First-time setup

Open the dashboard

Where you open the dashboard depends on how you deployed:

On a fresh install, Nakama redirects you to the setup wizard automatically.

Managed or Docker installs can skip the wizard by setting NAKAMA_SEED_ADMIN_EMAIL, NAKAMA_SEED_ADMIN_NAME, and NAKAMA_SEED_ADMIN_PASSWORD before first boot. See Docker → First-boot seed.

Step 1: Admin account

Create the first platform admin. This account can manage organizations, profiles, providers, and system settings.

Fill in your name, email, and password, then click Continue.

Restore from backup instead

If you are moving to a new machine or reinstalling, you can skip creating a new admin account and restore a previous Nakama export ZIP on this step.

1. Click Upload backup ZIP
2. Choose your .zip backup and review the preview
3. Click Restore ZIP to replace the local data root
4. Restart Nakama so it picks up the restored database
5. Sign in with the account from your backup

If provider setup was already complete in the backup, Nakama opens chat after sign-in. Otherwise the setup wizard continues from the provider step.

See Backup and restore for what is included in export ZIPs and when to use dashboard import after setup is complete.

Step 2: Organization

Every workspace lives inside an organization. Name yours and choose a slug for URLs and API context.

The slug must use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only. Click Create Organization to save the admin account and org together.

Step 3: Provider

Add your first LLM provider and pick a default model. You can add more providers later from Settings.

See Providers for supported backends and feature notes (web search, audio transcription, etc.).

Step 4: About you (optional)

The wizard can ask for optional context about you and how you prefer agents to respond. Skip this step if you want to start chatting immediately.

Send your first message

After the provider step, Nakama opens chat with the default profile. Send a test message — you should get a reply within a few seconds.

If chat fails, reopen Settings → LLM providers and confirm the API key and profile model selection.

What to configure next

Most operators focus on four areas after setup:

• Organization — the tenant boundary
• Members — who can access that org
• Profiles — the bots people talk to
• Tools and skills — what each profile is allowed to do

See Overview for the mental model and Profiles for soul files, memory, and tool assignment.

Next steps

• Providers — supported LLM backends and API keys
• Profiles — define each bot's behavior
• Backup and restore — export and import your data root
• CLI — chat from the terminal
• Multi-tenancy — orgs, members, and roles
• Telegram — connect your first channel

Refreshing screenshots

Docs screenshots are captured with agent-browser against a fresh local install:

./docs/website/scripts/capture-setup-screenshots.sh

Requires agent-browser on your PATH and a free port (4312 by default).