A plain-language guide for every step.
The same articles you see in the app’s Guides panel.
Connect an AI
Connect DeepSeek (account sign-in / API key)
Direct in mainland China, cheap and good enough — pick it if you have no other preference. There are two ways to connect; pick one:
Connect an OpenAI-compatible service (Kimi, GLM, Ollama…)
Any service that speaks the "OpenAI format" works: Moonshot (Kimi), Qwen, Zhipu GLM, and Ollama running on this computer. Agents Workshop requires a model that can see images, so pick a vision / VL model.
Connect Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (which plan)
One key calls both Qwen and DeepSeek, with a single bill — if you've used DeepSeek directly, you don't need a separate key from platform.deepseek.com.
Connect OpenAI / a ChatGPT subscription
Two ways: sign in with the ChatGPT subscription you already pay for, or create an API key at platform.openai.com and pay per use. The two are billed separately — if you already pay for ChatGPT you don't need to buy API credit.
Connect Anthropic / a Claude subscription
Two ways: sign in with the Claude subscription you already pay for, or create an API key at console.anthropic.com and pay per use. If you already pay for Claude you don't need to buy API credit.
Connect Google Gemini
Create an API key in Google AI Studio: text runs on Gemini, and image generation automatically uses Nano Banana 2.1 with the same key. You pay on your Google bill — no Agents Workshop credits are used.
Connect your store, mailbox and platforms
Connect your Shopify store
How to plug your Shopify store into Agents Workshop.
Connect a mailbox (any email via IMAP / SMTP)
How to connect any mailbox with an app password, so roles can read and send email.
The Google connections
What each of the six Google connections does and how to set it up. The first ones use your own Google Cloud project; Google Alerts at the end needs no approval at all.
The Meta connections (Facebook / Instagram / Threads / WhatsApp)
What each of the seven Meta connections does and how to set it up. They all start in the Meta developer dashboard, and most permissions need review — if you're not in a hurry, connect them last.
The three TikTok connections
TikTok's three connections: the Research API for creators, the Content Posting API for publishing videos, and the Business API for ads. All three are application-based, and each is applied for separately.
The two X (Twitter) connections
X's two connections: the X API for looking up accounts and posting, and the X Ads API for ads. They're two separate authorizations — paying for one doesn't cover the other.
LinkedIn: the Company Page and the founder's own profile
The connection behind the LinkedIn duty in Social Media: how to set it up, what happens when it can't publish, and what it never does.
Community bots: Reddit / Discord / Telegram
The three connections for community work: a Reddit subreddit, a Discord server and a Telegram group. Their rules differ a lot, so start with the table.
Email marketing and shipment tracking
The four connections for email marketing (Klaviyo, Shopify Email) and shipment tracking (AfterShip, 17TRACK). None of them makes real API calls yet — here's exactly how far each one has got.
The “Creator helper” browser extension
This covers the Chrome extension “Agents Workshop · Creator helper”: it gives a creator an instant check-up right on their YouTube / Instagram / TikTok page, and one click saves them into the current brand’s creator list.
Sending domain and health check for cold email
Why we recommend a separate sending domain for cold email, how to set one up, and what the pre-send health check looks at.
Messaging channels and website chat
Message channels: WeChat, WeCom, Feishu and DingTalk
This covers the two channels on the “Message channels” page. They are two different things: WeChat is a private chat between you and your own agent; the WeCom bot is the one for the team.
Website live chat (the chat window)
This covers the chat window you install on your website: its look, where the embed code goes, how to choose among the three relay options, and how to “teach the AI” inside visitor conversations.
Browser, computer use and data
Let AI use a browser (four ways)
Some work only exists on a web page (a YouTube channel page, Amazon Seller Central). "Settings → Browser" says which browser the workstation uses. Leave it off and no role can open a page at all.
Let AI operate this computer
Some work only happens inside an app on this computer (desktop-only software, system dialogs). "Settings → Computer use" decides whether AI may touch this computer — see the screen, click, type. Off by default.
Search data APIs
When the "Content & Search" duty checks search result pages (where you rank on Google / Bing, whether the AI overview mentions you) or asks AI platforms (do ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Google AI Overviews mention you), it needs third-party search data. The "Connections → Search data" row decides where it comes from — three options:
Install and sign in to Shopify CLI
Shopify CLI is Shopify's official command-line tool. The Theme duty on the Site Building team uses it for three things: pull your theme to this computer, push your edits as an unpublished copy for you to preview, and run Shopify's official Liquid check. Publishing a theme always waits for your approval on a card.
Feishu bot: create the app, turn on long connection, get credentials
The Feishu bot is for your team: a colleague DMs the bot or @-mentions it in a group, and it asks that person's own agent, as that person — so everyone only sees what they are allowed to see.
DingTalk bot: create the app, turn on Stream, get credentials
The DingTalk bot is for your team: a colleague DMs the bot or @-mentions it in a group, and it asks that person's own agent, as that person — so everyone only sees what they are allowed to see.
Switching scenes
Agents Workshop focuses on cross-border e-commerce and marketing. It is one scene inside DeepSeek Harness (dsh). To code, write, or do anything else, switch to another dsh scene — the installer already ships the full dsh, so there is nothing else to install.
Archiving and finding chats and tasks
Under each duty in the sidebar you see the chats and tasks that are in progress. When nobody touches one for a few days, it is tucked away (archived) so the sidebar only shows what is active. Archiving deletes nothing: messages, summary, memory and card history all stay, and you can bring it back any time.
Installing and updating
Agents Workshop is a desktop app for Windows and Mac (Apple silicon, M-series). Once installed, it checks for new versions by itself. When one is out, you update with one click: no re-downloading, no uninstalling.
Sent log, and writing it into your own sheet
Everything Agents Workshop sends for you — posts, comments, replies, emails, messages — is logged automatically: where it went, what it said, who approved it, and when. When someone replies to us later, the reply is attached to that row.
AI answer tracking
More and more shoppers skip the search results and ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude directly, or read the AI overview at the top of Google. Every week the "Content & Search" duty asks these AIs the questions your buyers ask and checks whether they mention you, where you rank, and whether they cite your site, then compares you with competitors.