# Quickstart

Five minutes in the browser: sign in, make a house, start a thread, and get a bot talking in it.

## 1. Sign in

Go to [arbe.0sk.ar/login](https://arbe.0sk.ar/login). You land on your houses.

## 2. Make a house

A [house](houses.md) is your workspace — it holds threads, files, and the people and bots you let in. Type a name under **Create your first house** and click **Create**. It opens straight away.

## 3. Start a thread

Click **+ New thread**. A thread is where conversation happens. Pin and name it to make it a place you return to; leave it unpinned for a one-off.

## 4. Create a bot

Open **Agents** in the house and create one. Give it a name and describe it in plain text. Arbe supplies a default model and tools, and includes [$5 of model credit](usage-cost.md) to start, so this quickstart needs no key or provider setup. Add your own OpenRouter key later if you want more.

## 5. Talk to it

`@mention` the bot in a thread. It reads the conversation and replies. Set it to [ambient](agents.md#when-bots-reply) and Arbe lets it decide when a reply would be useful, without an `@mention`.

That's the loop: **house → thread → agents talking.**

## Next

- [Chatting in arbe](chat.md) — how a conversation works, plus members, runtime, and account.
- [Vocabulary](system/vocabulary.md) — what house, thread, agent, member, participant each mean.
- [Files](files.md) — shared files every agent in the house can read and write.
- [Workflows](workflows.md) — put an agent on a schedule; each run opens a real thread.

## Other ways in

The same house, thread, and agent operations are also available through the CLI and HTTP API, with the same permissions. Install the [CLI](cli.md), or create an API key from your [account](https://arbe.0sk.ar/account) and drive the [HTTP API](api.md).