● Start · Console

First steps.
Owner account, setup list, first user.

The console at https://your-address/admin is where you, the operator, run the studio. Your customers never see it.

One-time setup codeSystem healthAgency or self-serve

01Create the owner account

On Windows: the server is meant to run on Linux. On a Windows PC, run the commands on this page inside WSL 2 with Ubuntu (in PowerShell: wsl --install -d Ubuntu), or use Docker Desktop with its WSL 2 backend.

On the first start the server log shows a one-time setup code:

[admin] No owner account yet. Open /admin and create it with this one-time setup code:
    XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

Find it with docker logs channelsmith (Docker) or journalctl -u channelsmith (systemd). Open /admin, enter the code, your e-mail and a password. Every restart before the owner exists prints a new code; any printed code works.

Lost the owner password later? On the server, in the studio's folder:

node --env-file=.env dist/src/server/recover-owner.js you@agency.com

(With Docker: docker exec channelsmith node dist/src/server/recover-owner.js you@agency.com.) Add --reset-2fa to also remove two-factor sign-in.

02Go through the setup list

The console's home page lists what is still missing. In order:

Server: the public URL (https://…). Invite links, the YouTube sign-in and Stripe use it. Already set when PUBLIC_URL is in .env.
Integrations: the keys. See Keys. The Anthropic key is what writes research, scripts and storyboards; without it people can only edit storyboards by hand.
AI director, Voice, Studio, Rendering: defaults that work; change them later. Studio sets the style packs and languages people can pick.
Channels and publishing: web research limits, footage sources, YouTube publishing, the AI disclosure, the autopilot and how many Shorts are suggested per episode.
E-mail: the sender address for invites and notices (needs the Resend key).
Plans and Credit packs: see Plans and credits.

03Check the machine

Open System health. It shows the Chrome and ffmpeg versions, free disk space in DATA_DIR, the database size, the render queue, the speed of the last render, every missing key with what it switches on, and the last backup.

04Your first studio account

The studio (/app) has its own accounts. Two ways to get the first one:

Console, Users, "Invite staff": enter your e-mail. You get a link (e-mailed when e-mail is set up, and shown on the page) to set a password. Staff can open every workspace.

Or on the server:

node --env-file=.env dist/src/server/create-user.js you@agency.com "Your name" --staff --credits 500

It prints a one-time password.

Then open /app, sign in, set up a channel and start an episode (How an episode is made).

05Customers

Agency mode (default): Settings, Access, "Anyone can sign up" stays off. You create a workspace per client on the Workspaces page and invite people from the studio's Team page.
Self-serve: turn "Anyone can sign up" on. New people get a workspace on the free plan, plus the "welcome credits" you set in the same section.

The console's Channels and Episodes pages list every channel and episode of every workspace, with failed steps and their errors, so you can help a customer without signing in as them.

Before you go live, make a backup and set up the nightly one: Backups.

First steps.Owner account, setup list, first user.