You will not have to read a manual. Once your AI is connected, it walks you through an interactive onboarding that sets up your workspace with you, and it can answer anything you want to know about Octopad along the way.
Step 1. Create your account
Go to octopad.app and sign up. It is free, and there is no credit card.
- Sign in with Google, or with an email and password.
- Tell us a few basics: your name, your organization (your company), and your role.
That creates your organization and your first workspace, the shared space where your work and knowledge will live.
Step 2. Connect your AI
Octopad plugs into the AI you already use through MCP (the open standard, like USB, that lets an AI plug into outside tools and work in them). You connect once, by pasting a single link into your AI's settings.
The link you'll paste everywhere below: https://mcp.octopad.app/mcp
When you authorize, sign in with the same account you used to create your Octopad account. Find the AI you already use and follow just its steps; skip the rest. Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor are commonly used for product and development work.
Claude
- Open Customize → Connectors.
- Click +, then Add custom connector.
- Name it Octopad and paste
https://mcp.octopad.app/mcp. - Keep the authentication options Claude detects and click Add at the bottom of the page.
- Click Connect beside Octopad and sign in with your Octopad account.
Claude Code
Run claude mcp add --transport http octopad https://mcp.octopad.app/mcp
in your terminal, then authorize Octopad in the browser tab that opens.
You can also download Octoplan, which turns an approved plan into coordinated execution, and Manage Product Documentation, which keeps product documentation aligned as the product changes.
ChatGPT
- Open Plugins in the left sidebar.
- Search for Octopad.
- Select it and follow the instructions to connect your Octopad account.
Codex
- Open Plugins in the left sidebar and click the small gear beside Installed.
- Click Add → Add MCP server.
- Choose Streamable HTTP, name it Octopad, and paste
https://mcp.octopad.app/mcp. - Leave the bearer token and header fields empty, then click Save.
- Click Connect beside Octopad and sign in with your Octopad account.
Cursor and other MCP clients
Cursor: open Settings → Tools & MCPs → New MCP Server, paste the snippet below into mcp.json, save, then click Connect.
{ "mcpServers": { "octopad": { "url": "https://mcp.octopad.app/mcp" } } }For another MCP client, add https://mcp.octopad.app/mcp as a Streamable HTTP server and complete the Octopad sign-in when prompted.
Did it work? Octopad shows Connected, or you can ask your AI "What can you do in Octopad?" If it does not connect, the usual cause is signing in with a different account than your Octopad one. Re-authorize with the same login.
Step 3. Open your AI and start your onboarding
Once connected, Octopad invites you to open your AI. Start a chat and type or paste:
Use Octopad and start my onboarding.Your AI guides you from here. The onboarding is interactive: it sets up your first workspace with you, helps you bring in what your company already knows, and creates your first goal and project, by doing it together, not by handing you a manual.
Your AI has read everything about how Octopad works, so treat it as your live guide. Ask it anything: "What is a work stream?" · "How do I capture a decision?" · "What should I put in my workspace first?" · "Show me what you'd set up for a company like mine." There is no wrong question.