Your connected agent is the AI tool you use to work with the Mind in a chat or coding application. The Portal is your Mind's web interface. The Portal helps you connect that tool and choose a backup; your agent then guides the setup conversation. How Mensara memory works explains what is saved and how it is used in later answers.
Before you start
Use the owner account for the Mind you intend to set up. Have one question about your company and two or three documents that could help answer it. A policy, plan or recent piece of work is enough to begin; you do not need to collect every company file first.
This is the owner's setup route. A teammate who has joined a Mind has a shorter first session, focused on their own job and the information they may use.
Connect the tool you want to use
Open Set up your Mensara mind in your Portal and follow Connect your assistant for your chosen tool. Ways to connect to your Mind explains the difference between working in your own AI tool and using the Portal.
The setup page shows whether it has detected the connection. If automatic detection is unavailable, it offers a manual confirmation. Confirm only after you have connected the tool; the confirmation itself does not make the connection.
A separate model key on the Mind is optional for this setup route. Connecting your existing AI tool and configuring a model for work inside the Mind are different jobs. Your Mind's settings explains that distinction.
Decide where to keep a backup
The Portal offers Connect GitHub backup. GitHub can hold a private copy separately from the computer running your Mind. Backup and recovery explains what that copy is for and how it differs from restoring the whole workspace.
You can decline the backup and continue setup. Declining does not create a backup. If you connect one, use the page's actual result to check whether it is connected or still needs attention.
Start with one question and its sources
In your connected agent, say: “Set up my Mensara mind.” It will ask what you want answered and what information could support the answer. Start with a question whose answer you can check, such as what a current policy says.
Give it the small set of relevant documents or paste the information it needs. If the answer depends on something you cannot supply yet, choose a smaller question first. The first-question guide shows how to check the result and the sources behind it.
During this guided owner setup, shared company records are submitted for your approval. Read what the agent wants to save and decide in the offered chat or approval-page controls. After approval, have it open a saved record to confirm the result. A request waiting for approval is not yet a saved record.
Your own personal profile and starter card are handled separately. The profile describes your job and answer preferences; the starter card gives you useful questions to ask. Their personal-save route does not establish the rule for shared company records. Outside this guided setup, the Mind's review settings determine which permitted corrections can save immediately and which need review.
Check the first answer before expanding
Ask the original question again from the saved information. Open the sources the agent names and check whether they support the answer. If something important is missing or wrong, say what failed and supply the missing evidence before relying on it.
After a useful first answer, the setup conversation can help draft how your company is organised, a few priorities and questions that will help with those priorities. Review those drafts before saving them. Bring teammates in when you know what information they need; inviting a teammate includes checking their own access after they join.
From a connected tool to a checked answer
Each handoff has a result you can inspect.
In the Portal, connect the tool you want to use and decide whether to connect a backup. In that connected tool, start setup with one question and its sources. Review the proposed shared records. After they save, ask the question again and open the saved sources to check the answer.
Stop and resume without starting again
You can stop the conversation and later say, in a tool connected to the same Mind: “Continue setting up Mensara.” The agent checks the saved setup progress and continues from the next ready task.
If it says a task is blocked, read the named prerequisite. If progress is unavailable, ask it to check again rather than assuming setup is complete. Keep the references to any pending approval requests so you can check those requests before submitting the same material again.
Review what is useful after a week
After about a week, return to the questions you wanted answered. Check what the saved records now support, what is missing and whether the people using them have the right access.
As an ongoing habit, review waiting changes, correct information that has become out of date and check any recurring work you have enabled. Periodically revisit access and follow the backup guide's checks. The frequency depends on your work; this guide does not create a reminder or schedule anything for you.
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