> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Go from sign-up to your first released feature.

This guide takes you from signing up to your first released feature. You'll describe an idea, approve a plan, and release the result. Iron Octopus does the work in between.

## Before you start

* You need an email address and a payment card.
* You don't need a GitHub account or a developer. Iron Octopus keeps your code in a repository it manages for you, and the code is yours.

## Steps

**1. Sign up**

Go to [app.ironoctopus.ai/start](https://app.ironoctopus.ai/start) and work through **Account**, **Plan** and **Payment**. Payment is handled securely by Stripe.

**2. Describe your first idea**

In the **First idea** step, tell Iron Octopus what to build, in plain words. A new feature, a change, or a fix all work. Iron Octopus creates your first [project](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/building-blocks/projects.md) and starts planning.

**3. Review and approve the plan**

Iron Octopus asks any questions it needs answered, then shows one plan to review: what it will build, what's left out, the [requirements](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/building-blocks/requirements.md) that define done, as acceptance criteria, and the [work items](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/building-blocks/work-items.md) it will build. Questions you skip become recorded assumptions.

Click **Approve plan and create** to create the [feature](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/building-blocks/features.md). Nothing is built yet.

**4. Start building**

On your Home page, the feature appears under **Needs you** as **Ready to build**. Click **Start building**. This records your approval of the plan.

**5. Follow the work**

Iron Octopus builds the work items and reviews each one. You can watch progress under **In progress** on Home, and see anything it sent back under **Caught in review**. When every work item is done, the feature moves to Acceptance on its own, and Iron Octopus verifies every requirement.

**6. Release it**

When every required acceptance criterion is met, the feature shows under **Needs you** as **Ready to release**. Click **Release feature**. Iron Octopus merges it into your project's main branch, with a full record of what was asked for, built and checked.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Releasing doesn't deploy your app. It adds the finished feature to your project's code.

## Next steps

> **[How Iron Octopus works](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/how-it-works.md)**
>
> The full path a feature takes, and the rules behind each step.

> **[Building blocks](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/building-blocks/overview.md)**
>
> How workspaces, projects, features and work items fit together.


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