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

# Five-minute quickstart

> Create a project, enter a workspace, and complete your first AI conversation.

The fastest way to get familiar with Otterflow is to complete one short workflow: create a project, enter the workspace, send your first message, and inspect the response and files it produces.

## 1. Create a project

On **My workspaces**, select **New project** to start from scratch, or select **Open folder** to load an existing folder of writing and research material.

## 2. Enter the workspace

After creation, Otterflow opens the project workspace. The top global bar contains workspace switching, settings, theme, and chat controls. The left side is a tabbed workspace for files, PDFs, and projects; the right side is the resizable, collapsible AI chat panel. See [Interface overview](/en/core-features/interface-overview) for the full layout.

## 3. Send your first message

Enter a request in the chat input, for example:

> Help me draft a related-work and literature-review section for a paper.

Press Enter to send it.

## 4. Review the response and output

The response appears progressively in the chat panel. When work reads or edits files, the related tool calls are grouped in the conversation so you can see what happened. New or changed files appear in the file manager on the left.

> 📷 **Placeholder: first conversation** — show AI responding while a generated file appears in the file manager.

## Next steps

* Read [Interface overview](/en/core-features/interface-overview) to learn the main areas of the app.
* Read [AI writing](/en/core-features/ai-writing) to make requests more precise.