# Build your first Company Bot

This guide is for Owners, Admins, and Builders who create bots in the Console. At the end you have a live Company Bot that the right people can open in Chat from a link. To build with a coding agent such as Claude Code instead, read [Use GEKI from your coding agent](/guides/your-agent).

## 1. Open the Console

Open [console.geki.ai](https://console.geki.ai) and sign in. Pick your organization if you belong to more than one.

If you just created the organization, the Console opens **Start** and the [Console assistant](/console-assistant) with a first message. The assistant reads your company website, asks you what you want to try with a first bot, and builds and tests a draft. You publish it with the button it shows. If you did not choose a Chat address yet, it suggests one for your company. You enter it under **Connections**, **Chat**.

You can also do the steps yourself. Select **Bots** in the sidebar and then **New bot**. In the panel, choose **Set up with the assistant** or **Set up myself**. With the second choice you start with an empty bot.

## 2. Create the bot

In the **New bot** panel, fill in:

- **Name**: up to 80 characters.
- **Category**: optional. Chat groups bots by category in All bots.
- **Who can use this bot**: the groups with access. A new bot starts with **All members**. You can change this in step 7.
- **Icon**: optional. Without a choice, Chat picks one for the bot.
- **Short description**: one sentence on what the bot is for. Chat shows it, and Slack and Teams use it to tell when a message is meant for the bot.

Select **Create bot**. The editor opens.

## 3. Choose the model and write the instructions

In the editor, open **Model and instructions**.

1. Pick a **Model**.
2. Write the **Instructions**. This is the system prompt. Say what the bot is for, who asks, how it answers, and what it must not do.
3. Add up to 4 **Starter questions**. Chat shows them as buttons on a new chat with this bot.
4. Select **Save**.

Each section of the editor has its own Save button. A section with changes that are not published is marked **Unpublished changes**.

## 4. Add what the bot needs

Start without extras and add one at a time. The sections under **Capabilities** are:

| Section | What you add |
| --- | --- |
| Tools | **Web search**, and the MCP connectors of your organization. Choose **Add MCP connector**, pick its **Allowed tools**, and choose the **Approval**. An Owner or Admin adds MCP connectors once under **Building blocks**, **MCP connectors**. See [Tools and MCP connectors](/tools#mcp-connectors). |
| Mail and calendar | Mail, calendar, files, people, and meetings of the person who talks to the bot, in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. See [Tools and MCP connectors](/tools#microsoft-365-and-google-workspace). |
| Files | Documents the bot reads in its workspace, up to 25 MB each. |
| Skills | A pinned version of a skill. Create skills under **Skills**, **New skill**. |
| Knowledge | Knowledge Bases the bot reads. Choose **Read** or **Read & write**. Create them under **Knowledge**, **New Knowledge Base**. |
| Memory | **Read each person's memory**. |
| Workspace | **Use a workspace**, the size, and the internet access. |

Skills, files, Knowledge Bases, and memory need a workspace. The bot stays a plain chat bot without one. Read [Knowledge](/knowledge), [Skills](/skills), [Tools](/tools), and [Workspace](/workspace) for the details.

## 5. Test the draft

Select **Test draft** at the top of the editor and talk to the bot. The test runs your saved draft. Save a section before you test it. Nothing is published yet, and nobody else sees the draft.

Change the instructions and test again until the answers are right.

## 6. Publish

Select **Publish**. If the bot gained a new capability, such as web search or an MCP connector, the Console lists it in **Acknowledge capabilities**. Check each item to confirm that the bot may do this. Then publish.

Warnings next to Publish never block it. They tell you what is missing, such as a credential a skill needs.

The bot is now **Live**. People who may use it find it in Chat.

## 7. Choose who can use it

Open **General** in the editor.

1. Under **Who can use this bot**, select the groups. Owners and Admins can always use every bot. With no group selected, only Owners and Admins can use the bot.
2. Set **In Chat**. **Pinned** shows the bot up front on the Chat home. **Listed** puts it under **All bots**. **Hidden** keeps it out of both lists.
3. Select **Save**.

This takes effect when you save. You do not need to publish. Create groups under **Members**, **Groups**. See [Set up your organization](/guides/set-up-organization).

The same rule covers Chat, Slack and Teams direct messages, and API keys.

## 8. Share the bot link

Every live Company Bot has a link: `https://{slug}.companybots.eu/b/{bot id}`.

After you publish, the message "Company bot published." has an **Open in Chat** action. The bot page has the same link as **Open in Chat** at the top. In the Bots list, the row action **Copy ID** copies the bot id.

Send the link to your people. If someone cannot use the bot, Chat says "You cannot use this bot." Add them to a group the bot allows.

## Next

- [Maintain a Company Bot](/guides/maintain-bot) keeps it useful after launch.
- [Use GEKI from your coding agent](/guides/your-agent) does the same work from Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor.
- [Use Chat](/guides/chat) is the page to send to your people.
- [Company Bots](/bots) lists every setting, including internet access.
- [Triggers](/triggers) run a bot on a schedule or from another system.
- [Models](/models) explains the model choice.