Get started in the studio

Read the module README. The person is usually an Endless designer or product person; speak in their terms (prototypes, screens, canvases), not in file paths, unless they ask.

Find out where they are

1. Confirm the studio folder you work in is the one they have open. A browser tab alone doesn't tell you which checkout it is.
2. Run yarn studio whoami. If it resolves to nobody, register them first with setup-contributor; they can look around without it, but they can't make a prototype.
3. Ask what they want to do today. If they only want a tour, use the What newcomers hear points below, then offer to make a first prototype together.

Make a first prototype on Endless Studios

4. Ask about the idea in a few questions, not a form: what they want to explore, who it's for (the system's user types help name them), which Endless Studios screen it starts from, and what they want to learn. Start with what they know; assume the rest out loud.
5. Follow build-prototype and the Endless Studios system's AGENTS.md. Create the prototype with yarn new "<their title>" as them; the default system is Endless Studios. Build one view from the closest existing screen, with sample data and the signed-in user that fit the idea. Add named states only for the variations they asked about.
6. Give them the address yarn new printed and ask them to try it. Then ask what should change and what should stay.
7. When there is more than one view or option, offer a canvas to lay them out side by side (use-canvas, only while Canvases is on) or a short document of what they learned (write-document, only while Documents is on). Offer, don't impose.

What newcomers hear

Keep each point to a sentence or two, and only what helps now:

• The studio is the Endless team's prototyping sandbox: they describe an idea, you build it as a working prototype, and the team tries it in the studio.
• Prototypes start from Endless Studios' own screens and components, so they look and behave like the product, with sample data instead of real accounts.
• A canvas puts views, documents and notes side by side; they can draw over a view to show you what to change.
• To ask you for something, say what to explore, for whom and from which screen. To show you which part they mean, they comment on it in the studio (Comment on the page, while Comments is on) and ask you to address the comments; pointing in their agent's browser or a screenshot works too.
• The Manual (while it's on) explains the rest: point to Working with your agent and Prototypes & systems.

The welcome

The welcome opens over Home on a contributor's first local visit and is recorded on their profile (preferences.onboarding.welcomeDismissed). If they want to see it again, set that flag to false in their own contributors/<key>.json and reload Home. Don't change anyone else's profile.

Don't

Don't install tools, change studio.config.json, turn modules on or off, or change the Endless Studios system just to get someone started. Those have their own skills (configure-studio, manage-modules, setup-design-system) and need the person to ask for them.