# Quickstart

> Go from a new Ace workspace to your first investigation by connecting AWS, GitHub and Slack, adding a workload and inviting your team.

Source: https://tryace.dev/docs/quickstart

Guided setup takes about ten minutes and has five steps: **Workspace**, **Connect**, **Workloads**, **Team** and **Activate**. Investigations start once our team activates your workspace, and you can set up everything else before then.

## Before you start

You need:

- An invite. Ace is invite-only, so you can create an account only if a teammate invited your email address or our team gave you access. Otherwise, [book a call with our team](https://tryace.dev/book-demo).
- A Google or GitHub account for that email address.
- For AWS, someone who can launch a CloudFormation stack in your account. Connecting an AWS Organization also needs StackSets trusted access, which an admin of the management account turns on. See [AWS](https://tryace.dev/docs/integrations/aws).
- For GitHub, someone who can install GitHub Apps on your organization. See [GitHub](https://tryace.dev/docs/integrations/github).
- For Slack, permission to install apps in your workspace. See [Slack](https://tryace.dev/docs/integrations/slack).

Ace saves your progress on the workspace, so you can reload, switch tabs or hand over to another admin and pick up at the same step.

## 1. Sign in

Go to [app.tryace.dev](https://app.tryace.dev) and choose **Continue with Google** or **Continue with GitHub**, using the email address you were invited with.

If a teammate invited you to an existing workspace, Ace shows a **Join** button with the workspace name. Join it and your team's integrations and workloads are already there, so you can skip to [step 6](#6-run-your-first-investigation). To start fresh, choose **Create a separate workspace**, which declines the invite because each person belongs to one workspace.

## 2. Name your workspace

Whoever creates the workspace becomes its first admin, and only admins see guided setup.

1. Enter a **Workspace name**. Ace suggests one from your email domain.
2. Check the **Timezone**, which Ace uses for weekly reports.
3. Select **Continue**.

## 3. Connect your stack

The **Connect** step suggests AWS, GitHub and Slack first, and each one opens in a side panel.

| Integration | What it gives Ace | How you connect it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **AWS** | A map of your accounts, services and their dependencies, so Ace knows where to look. | Select **Connect** and follow the guided setup. It creates a read-only IAM role with CloudFormation, which you review and launch in your AWS console. |
| **GitHub** | Your repositories and deploys, so Ace can tie an incident to the change behind it. | Select **Install app** and choose which repositories Ace can see. |
| **Slack** | Where you talk to Ace, with findings and approvals landing in your channels. | Select **Add to Slack** and approve the install. |

Access is read-only, so Ace can't change anything until an admin allows actions, and each change then follows your [approval policy](https://tryace.dev/docs/concepts/actions-and-approvals). AWS mapping runs in the background while you continue.

Under **More sources** you can connect error tracking, metrics, logs, paging, edge, feature flags and databases, such as Kubernetes, Sentry, Datadog, Grafana and Prometheus. These add evidence to investigations, and their alerts can start them. See [Integrations](https://tryace.dev/docs/integrations).

Select **Continue** once at least one integration is connected. If nothing is connected yet, select **Skip for now** and connect later from **Settings**.

## 4. Add a workload

A workload is a service or job you care about, such as your API, checkout or a background job. Alerts, checks and investigations attach to a workload, and Ace investigates across everything it touches.

In the **Workloads** step, select **Add your first workload**. The **New workload** flow asks four questions:

1. **What is it?** If AWS is connected, pick its services from your system map, then give it a **Name** such as `Orders API`. Ace reads the optional **Description** when it investigates.
2. **Which code builds it?** Link the GitHub repositories that build it, so Ace can read recent changes and deploys from them.
3. **Which alerts start an investigation?** Choose the alert sources whose alerts for this workload start an investigation. You can also add an **HTTP health check** that Ace calls on a schedule. Nothing is selected by default, and with nothing selected Ace investigates only when someone asks.
4. **Which sources does Ace read?** Choose the integrations Ace reads while it investigates this workload. Ace always reads a source that routes alerts to the workload, and you can change the rest later in the workload's settings.

Check the summary, then select **Create workload**.

Only admins can link repositories, choose alerts and choose sources, because those control what Ace reads and what starts an investigation. Members can create a workload and add HTTP checks. See [Roles and permissions](https://tryace.dev/docs/security/roles-and-permissions).

## 5. Invite your team and activate

### Invite your team

Invite the teammates who will follow investigations and approve Ace's actions. In the **Team** step:

1. Enter one or more email addresses, separated by commas or spaces.
2. Choose a role: **Member** (the default) or **Admin**.
3. Select **Add**, then **Send**.

Invites are valid for 7 days, and each person signs in with Google or GitHub using the invited email address.

### Choose Slack channels

Once Slack is connected, an admin picks the channels Ace posts to in **Settings** > **Slack**. Add a channel to **Insights** for incidents and investigation starts, and to **Weekly reports** for summaries.

To approve actions or start investigations from Slack, a person's Slack account must be linked to their Ace account, so Ace knows who is acting and can check their permissions. The person who installed Slack is linked automatically, and an admin links everyone else in **Settings** > **Team**.

### Activate your workspace

A new workspace starts out pending activation. Your setup is saved and integrations are validated, but Ace doesn't investigate or take actions, so alerts that arrive are recorded as incidents without an investigation and Slack mentions get a reply that Ace isn't activated yet.

The **Activate** step summarizes your setup and offers **Book a call**. On the 30-minute call you agree with our team on what Ace watches and who approves actions, and our team then activates your workspace.

Select **Go to workspace** to finish. A getting-started checklist stays on your home page until you complete or dismiss it.

## 6. Run your first investigation

Once your workspace is active, any member can start an investigation, and Ace looks at the workload over the last hour.

**In Ace**

- Right after you create a workload, select **Run investigation now**.
- On any workload, select **Investigate**. You can add a note to steer the investigation before it starts.

**In Slack**

In a channel where Ace is a member, or in a direct message to Ace, write:

```text
@Ace investigate orders api
```

Ace matches the name to a workload and replies with a confirmation only you can see, with **Start investigation** and **Cancel**. Your Slack account must be linked to your Ace account.

Ace also investigates on its own. An alert routed to a workload starts an investigation when its severity is high or critical, and alerts with no severity count as high. A failing HTTP health check starts one when the failure is serious, such as an error-rate spike, while smaller failures are recorded and watched.

Ace posts the incident and its findings to your **Insights** channel, and you can reply in the thread to direct it. To read the results, see [How Ace works](https://tryace.dev/docs/concepts/how-ace-works).

## Next steps

  - [How Ace works](https://tryace.dev/docs/concepts/how-ace-works): From first signal to closed incident, and how to read the results.
  - [Actions and approvals](https://tryace.dev/docs/concepts/actions-and-approvals): What Ace can change, and who approves it.
  - [Integrations](https://tryace.dev/docs/integrations): Connect more sources for evidence and alerts.
  - [Security and data](https://tryace.dev/docs/security/security-and-data): What Ace reads, what it keeps and how it's protected.