Quick Start

This guide walks you through your first 5 minutes with Triggerfish -- from running the setup wizard to having a working AI agent you can chat with.

Run the Setup Wizard

If you used the one-command installer, the wizard already ran during installation. To run it again or start fresh:

triggerfish dive

The wizard walks you through six steps:

Step 1: Choose Your LLM Provider

Step 1/6: Choose your LLM provider
  > Anthropic (Claude) — recommended
    OpenAI
    Google (Gemini)
    Local (Ollama)
    OpenRouter

Select a provider and enter your credentials. Triggerfish supports multiple providers with automatic failover.

TIP

If you have a Claude Pro or Max subscription, Triggerfish can use your existing CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN -- no separate API key needed.

Step 2: Name Your Agent

Step 2/6: Name your agent and set its personality
  Agent name: Reef
  Mission (one sentence): Help me stay organized and informed
  Tone: > Professional  Casual  Terse  Custom

This generates your SPINE.md file -- the foundation of your agent's system prompt. You can edit it anytime at ~/.triggerfish/SPINE.md.

Step 3: Connect a Channel

Step 3/6: Connect your first channel
  > WhatsApp (scan QR)
    Telegram (enter bot token)
    Slack (OAuth)
    Discord (bot token)
    Skip for now

Pick a messaging platform or skip this step to start with just the CLI. You can add channels later in your triggerfish.yaml.

Step 4: Set Classification Mode

Step 4/6: Set your classification preference
  > Standard (4 levels: PUBLIC > PERSONAL > PRIVATE > SENSITIVE)
    Simple (2 levels: PUBLIC / PRIVATE)
    Custom

This controls how Triggerfish classifies and protects your data. For most personal users, Standard mode works well. Enterprise users can configure the full four-level enterprise classification system.

Step 5: Install Starter Skills

Step 5/6: Install recommended skills
  > Morning Briefing
  > Calendar Integration
  > Email Summary
    Skip

Skills give your agent new capabilities. You can install more later from The Reef marketplace.

Step 6: Start the Daemon

Step 6/6: Install as daemon?
  > Yes (start on login, runs in background)
    No (manual start only)

Choose Yes to have your agent running whenever your machine is on.

Start Chatting

After the wizard completes, you can start chatting immediately through the CLI:

triggerfish chat

Or, if you connected a messaging channel, send your agent a message there.

Example Conversation

You: What can you help me with?

Reef: I can help you with a wide range of tasks. Here are some things
I'm set up for:

  - Answer questions and have conversations
  - Manage your calendar and schedule
  - Summarize emails and messages
  - Write and edit documents
  - Run code in a sandboxed environment
  - Search the web for information
  - Automate recurring tasks with cron jobs

What would you like to start with?

You: Set up a morning briefing every day at 7am

Reef: I've created a cron job for your morning briefing:

  Schedule: Every day at 7:00 AM
  Task: Prepare briefing with calendar events, unread emails,
        and weather forecast
  Delivery: CLI (add a channel in config to get it on Telegram/Slack)

You'll receive your first briefing tomorrow morning. You can manage
cron jobs anytime with /cron list.

Verify Your Setup

Run the health check to make sure everything is working:

triggerfish patrol

Triggerfish Health Check

  Gateway running (PID 12345, uptime 2m)
  LLM provider connected (Anthropic, Claude Sonnet 4.5)
  1 channel active (CLI)
  Policy engine loaded (4 rules)
  3 skills installed (3 bundled)

Overall: HEALTHY

What to Do Next

• Customize your agent -- edit ~/.triggerfish/SPINE.md to refine your agent's personality and capabilities. See SPINE and Triggers.
• Add more channels -- connect Telegram, Slack, Discord, or WhatsApp in your triggerfish.yaml. See Configuration.
• Set up proactive behavior -- create a ~/.triggerfish/TRIGGER.md to tell your agent what to monitor. See SPINE and Triggers.
• Explore commands -- learn all available CLI and in-chat commands. See CLI Commands.