Quick Start
This guide walks you through the essentials: creating your account, deploying your first app, connecting an integration, and having your first conversation with an AI agent. By the end, you’ll have a working Horizon setup you can build on.
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”- A business email address (free trials are available)
- Access to at least one service you want to connect (Slack, QuickBooks, Salesforce, etc.)
- A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)
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Create your account
Section titled “Create your account”Go to app.horizonplatform.ai and click Sign Up. Horizon uses Clerk for authentication, so you can sign up with your email address or use Google or Microsoft single sign-on.
After verifying your email, you’ll be prompted to create your organization. Enter your company name and select your industry. This information helps Horizon recommend relevant apps and skills later.
Once your organization is created, you’ll land on the Dashboard, your home base for everything in Horizon.
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Explore the dashboard
Section titled “Explore the dashboard”Take a moment to orient yourself. The main navigation includes:
- Dashboard — your overview page with recent activity, agent conversations, and quick actions.
- Workspace — where you manage deployed apps, agents, connections to external services, and departments.
- Company — your company profile, goals, board view, and the Operator (Horizon’s meta-agent that helps you manage the platform itself).
- Store — browse and install pre-built apps, agents, and skills from the marketplace.
- Settings — organization settings, user management, roles, API keys, and notification preferences.
- Billing — manage wallets, view usage, and handle subscriptions.
Don’t worry about configuring everything right now. The goal is to get something working quickly.
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Deploy your first app from the Store
Section titled “Deploy your first app from the Store”Navigate to Store > Apps in the sidebar. You’ll see a curated list of pre-built applications organized by category.
For your first deployment, we recommend starting with one of these:
- General Assistant — a versatile agent for general business questions and tasks. Good if you’re exploring.
- Accounting Assistant — ideal if you plan to connect QuickBooks or Sage Intacct.
- Sales Copilot — a good choice if you use Salesforce or HubSpot.
Click on the app you want, review its description and the agents and skills it includes, then click Deploy. Horizon will add the app to your workspace and configure its agents with sensible defaults.
After deployment, go to Workspace > Deployed Apps to confirm your app appears in the list.
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Connect an integration
Section titled “Connect an integration”Agents become much more useful when they can access your real business data. Let’s connect your first external service.
Go to Workspace > Connections and click Add Connection. Choose the service you want to connect:
- Slack — Click Connect, and you’ll be redirected to Slack’s OAuth flow. Select the workspace you want to connect, review the permissions, and click Allow. Once redirected back to Horizon, your Slack connection will appear as active.
- QuickBooks — Click Connect and sign in with your Intuit credentials. Select the company file you want to use and authorize the connection.
- Salesforce — Click Connect and sign in to your Salesforce org. Authorize Horizon’s connected app to access your data.
After connecting, Horizon will verify the connection and display its status as Active. If the connection requires additional configuration (like selecting a default Slack channel), you’ll be prompted to complete that setup.
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Send your first message to an agent
Section titled “Send your first message to an agent”Now for the fun part. Navigate to Workspace > Agents and click on one of the agents that was deployed with your app. This opens the conversation view.
Type a message in the chat input and press Enter. Here are some ideas depending on what you connected:
- With Slack connected: “Send a message to the #general channel saying hello from Horizon.”
- With QuickBooks connected: “Show me a summary of last month’s revenue.”
- With Salesforce connected: “List my open opportunities closing this quarter.”
- No integration yet: “What can you help me with?” — the agent will explain its capabilities.
The agent will process your request, call the appropriate skills, and respond with results. You can continue the conversation naturally — ask follow-up questions, request changes, or give new instructions.
What you’ve accomplished
Section titled “What you’ve accomplished”You now have:
- A Horizon account and organization
- At least one deployed app with configured agents
- A live connection to an external service
- A working conversation with an AI agent
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Add more connections in Workspace > Connections to unlock additional skills for your agents.
- Follow the Industry Setup guide to configure Horizon for your specific team’s workflows.
- Explore the Store for more apps and skills to install.
- Invite your team in Settings > Users so colleagues can interact with agents too.
- Read the Full Configuration guide when you’re ready to set up your entire organization.