> Markdown export: /developers/onboarding-managed.md
> HTML: /developers/onboarding-managed
---
description: Sign up, welcome tour, billing, and first capture for managed Eigen Mesh hosting.
audience: end-user
---

# Onboarding (managed)

> **In plain terms:** This page walks you through getting started when Eigen hosts Eigen Mesh for you. Sign up, complete the welcome tour, and start capturing thoughts — no servers or API keys required. You get free starter credits on signup; subscribe for €3.99/mo when you want to keep going.

Use this path when Eigen operates your instance (managed hosting). You do **not** need to configure servers or obtain LLM API keys unless you explicitly switch to bring-your-own-key (BYOK) billing (advanced).

For operator setup on your own infrastructure, see [Self-hosted setup](/developers/self-hosted-setup).

## 1. Create an account

From the marketing site, choose **Get early access — managed**. That opens sign-up with a managed-hosting label (`/signup?plan=managed`).

You can sign up with:

- **Email and password** (minimum 8 characters), or
- **Google / GitHub** — only if the operator has enabled social login on that deployment.

After sign-up you land on **Capture** (`/capture`). New accounts receive **100 free Eigen credits** — enough for about **100–150 thoughts** (capture requires at least 50 credits in the wallet).

> **Note:** The `?plan=managed` query parameter is informational only. It does not change product behavior or billing mode; it only shows which hosting option you selected on the marketing page.

## 2. Welcome tour (first visit)

On your first visit to Capture, a **Welcome to Eigen Mesh** overlay appears until you finish or skip it. You can reopen it later from **Settings → Onboarding → Restart onboarding**.

The tour has **four steps**:

| Step | Topic | What you learn |
|------|--------|----------------|
| 1 | **Welcome** | What Eigen Mesh does — capture thoughts, organize automatically, use across AI tools |
| 2 | **Capture** | Drop thoughts in raw form — type or use **Dictate** (server-side speech-to-text). No filing, tagging, or structure required at capture time |
| 3 | **Install** | Add Eigen Mesh to your home screen as a PWA (optional but recommended on mobile) |
| 4 | **Notifications** | Enable web push for capture reminders and optional grounding check-ins (optional) |

You can **Skip** at any time from the overlay.

Behind the scenes, Eigen also seeds a default cognitive ontology for your account on first load. There is no separate ontology interview. Optional **grounding check-in cards** may appear on Capture after you dismiss the tour — they help Eigen learn your preferences but are not required to capture.

## 3. Billing: free credits, then subscription

Managed hosting uses an **Eigen wallet** of platform credits for your free trial, then a cheap monthly subscription to continue.

**Starter credits:** Signup grants **100 free credits** once (~100–150 thoughts). Capture, chat, dictation, and AI processing draw from that balance using the operator's shared gateway credentials — you do not paste API keys during onboarding.

**When free credits run out:** Subscribe for **€3.99/mo** (less than a coffee) via **Settings → LLM** to keep using managed hosting. Cancel anytime.

Activity can still show what ran in a session for transparency; billing for managed users is the subscription (or free credits), not a per-call top-up bill.

> **Note:** Subscription checkout in the product app may still be rolling out. Until it ships, the marketing site uses **Get early access** rather than a live subscribe button.

## 4. Optional: bring your own key (BYOK)

Advanced option if you prefer to bill your own gateway directly:

1. Open **Settings → LLM → BYOK**.
2. Configure **EUrouter** or **OpenRouter** (base URL, API key, and model or rule IDs as required by that provider).
3. On the **Billing method** section, switch to **Bring your own key (BYOK)** and save.

> **Warning:** Store API keys only in Settings — never share them in chat or email. Keys are encrypted for your account.

BYOK is not required for managed users. Most people stay on free credits, then the €3.99/mo plan.

## 5. Start capturing

On **Capture**, type or dictate a thought, and submit. Ingest runs automatically; progress appears in the capture UI and full detail in **Activity**.

Explore **Memory** (`/memory`) for graph, timeline, and notes views. Use **Chat** (`/chat`) for in-app memory Q&A.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---------|----------------|
| Capture fails with insufficient credits | Free credits exhausted — subscribe via **Settings → LLM**, or switch to BYOK |
| Capture fails with LLM not configured | BYOK keys missing — check **Settings → LLM** |
| Subscribe / billing option missing | Subscription checkout not enabled on this deployment yet — contact support or use BYOK / self-host |
| BYOK option disabled in billing method | No provider saved on **Settings → LLM → BYOK** yet |

For more issues, see [Troubleshooting](/developers/troubleshooting).

## Next steps

- [Connect Cursor or Claude](/developers/cursor-and-claude) — use your memories in AI tools
- [How memory works](/developers/how-memory-works) — capture, search, and grounded answers
- [What is Eigen Mesh?](/developers/what-is-eigenmesh) — plain-language product overview