# Quickstart

> Set up your account and track your first creator in minutes.

This guide takes you from a new account to your first creator's stats. It takes about ten minutes.

**Set up trackagoat with your coding agent.** Paste this prompt into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or another coding agent. Your agent walks you through signing up and connects the MCP server, and never handles your password or API key.

Prompt to paste:

```text
Help me set up trackagoat. trackagoat tracks creators' public TikTok and Instagram posts, works out what each creator is owed from the payout structures I set up, and shows which creators need attention. Its MCP server can read all of that and do the day-to-day work too: add creators and videos, set goals, manage payout structures and record payments. Every record in trackagoat, and each person, has a Markdown document: read the relevant ones before you act, and add what you find.

Read the setup guide first and follow it: https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/agents/setup.md

Rules:
- Don't create accounts, sign in for me or type passwords. Tell me what to open and click, then wait for me.
- Don't ask me to paste an API key into this chat, and never print, log or commit one. If a key is needed, I'll set the TRACKAGOAT_API_KEY environment variable myself.

Steps:

1. Ask whether I already have a trackagoat account. If not, send me to https://www.trackagoat.com/signup (Google, or email and password). After sign-up, trackagoat asks for my name, an organization name and a first project, then offers to add a first creator. Wait until I say I'm signed in.
   Every plan includes MCP and API access. New organizations start on Free, which allows 200 requests a day (each MCP tool call counts as one) and 1 API key. Starter and Ultra raise those limits; to upgrade, I email support@trackagoat.com with my organization name and the plan I want. If a call fails with rate_limit_exceeded, wait the retry_after_seconds it returns before trying again.

2. Connect the trackagoat MCP server: https://www.trackagoat.com/api/mcp (Streamable HTTP). Use sign-in (OAuth) first, because it needs no API key: a trackagoat page opens, I pick the organization and choose "View data", plus "Make changes" if you should be able to change things, such as adding creators, setting goals or recording payouts. Set it up for the client you are running in:
   - Claude Code: run `claude mcp add --transport http trackagoat https://www.trackagoat.com/api/mcp`. Then I run /mcp, choose trackagoat and sign in.
   - Codex CLI: run `codex mcp add trackagoat --url https://www.trackagoat.com/api/mcp`, then `codex mcp login trackagoat`.
   - Cursor: add `"trackagoat": { "url": "https://www.trackagoat.com/api/mcp" }` under "mcpServers" in ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Then I sign in from Cursor's MCP settings.
   - VS Code: add `"trackagoat": { "type": "http", "url": "https://www.trackagoat.com/api/mcp" }` under "servers" in .vscode/mcp.json. Then I start the server and sign in.
   - Claude.ai or Claude Desktop: I add a custom connector with that URL in Settings → Connectors. You cannot do this step.
   Sign-in is the best way for each person to connect their own agent: it identifies them directly, so nobody shares a key. Only if this client can't sign in, use an API key instead. An org admin creates one in trackagoat under Org settings → API keys; the key acts as one member (under "Acts as"), so it should act as me. I set it as TRACKAGOAT_API_KEY. You configure the client to send `Authorization: Bearer <key>`, read from that variable, never written out. The setup guide has the exact config for each client.

3. Check the connection: call the list_projects tool and show me my project names. If the trackagoat tools don't appear yet, ask me to restart this session or reload the client, then try again. Then call get_my_profile to see who you're connected as and whether I already have a personalization document; if I do, follow it.

4. Offer to write my personalization document together, so every future session starts knowing me. It's the Markdown document in trackagoat under Settings → My README, and trackagoat sends it to you at the start of each session. Ask me a few short questions, one or two at a time:
   - who I am and my role;
   - what my job is in running the creator program;
   - the program, creators and goals I care about most;
   - how I most want you to help;
   - preferences: tone, how often to check in, what to look at first, and what you should never do without asking.
   Draft it in Markdown with these headings: About me, My job in the program, What I care about, How to help me, Preferences, Never without asking. Show me the draft, and save it with update_my_readme only after I approve. Everyone in my organization, and their agents, can read it, so leave out anything private. If I say no, move on. Later, when my role or preferences change, offer to update it.

5. Then ask what I want to do first: add creators by TikTok or Instagram handle (add_creator), see how the program is doing (get_program_health), or give a creator a posting goal (create_goal), or set up a payout structure (create_payout_structure).
```

**Step 1: Create an account**

Go to [trackagoat.com](https://www.trackagoat.com) and sign up with Google or email/password.

After signing up you'll enter the **onboarding wizard**, which takes you through creating your organization, setting up a project, and adding your first creator.

**Step 2: Create an organization**

An organization is your top-level workspace. Give it a name that reflects your team or brand.

You can invite teammates to your org later from **Org settings → Members**.

**Step 3: Create a project**

Projects organize your creators and campaigns. A good first project is something like `Q1 Program` or `Brand Ambassadors`.

Each org can have multiple projects (depending on your plan tier).

**Step 4: Add a creator**

In your project, go to **Creators → Add creator**. A creator is a person or brand, and you track them by adding at least one **account**: one of their presences on a platform. Paste in a profile URL or handle; trackagoat detects the platform automatically:

```bash
https://www.tiktok.com/@username     # TikTok
https://www.instagram.com/username/  # Instagram
```

trackagoat will kick off an initial update on that account. The creator will appear in your list within a minute or two once the first update completes. You can add more accounts (even on another platform) to the same creator later. See [Creators and accounts](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/accounts.md).

**Step 5: View stats**

Click on the creator to open the detail view. You'll see:

- **Follower count**: current and historical trend
- **Total likes**: cumulative engagement
- **Video count**: how many videos they've posted
- **Recent videos**: the latest content with per-video stats

Stats update on a schedule, not in real time. Profiles update daily, new posts are found within hours, and a video's stats are re-checked every 12 hours for its first three days, then less often as it ages. See [Data freshness and scraping](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/scraping.md) for the full schedule. On paid plans, org admins can also trigger a manual refresh with **Update Now**.

**Step 6: Set a goal (optional)**

In the creator detail view, go to the **Creator Goals** tab. Creator Goals let you define a performance target: for example, "post at least 3 videos per week": and trackagoat will track compliance over time.

See [Creator Goals](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/goals.md) for details.

**Step 7: Write your README (optional)**

Every organization, project, campaign, creator and video has a **README**: a Markdown document for your team's context, such as what the program is for and the rules creators follow. You also have your own, under **Settings → My README**, that tells AI agents who you are and how you want help. Coding agents read these before they act and add what they find. Everyone in your organization can read them, so leave out anything private.

See [Notes and documents](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/agents/notes.md) for a template.

## What's next

- [Set up a campaign](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/campaigns.md): Group creators into a campaign to aggregate stats across your program.
- [Set up payouts](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/payouts.md): Create a payout structure and assign it to creators.
- [Connect a coding agent](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/agents/setup.md): Connect Claude Code, Codex or Cursor to trackagoat over MCP.
- [Use the API](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/api-reference/overview.md): Access your data programmatically with an API key.
- [Review your limits](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/limits.md): Understand what your plan allows.
- [Invite your team](https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/guides/team.md): Add teammates and see what org admins and members can do.

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Source: https://www.trackagoat.com/docs/quickstart