> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.poly.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Sign up self-serve at studio.poly.ai, build your first agent free, and deploy it in minutes.

Create an account, build an agent, add knowledge, test it, and publish. Five steps.

> [!TIP]
>
> **In a hurry?** [Wren](https://docs.poly.ai/wren/introduction.md) is the fastest way to scaffold an agent. Describe what you want and it generates flows, topics, entities, and settings on a Branch you can review and publish. The manual steps below still work if you'd rather build it by hand.

## Prerequisites

* A use case in mind (e.g., customer support, reservations, FAQ)

**1. Create your account (\~1 min)**

Go to the [sign-up page](https://studio.us.poly.ai/) and create your PolyAI account.

> [tab] Google SSO
>
> 1. Click **"Sign up with Google"**
> 2. Select your Google account or enter your credentials
> 3. Click **"Continue"** to authorize PolyAI
>
> ![Google SSO sign-up screen](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/Qu880HppNqT19Eyr/images/get-started/select-google-sso.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=Qu880HppNqT19Eyr\&q=85\&s=12c8c23317b36afd52bc7f715fb0a2c1)
>
> Sign in with Google SSO

> [tab] Email and password
>
> 1. Enter your **first name**, **last name**, and **email address**
> 2. Create a password (at least 12 characters, with 3 of 4 character types: lowercase, uppercase, numbers, special characters)
> 3. Click **"Create account"** and verify your email
>
> ![Email and password sign-up form](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/Q-CGDMOxOSX2tBiN/images/get-started/enter-your-details.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=Q-CGDMOxOSX2tBiN\&q=85\&s=b5bc6af8af6fbd297f510ae637a8eb64)
>
> Create an account with email and password

Once signed in, you'll land on the Agent Studio home page.

**2. Create your agent (\~2 min)**

From the home page, click **+ Agent** to start the agent creation wizard. You can create a blank agent or import an existing configuration.

Configure the basics:

* **Agent name**, internal identifier for your project
* **Response language**, primary language for responses (see [multilingual support](https://docs.poly.ai/behavior/language/multilingual.md) for additional languages)
* **Voice**, select from available [text-to-speech (TTS)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_synthesis) voices
* **Welcome greeting**, first message users receive (can be customized later in [agent settings](https://docs.poly.ai/behavior/general/agent.md))

Click **Next** to enter Agent Studio.

![Agent creation wizard with name, language, voice, and greeting fields](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/ZVzKq3G72RK1ScpE/images/quickstart/create-agent.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ZVzKq3G72RK1ScpE\&q=85\&s=95ab770296e691e26ce34ad1a0471d02)

Agent creation wizard

You can also duplicate an existing agent by clicking the three-dot menu next to any agent on the home page.

**3. Add knowledge (\~5 min)**

Navigate to **Knowledge > FAQs** in the sidebar.

Click **Add topic** and provide:

* **Topic name**, what this topic covers (e.g., "Store hours")
* **Sample questions**, up to 20 ways users might ask (e.g., "When are you open?")
* **Answer**, the response your agent should give

Click **Save** to create the topic.

![Adding a knowledge base topic in Agent Studio](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/mC-hBNxhbQLRsMMg/images/quickstart/add-kb-item.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=mC-hBNxhbQLRsMMg\&q=85\&s=7f4ec92c50bf2339bd35a06b90463698)

Add a knowledge base topic with sample questions and an answer

Changes save to your Branch in **Sandbox** as you go, ready to test. Learn more about [environments and versions](https://docs.poly.ai/environments-and-versions/introduction.md).

**Optional:** Add more topics to expand your agent's capabilities. You can also:

* Upload PDFs or URLs to auto-generate topics
* Connect external knowledge sources like [Zendesk](https://docs.poly.ai/integrations/zendesk.md) or [Google Sheets](https://docs.poly.ai/integrations/google-sheets.md) using the [Connected tab](https://docs.poly.ai/knowledge/sources/introduction.md) in Knowledge
* Add [actions](https://docs.poly.ai/knowledge/faqs/actions/introduction.md) to trigger handoffs, SMS, or other behaviors

See the full [FAQs guide](https://docs.poly.ai/knowledge/faqs/introduction.md) for details on how [RAG](https://docs.poly.ai/knowledge/faqs/RAG/introduction.md) (retrieval-augmented generation) powers topic matching.

**4. Test your agent (\~2 min)**

> [tab] In-browser call
>
> The fastest way to test, uses your device's microphone directly.
>
> 1. Click the **phone icon**  in the top-right corner
> 2. Select **Sandbox** from the environment dropdown
> 3. Begin speaking to your agent
>
> ![In-browser call test panel](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/Qu880HppNqT19Eyr/images/get-started/test-call.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=Qu880HppNqT19Eyr\&q=85\&s=dceca683cfe410834feffb93fcb0c4f8)
>
> Call your agent directly from the browser

> [tab] Webchat
>
> Test with text-based chat, directly from Agent Studio.
>
> 1. Go to the agent main page
> 2. Click the **webchat icon** to open a text-based conversation
>
> The chat window shows tool calls and topic citations alongside the conversation. Click the Settings icon to toggle these.
>
> ![Webchat interface showing tool calls and topic citations](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/Qu880HppNqT19Eyr/images/get-started/webchat.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=Qu880HppNqT19Eyr\&q=85\&s=34625d59ae1881a2a27ebdaa1b8cdb57)
>
> Webchat test interface with topic matching
>
> See [webchat setup](https://docs.poly.ai/messaging-channel/introduction.md) for more details.

> [tab] Phone
>
> Test the way a customer would by calling a connected number. Phone numbers connect to **Staging** and **Live** only. Publish your agent first (step 5), or move your Branch to Staging.
>
> 1. Go to **Voice > Numbers** in the sidebar
> 2. Click **"Add number"** to purchase a number or connect an existing one
> 3. Call the number to speak with your agent
>
> See [Numbers](https://docs.poly.ai/voice-channel/numbers/introduction.md) for setup instructions.

**Testing tips:**

* Use specific keywords to trigger your agent's topics
* Test with different accents and speaking styles
* For [multilingual agents](https://docs.poly.ai/behavior/language/multilingual.md), switch languages mid-conversation to test detection
* Review conversations in the [Conversations dashboard](https://docs.poly.ai/analytics/conversations/introduction.md) after testing

**5. Publish to Live (\~1 min)**

Publish your agent onto Live:

1. Go to **Deployments** in the sidebar
2. Optional: move your Branch to **Staging** for user acceptance testing
3. Click **Publish** (top-right) to put your Branch on Live

Staging and Live can each have their own phone number and configuration. Sandbox has no phone number, so you test there over an in-app call or chat.

![Publishing from Sandbox onto Live](https://mintcdn.com/polyai/mC-hBNxhbQLRsMMg/images/deployment/publish.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=mC-hBNxhbQLRsMMg\&q=85\&s=e8c56a6be3ac93bda9f42f838fa37846)

Publish onto Live to go live

When you publish, your changes merge onto Live. If a change goes wrong, you can roll Live back to any previous version in one step. See the [Deployments guide](https://docs.poly.ai/environments-and-versions/introduction.md#rolling-back-a-change) for details.

## Next steps

> [card] [Add advanced features](https://docs.poly.ai/tools/introduction.md)
>
> Connect APIs and add dynamic behavior with Python functions

> [card] [Build conversation flows](https://docs.poly.ai/flows/introduction.md)
>
> Multi-step workflows for bookings, forms, and structured tasks

> [card] [Configure voice settings](https://docs.poly.ai/voice-channel/introduction.md)
>
> TTS, voice selection, and audio settings

> [card] [Monitor performance](https://docs.poly.ai/analytics/dashboards/introduction.md)
>
> Dashboards, conversation review, and metrics

## How your agent works

Each conversation turn follows a pipeline: **ASR** (speech to text) → **LLM** (knowledge retrieval and response generation) → **TTS** (text to speech). See [architecture](https://docs.poly.ai/glossary/architecture.md) for a detailed breakdown, or [processing order](https://docs.poly.ai/essentials/order.md) for the step-by-step flow.