually takes about a minute. You can **Stop** it at any time; nothing is created until the last step.

When it finishes, choose **Open settings**.

> **Tip**
>
> Prefer a ready-made starting point? Choose **New expert** → **Start from a template** instead. There are templates for front desks, support, sales, collections, surveys, hiring and meetings. See [Create an expert](/experts/create).

#### Check who it is and what it says

The expert opens on its **Profile** tab. Read three fields:

* **Name** and **Description**: how the expert is listed.
* **First message**: what it says when a conversation starts.
* **Persona**: its instructions. Write them the way you would brief a new colleague.

Change anything you like. The header shows **Unsaved changes** until you choose **Save changes**. See [Persona and first message](/experts/persona).

#### Give it your knowledge

Open the **Knowledge** tab and choose **Add**:

* **Upload files**: PDF, Word, Markdown, text or CSV, up to 8 MB each. You can also drop files on the list.
* **Paste text**: give it a name and paste the content.
* **Add from a website**: import pages from your site. See [Website import](/knowledge/website-import).
* **Add questions and answers**: the questions you hear most, with your answers. See [Questions and answers](/knowledge/faqs).

Each document shows **Processing** while it is read, then **Ready**. Under **Try a question**, type something a customer might ask and choose **Search** to see what the expert finds. Knowledge is saved as you add it: it doesn't wait for **Save changes**.

#### Choose how it sounds

Open the **Voice** tab. Choose **Change voice** to pick a voice from the library, then **Hear the first message** to listen to the greeting in that voice.

Under **Style**, **Balanced** is the safe choice for now: it is the default and works everywhere, including meetings. **Fastest** answers with the shortest pause, and **Most natural** listens while it talks, in one-on-one calls. Each style shows its measured pause before a reply, and every style costs the same.

See [Voice engines](/experts/voice-engines) for what each style runs, and for **Advanced**, where you pick the engine and its models yourself.

#### Test it

Choose **Test** in the header. On a wide screen the Test panel sits beside the form; on a smaller one it slides over the page.

* **Chat**: type to the expert like a customer would.
* **Voice**: choose **Start voice test** and talk to it through your microphone.

![The Test panel in Chat mode, with a question about Saturday opening hours and the answer](/_fern-files/_img/dc6cd354f385ff0d0bdc5dd42adc667107ee553ede300b5c1323b02b6fb6e2d0.webp)![The Test panel in Chat mode, with a question about Saturday opening hours and the answer](/_fern-files/_img/ef47b9707c3825453fbed7db33c3bc908c9b53cc78d85ec672dbb239bf351a45.webp)

You don't have to save first. While you have unsaved edits to the name, persona, first message or voice settings, the panel says **Testing unsaved changes** and runs on what is on your screen. Tool, widget and picture changes need a save first; the panel tells you which.

When you're happy, choose **Save changes**.

#### Share it

Choose **Make live** in the header. Under **Who can talk to it**, pick one:

| Option              | Who can talk to the expert                                 |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Draft**           | Only your team. Every new expert starts here.              |
| **Live**            | Anyone with the link, and your website widget.             |
| **Live and listed** | Anyone; the expert is also listed in the public directory. |

Choose **Live**, read what changes, then confirm with **Make live**. Copy the **Share link** and open it in a private window to try it as a visitor would. The same dialog gives you the **Website widget code** for your website. Once the expert is live, the header button reads **Live** and reopens these sharing settings.

![The expert's sharing dialog: who can talk to it, its link and the website widget code](/_fern-files/_img/913698bd282d0c0ac226fd54ca2d6c5786ce98d4fb7f0abf79d0ce43d7c35d87.webp)![The expert's sharing dialog: who can talk to it, its link and the website widget code](/_fern-files/_img/4b3d205c3dbf7b68316f897fc1ff449c3c4491087d8f5c449e9ad05577b9a414.webp)

See [Share links](/channels/public-links) and [Website widget](/channels/web-widget).

## Things to know

> **Warning**
>
> **Make live** and **Send to meeting** use the **saved** expert. If you have unsaved edits, Rydhm asks you to **Save and continue** first, so a visitor never gets an older persona by surprise.

* **Visitors get a narrower toolset than your team.** On a share link, the website widget and phone calls, an expert can use its knowledge, end or steer the call, and search the web if you turned that on. Calendar, email, your own API tools, outside tool servers and hand-offs to colleagues run only for signed-in members of your workspace. See [Tools](/experts/tools#who-can-use-which-tools).
* **Usage on a live expert is billed to your workspace.** See [Billing](/workspace/billing).
* **Every save is a version.** If a change goes wrong, open **⋯** → **History** and restore an earlier version. See [Versions and testing](/experts/versions).

## Next steps

#### [Send it to a meeting](/channels/meetings)

Choose **Send to meeting** in the header and paste a Meet, Zoom or Teams link.

#### [Give it tools](/experts/tools)

Let it check a calendar, send email or call your own API.

#### [Set guardrails](/experts/guardrails)

Keep it on topic and away from subjects you don't want discussed.

#### [Read the conversations](/quality/conversations)

See what people asked and how the expert answered.