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From sign-up to an assistant in your product

For: Account owners and developers setting StrikeUp up for the first timeRequires: The Admin roleScreenshots show sample data

This guide takes you from no account to an AI assistant that answers your customers inside your own product and calls your API for them. You create your company, connect your API as a toolkit, choose what the assistant may do, give it a voice, style the chat widget, check the security settings and paste one snippet into your product. Each step links to the page that explains it in full. Plan an hour, most of it for the decisions rather than the clicks; generating tools from a large API specification takes longer.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”
You needWhere it lives
An email address with no StrikeUp account yetYour mailbox. To join an existing StrikeUp company instead, ask its administrator to invite you.
The address of your API’s OpenAPI or Swagger specification (JSON or YAML), or of its Readme.com reference, reachable from the internetYour API documentation, often ending in openapi.json or swagger.json
Your company’s public websiteUsed to tailor the guardrails to your business
Credentials StrikeUp can use to call your API, if your API needs anyYour API’s settings or developer portal
Access to the HTML of the product or website where the assistant should appearYour code base or website builder
The Admin role in StrikeUpYou get it automatically when you sign up. Users and Guests can look at every screen but cannot save changes.

StrikeUp has no plans or feature tiers: everything in this guide is available to every company. The calls to AI models made while generating tools and answering visitors are counted on the AI Spend page of the Dashboard.

Steps

Section titled “Steps”

  1. Create your company. Open the sign-up page from Create an Account on the sign-in page. Enter your email address, your company’s name and its website, and a password the strength meter rates at least Good. Select Sign Up, then open the confirmation link StrikeUp emails you within 24 hours. StrikeUp then creates the company, makes you its administrator and signs you in. See Sign Up.

    Step 1, the StrikeUp "Sign Up" page filled in for a new company: "Email*" contains "olivia.hart@example.com", "Company Name (optional)" contains "Demo Ltd", "Company Website (optional)" contains "https://www.example.com", and both password fields show dots with the strength meter at "Very Strong". The blue "Sign Up" button at the bottom of the card is highlighted; it creates the company with you as its administrator and signs you in. Below the card: "Already have an account? Sign in here".Step 1, the StrikeUp "Sign Up" page filled in for a new company: "Email*" contains "olivia.hart@example.com", "Company Name (optional)" contains "Demo Ltd", "Company Website (optional)" contains "https://www.example.com", and both password fields show dots with the strength meter at "Very Strong". The blue "Sign Up" button at the bottom of the card is highlighted; it creates the company with you as its administrator and signs you in. Below the card: "Already have an account? Sign in here".
    Create your company with Sign Up; adding the website lets StrikeUp tailor guardrails to your domain.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Sign Up (/auth/sign-up)
    Highlighted
    button “Sign Up”, sign-up-card-bottom, enabled. creates the company and Admin account, then opens the setup wizard
    Also visible
    Email*: olivia.hart@example.com; Company Name: Demo Ltd; Company Website: https://www.example.com; Password strength: Very Strong
    Purpose
    quick-start step 1, create the account

  2. Finish the setup wizard. The wizard Welcome to StrikeUp opens by itself and cannot be closed until you finish it. In it you paste your specification address and select Validate, choose how StrikeUp authenticates against your API, wait while StrikeUp generates one tool per endpoint, review the suggested masking rules, and tick the first tools the assistant may use, for example with Select All GET. The wizard also creates your first chat widget, named after the toolkit with “Copilot” added. Finish with Finish Setup & Go to Dashboard. See The setup wizard.

  3. Connect another API (optional). For each further API, open ConfigureToolkits and select the card “Add toolkit” at the end of the row.

    Step 2, the "Toolkits" page under Configure, subtitle "Connect and configure your API toolkits.". A row of cards lists the connected APIs "Demo Billing API" (Active, 18/20 tools), "Demo Accounts API" (Active, 16/20 tools) and "Demo Reporting API" (Active, 8/8 tools). The last card, a plus sign labelled "Add toolkit", is highlighted; it opens the dialog where you paste the address of your OpenAPI or Swagger specification. Below the cards: "Select a toolkit above to view and configure its settings."Step 2, the "Toolkits" page under Configure, subtitle "Connect and configure your API toolkits.". A row of cards lists the connected APIs "Demo Billing API" (Active, 18/20 tools), "Demo Accounts API" (Active, 16/20 tools) and "Demo Reporting API" (Active, 8/8 tools). The last card, a plus sign labelled "Add toolkit", is highlighted; it opens the dialog where you paste the address of your OpenAPI or Swagger specification. Below the cards: "Select a toolkit above to view and configure its settings."
    Connect each additional API under Configure › Toolkits with Add toolkit; the wizard already created your first one.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Toolkits (/admin/servers)
    Highlighted
    card-button “Add toolkit”, toolkit-cards-right, enabled. opens the Create New Toolkit dialog
    Also visible
    Toolkit cards: Demo Billing API 18/20, Demo Accounts API 16/20, Demo Reporting API 8/8
    Purpose
    quick-start step 2, connect an API

    In Create New Toolkit, keep Swagger/OpenAPI or choose Readme.io, paste the address into API Specification URL * and select “Validate”. Check the name and description StrikeUp filled in from the specification, then select “Create Server”. The dialog shows the generation progress and closes when it is done; the toolkit’s card turns active. A notification tells you when StrikeUp suggests masking rules for the new fields. Set the toolkit’s authorization on the same page; Toolkits explains each type.

    The "Create New Toolkit" dialog over the dimmed Toolkits page, with the line "Provide your API documentation URL to validate and extract server information.". "API Documentation Type *" is set to "Swagger/OpenAPI" and "API Specification URL *" contains "https://api.example.com/accounts/v1/openapi.json", with the hint "URL to the Swagger/OpenAPI specification (JSON or YAML)". At the bottom right, "Cancel" and the highlighted blue "Validate" button; "Validate" reads the specification and shows the toolkit name and endpoint count before you create it.The "Create New Toolkit" dialog over the dimmed Toolkits page, with the line "Provide your API documentation URL to validate and extract server information.". "API Documentation Type *" is set to "Swagger/OpenAPI" and "API Specification URL *" contains "https://api.example.com/accounts/v1/openapi.json", with the hint "URL to the Swagger/OpenAPI specification (JSON or YAML)". At the bottom right, "Cancel" and the highlighted blue "Validate" button; "Validate" reads the specification and shows the toolkit name and endpoint count before you create it.
    Paste the specification URL and select Validate; StrikeUp then generates one tool per endpoint.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Create New Toolkit (/admin/servers)
    Highlighted
    button “Validate”, dialog-footer-right, enabled. validates the specification (POST /api/servers/validate-spec)
    Also visible
    API Documentation Type: Swagger/OpenAPI; API Specification URL: https://api.example.com/accounts/v1/openapi.json
    Purpose
    quick-start step 2, the toolkit dialog filled in

  4. Switch on the tools the assistant may call. On ConfigureToolkits, select the toolkit’s card and scroll to its tool list. Every tool generated from a specification starts switched off, and the assistant can only call tools that are on. Switch tools on one by one, per group, or with Bulk Actions, for example Enable Low Risk only. Read-only tools are a safe start; add tools that change data once you have watched the assistant at work. See Toolkits.

    Step 3, the Toolkits page with "Demo Accounts API" selected, scrolled to its tool list. Above it are the "Toolkit Details" and the collapsed "Authorization Configuration". The heading "Tools (20)" sits over filters for status and risk level, a search field, the highlighted "Bulk Actions" menu and "Add Tool". Tools are grouped by resource, such as "Account" with "1/2 active" and "Api-keys" with "4/4 active", each with "Enable All" and "Disable All". "Bulk Actions" switches many tools on or off at once, for example all low-risk tools.Step 3, the Toolkits page with "Demo Accounts API" selected, scrolled to its tool list. Above it are the "Toolkit Details" and the collapsed "Authorization Configuration". The heading "Tools (20)" sits over filters for status and risk level, a search field, the highlighted "Bulk Actions" menu and "Add Tool". Tools are grouped by resource, such as "Account" with "1/2 active" and "Api-keys" with "4/4 active", each with "Enable All" and "Disable All". "Bulk Actions" switches many tools on or off at once, for example all low-risk tools.
    The assistant can only call tools that are switched on; use Bulk Actions or each group's buttons to choose them.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Toolkits (/admin/servers?serverId=…)
    Highlighted
    button “Bulk Actions”, tools-toolbar, enabled. opens bulk enable/disable options (by risk level)
    Also visible
    Tools (20); Groups Account 1/2 active, Api-keys 4/4 active; Enable All / Disable All per group
    Purpose
    quick-start step 3, choose which tools the assistant may call

  5. Give the assistant its voice. Open ConfigureAI & UX and select your widget’s card. Under “Persona”, fill in “Tone of voice (optional)”, “Behavior instructions (optional)” and “Branding instructions (optional)”, then select the blue save button under these fields. StrikeUp checks the instructions with a safety review before saving them and refuses text that tries to override the assistant’s own rules or contains a password or key. If your company has skills, switch on the ones this widget should use under “Skills”; each switch saves at once. See AI & UX and Skills.

    Step 4, the "AI & UX" page with the widget "Demo Ltd Support chat" selected in the card row. The "Persona" section shows "Tone of voice (optional)" set to "Friendly, clear and concise. Plain English, no jargon.", behaviour instructions about confirming invoices and never promising refunds, and the branding instruction "Refer to the product as Demo Ltd. Sign off as the Demo Ltd assistant.". The blue "Save Persona" button below is highlighted. Further down, the "Skills" section lists switches such as "Invoice disputes" and "Plan changes".Step 4, the "AI & UX" page with the widget "Demo Ltd Support chat" selected in the card row. The "Persona" section shows "Tone of voice (optional)" set to "Friendly, clear and concise. Plain English, no jargon.", behaviour instructions about confirming invoices and never promising refunds, and the branding instruction "Refer to the product as Demo Ltd. Sign off as the Demo Ltd assistant.". The blue "Save Persona" button below is highlighted. Further down, the "Skills" section lists switches such as "Invoice disputes" and "Plan changes".
    Give the assistant a tone, behaviour rules and branding per widget, then select Save Persona.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    AI & UX (/admin/configure/agents)
    Highlighted
    button “Save Persona”, persona-section-bottom, enabled. saves tone, behaviour and branding instructions for the widget
    Also visible
    Widget cards: Demo Ltd Support chat (selected), Demo Ltd Help Centre widget; Tone of voice: Friendly, clear and concise. Plain English, no jargon.; Skills section with switches
    Purpose
    quick-start step 4, set up the assistant

  6. Style the chat widget. Open ConfigureUser Interface and select your widget. Choose how it appears on your page (a popup button, a sidebar, a panel, or a pane your own button opens), its colours, the customer portal pages, the shortcut cards visitors see first and the URL visibility rules that decide on which pages it shows. Check Require customer authentication: it is on for new widgets, and then each visitor sets a PIN or password the first time they chat. Save everything at once with the save button at the bottom of the page. See User Interface, Display types and custom triggers and End-customer sign-in (PIN or password).

    Step 5, the "User Interface" page for the widget "Demo Ltd Support chat", scrolled to the end of its settings. A bar at the top names the widget being edited. Visible are the last Customer Portal page options, the "Shortcut cards" section with the welcome text "Hi! I can help with invoices, plans, payments and your account." and four cards such as "Find an invoice" and "Check API usage", and the collapsed "URL Visibility Rules". At the bottom, the blue "Save User Interface Settings" button is highlighted; it stores display type, colours, portal, shortcuts and visibility rules together.Step 5, the "User Interface" page for the widget "Demo Ltd Support chat", scrolled to the end of its settings. A bar at the top names the widget being edited. Visible are the last Customer Portal page options, the "Shortcut cards" section with the welcome text "Hi! I can help with invoices, plans, payments and your account." and four cards such as "Find an invoice" and "Check API usage", and the collapsed "URL Visibility Rules". At the bottom, the blue "Save User Interface Settings" button is highlighted; it stores display type, colours, portal, shortcuts and visibility rules together.
    Work through display, colours, portal and shortcut cards, then save everything with Save User Interface Settings.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    User Interface (/admin/configure/user-interface)
    Highlighted
    button “Save User Interface Settings”, page-bottom, enabled. saves all User Interface settings of the selected widget
    Also visible
    Customer Portal visible pages; Shortcut cards: Find an invoice, Change my plan, Check API usage, Update payment method; URL Visibility Rules (collapsed)
    Purpose
    quick-start step 5, configure the widget's look and behaviour

  7. Check the guardrails. Open SecurityGuardrails. The guardrails judge every visitor message before the AI answers and block attacks on the assistant, harmful requests and abuse. During setup StrikeUp wrote a company policy describing your business, from your website address, company name and tools; it is already live. Read it in Company Policy (Editable), adjust it to what your assistant should and should not discuss, and select Save Company Policy. Then type a typical customer question under Test Guardrails and select Send to see whether it is allowed. See Guardrails.

    Step 6, the "Security - Security Guardrails" page, noting "Global policy enforced across all organizations. Cannot be modified.". The "Company Policy (Editable)" card holds a text box starting "ABOUT THIS BUSINESS" that describes Demo Ltd as a B2B invoicing and billing platform and says the assistant gives no tax or legal advice. Below the text, "Clear Policy" and the highlighted blue "Save Company Policy" button. The "Test Guardrails" card underneath lets you send a sample message to see whether the policy allows it.Step 6, the "Security - Security Guardrails" page, noting "Global policy enforced across all organizations. Cannot be modified.". The "Company Policy (Editable)" card holds a text box starting "ABOUT THIS BUSINESS" that describes Demo Ltd as a B2B invoicing and billing platform and says the assistant gives no tax or legal advice. Below the text, "Clear Policy" and the highlighted blue "Save Company Policy" button. The "Test Guardrails" card underneath lets you send a sample message to see whether the policy allows it.
    Review the company policy generated from your website, adjust it, then select Save Company Policy and test a message.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Security Guardrails (/admin/security/guardrails)
    Highlighted
    button “Save Company Policy”, company-policy-card-bottom-right, enabled. saves the company guardrail policy
    Also visible
    Company Policy (Editable) text: ABOUT THIS BUSINESS, Demo Ltd; Test Guardrails card with message box
    Purpose
    quick-start step 6, switch on guardrails

  8. Activate the masking rules. Open SecurityData masking. If StrikeUp found fields such as card codes or IBANs in your APIs, the suggestions are listed at the top. Select Activate All, or activate them one by one. Active rules hide those values in your API’s responses before the AI or the tool-run log sees them. See Data masking.

    Step 7, the data privacy page under Security. At the top, "AI Suggested Masking Rules (2)" explains that the rules come from your toolkit's field names, with the green "Activate All" button highlighted at the right and "Dismiss All" beside it. Two suggestions follow: "payment_method.cvc" ("Card security code", Demo Billing API, preview "***") under "Passwords & Secrets", and "refund.payout_iban" ("Refund payout IBAN", preview "GB29…6819") under "Payment & Financial". Below, "Privacy Data Masking" lists active rules such as "Card number" and "IBAN".Step 7, the data privacy page under Security. At the top, "AI Suggested Masking Rules (2)" explains that the rules come from your toolkit's field names, with the green "Activate All" button highlighted at the right and "Dismiss All" beside it. Two suggestions follow: "payment_method.cvc" ("Card security code", Demo Billing API, preview "***") under "Passwords & Secrets", and "refund.payout_iban" ("Refund payout IBAN", preview "GB29…6819") under "Payment & Financial". Below, "Privacy Data Masking" lists active rules such as "Card number" and "IBAN".
    Activate the suggested masking rules so card codes, IBANs and similar fields never reach the AI unmasked.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Privacy Data Masking (/admin/security/data-privacy)
    Highlighted
    button “Activate All”, suggestions-header-right, enabled. activates all suggested masking rules
    Also visible
    AI Suggested Masking Rules (2): payment_method.cvc, refund.payout_iban; Privacy Data Masking rules: Card number, IBAN
    Purpose
    quick-start step 7, mask sensitive data

  9. Set up tool policies (optional). Under SecurityTool Policies, a policy groups some of your tools under a key, with Create Policy. You can skip this for your first launch: a chat session that carries no policy key can use every tool you switched on in the toolkit. A policy restricts a customer only when your backend signs that customer in with a one-time login ticket that lists its key. Read Tool Policies and Plan and simulate tool policies before relying on policies.

    Step 8, the "Tool Access Policies" page, "Manage access policies for tools in your embedding applications". A table lists five policies with their tools: "View invoices" (listInvoices, getInvoice, resendInvoice, exportInvoicesCsv), "Issue refunds", "Manage subscriptions", "Billing admin" and "Read-only access", each with edit and delete icons. In the top right are "Refresh", "Tool Access Simulation" and the highlighted blue "Create Policy" button, which starts a new policy: a named key that groups a set of tools.Step 8, the "Tool Access Policies" page, "Manage access policies for tools in your embedding applications". A table lists five policies with their tools: "View invoices" (listInvoices, getInvoice, resendInvoice, exportInvoicesCsv), "Issue refunds", "Manage subscriptions", "Billing admin" and "Read-only access", each with edit and delete icons. In the top right are "Refresh", "Tool Access Simulation" and the highlighted blue "Create Policy" button, which starts a new policy: a named key that groups a set of tools.
    Optionally, use Create Policy to group tools under a named key you can later simulate.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Tool Access Policies (/admin/feature-flags)
    Highlighted
    button “Create Policy”, top-right, enabled. opens the new policy form
    Also visible
    Policies: View invoices, Issue refunds, Manage subscriptions, Billing admin, Read-only access; Refresh and Tool Access Simulation buttons
    Purpose
    quick-start step 8, tool policies

  10. Embed the widget in your product. Open ConfigureEmbed and select your widget. Copy the snippet from the Embed screen with “Copy embed code”: it is a script tag that loads the widget followed by a call that starts it with your widget’s token. Replace the placeholder values, such as your_customer_id and your_customer_display_name, with the details of the user signed in to your product. Paste the snippet into your page’s HTML just before the closing </body> tag. See Embed, Install the widget in your product and Identify users and pass context.

    Step 9, the "Embed" page for the widget "Demo Ltd Support chat", scrolled to the snippet. A code box shows the script tag that loads widget.js and the call window.initStrikeUpChatWidget with the widget's applicationToken and placeholder values such as "your_customer_id" and "your_customer_display_name" for the signed-in user. Under the box, the full-width "Copy embed code" button is highlighted; it copies the snippet so you can paste it into your website's HTML just before the closing body tag.Step 9, the "Embed" page for the widget "Demo Ltd Support chat", scrolled to the snippet. A code box shows the script tag that loads widget.js and the call window.initStrikeUpChatWidget with the widget's applicationToken and placeholder values such as "your_customer_id" and "your_customer_display_name" for the signed-in user. Under the box, the full-width "Copy embed code" button is highlighted; it copies the snippet so you can paste it into your website's HTML just before the closing body tag.
    Copy the embed code, replace the placeholders with your signed-in user's details and paste it before the closing body tag.
    What this screenshot shows
    Screen
    Embed (/admin/configure/embed)
    Highlighted
    button “Copy embed code”, snippet-bottom, enabled. copies the embed snippet to the clipboard
    Also visible
    Script tag loading widget.js; initStrikeUpChatWidget call with applicationToken and user placeholders
    Purpose
    quick-start step 9, embed the widget

  11. Try it as a customer. Open the page where you pasted the snippet, open the chat and ask a question one of your switched-on tools can answer, such as “Show me my last invoice”. If the widget asks for a PIN or password, set one: that is Require customer authentication at work. The assistant should answer with data from your API.

What happens next

Section titled “What happens next”

Your assistant now runs in your product. Every visitor message passes the guardrails, the assistant plans its reply, calls the tools you switched on through your API with the authorization you set, masks sensitive fields in the responses, and replies in the widget. You do not need to change the snippet when you later change the persona, the look, the tools or the security settings in StrikeUp.

To check it worked and to follow how it is used:

WhereWhat you see
DashboardOverviewChat-window opens, successful tool calls and feedback for the period you choose. See Overview.
AnalyticsTool runsEach call the assistant made to your API, with the masked response. See Tool runs.
AnalyticsViolationsMessages the guardrails blocked. See Violations.
DashboardAI SpendThe estimated cost of the calls to AI models. See AI Spend.

Before you announce the assistant to all your customers, work through Secure your assistant before go-live.

Options

Section titled “Options”
ChoiceWhen to pick itEffect
Finish the wizard with read-only tools onlyYou want to see the assistant at work before it can change dataThe assistant can look things up but cannot create, change or delete anything
Add more APIs as toolkitsYour product’s data lives behind several APIsOne widget can use up to 5 toolkits; tool names must be unique across them
Leave Require customer authentication onVisitors see their own data or can trigger actionsEach visitor sets a PIN or password the first time
Turn Require customer authentication offA public assistant that only answers general questionsVisitors chat without any sign-in step
A pane your own button opens instead of the floating buttonThe assistant belongs to a specific place in your productYou add the open and close snippets from the Embed screen to your own buttons
Invite your teamOthers should watch conversations or help configureInvite them under SettingsUsers after finishing the wizard, because accepting an invitation ends the wizard for everyone

If something goes wrong

Section titled “If something goes wrong”
SymptomWhat to checkFix
The specification is refusedThe address is reachable from the internet and points to a JSON or YAML specification, not a page behind a loginPaste the address of the .json or .yaml file; see Toolkits
The assistant says it cannot do something your API canThe tool for that endpoint is switched offSwitch it on under ConfigureToolkits
Tool calls failThe toolkit’s authorization and your API credentialsCorrect the authorization on the Toolkits page; look at the failed call under AnalyticsTool runs
Ordinary questions are blockedThe company policy is too narrowWiden it under SecurityGuardrails and test the question again
The widget does not appear on your pageThe snippet is complete, placed before </body>, and the URL visibility rules allow this pageCopy the snippet again from the Embed screen; check the rules under ConfigureUser Interface
Saving anything fails with “This action requires the Admin role.”Your roleAsk an Admin to change your role under SettingsUsers
Knowledge Base and Integrations are missing from the menu after setupYour session started before the setup finishedSign out and sign in again
Section titled “Related”