Documentation·Get Started
Get Started

Quick Start

Go from installed to a working team in under ten minutes. We will stand up one map, spawn one agent, send one task, and then scale up to a real crew.

Launch SenateLab

Open the app. If it is the first launch, finish the onboarding flow described in Installation. Otherwise you will land on the canvas. A fresh install ships with a default map and five seed agents — feel free to keep them or delete them before proceeding.

Create your first map

A map is a workspace: a named region of the canvas tied to one or more folders on disk. Create one in three steps.

  • Click + New map in the titlebar, or press ⌘ N.
  • Give it a name — the name of your project is usually fine.
  • Attach a folder. Drag one from Finder into the dialog, or use the file picker.

Hit Save. The new map opens as a tab next to the default one.

Spawn an agent

Click the + Agent button in the top-right. A three-panel wizard opens.

  • Role: pick Engineer — it is the most general starter.
  • Folders: grant read+write on the folder you attached to the map.
  • Identity: give it a name (short — it shows up in the canvas), a short purpose sentence, and leave the rest on defaults.

Finish. The agent appears on the canvas with an idle ring.

Send a task

Click the agent. The chat panel opens on the right. Type a task and press ⌘ Enter. Example:

Explore this repo. Give me a one-page summary: stack, data model, two risks.

Watch the ring turn blue (thinking), then yellow (waiting on you) when the agent needs clarification. You can keep typing while it works — messages queue in order.

Scale up with a real crew

Spawn a second agent with the Manager role. In its wizard, give it scope over the whole map. After it launches, send it:

Hire an Engineer, a Researcher, and a Reviewer.
Break down and coordinate this work:
- migrate the auth module to passkeys
- add a short explainer to docs/auth.md
- open a PR when ready for review

The Manager spawns the other three and distributes subtasks. The canvas shows animated lines between the agents as they coordinate. Your job is to review the PR at the end — and to approve anything that lands on the waiting-for-you status.