How Do I Get My Team Started on Dave by voolama?

Summary

The steps

1. 1

   Configure at least one AI provider before you invite anyone

   Dave by voolama (hellodave.ai) cannot call an AI model until at least one provider is configured. This is the Admin's first task, and it must be done before your team can run any workflow. A team member who logs in before a provider exists will see the Dashboard but will hit an error at the Agent Interaction node when they try to run a workflow.

   Navigate to Admin, then API Management, then Providers. Click Create Provider. You need three things: the provider type (one of seven: OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, Google, OpenAI-compatible, local Ollama, or custom), the base URI for that provider, and your own API key. Dave stores the key in a per-tenant vault encrypted with AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption and never returns it through the API after storage. Dave does not proxy or mark up AI usage: your calls go directly to your provider at the provider's published rates.

   Known limitation (DEV v0.11.0): there is no provider health-check button on the Providers page. The only way to confirm a provider is working is to run a workflow instance that calls an agent using that provider and check whether the Agent Interaction node completes or fails. The first workflow run in Step 4 of this guide serves as that confirmation test.

   Do this

   • Navigate to Admin, then API Management, then Providers.
   • Click Create Provider. Select your provider type, enter the base URI, and paste your API key. Click Save.
   • Repeat for any additional providers your team will use.
   • Use a descriptive name for each provider (for example, "OpenAI Production" or "Anthropic Claude 3.5") so agents and workflow builders can identify which provider an agent is calling without opening the provider detail page.
   • Do not use a personal API key for a shared tenant. Create a dedicated API key in your provider's dashboard for the Dave workspace.

   Example

   A team plans to use OpenAI for most workflows and Anthropic for a content-review agent. The Admin creates two providers at Admin, then API Management, then Providers: one of type OpenAI with the OpenAI base URI and the team's OpenAI API key, and one of type Anthropic with the Anthropic base URI and the team's Anthropic API key. Both are saved before any team members are invited. The provider health is confirmed in Step 4 when the first workflow instance runs both agents successfully.

   Best practice

   • Configure providers before inviting teammates. A team member who logs in to an unconfigured tenant and tries to run a workflow will hit an error at the Agent Interaction node and assume the platform is broken, when the real issue is a missing provider.
   • Create a dedicated API key in your provider's dashboard for the Dave workspace and rotate it on the same schedule as your other service credentials. Do not share a personal key across services.
2. 2

   Invite teammates using the Team Invitations screen

   Dave by voolama uses an invitation flow for adding team members. Each invitation reserves a seat and sends the invitee an email with an Accept invitation link. The invitee clicks the link, sets their password, and joins the workspace.

   Navigate to Admin, then Settings, then Users and Roles, then Team Invitations. For each person: enter their email address, optionally assign a role at invitation time, and click Send invite.

   Known limitation (DEV v0.11.0): invitation emails require a configured Resend API key (RESEND_API_KEY and a verified RESEND_FROM_ADDRESS) or a plain SMTP fallback. If neither is configured, the invitation screen shows a copy link after you click Send invite. Copy that link and share it directly with the invitee. The link takes them to the same password-set page as the email would. This is a workspace setup task, not a platform defect: most teams configure email in the first week.

   Seat rules: active users plus pending invites must not exceed your seat count. The 30-day free trial supports up to five seats. A card is collected at signup but not charged until the trial ends. If the trial ends before billing is resolved, the workspace is locked: Admins see renewal options, other team members see a message to contact their Admin. No data is lost during a lock. If you run out of seats mid-onboarding, an Admin can purchase more from Admin, then Billing. New seats become usable immediately.

   Do this

   • Navigate to Admin, then Settings, then Users and Roles, then Team Invitations.
   • For each teammate: enter their email, optionally select a role, and click Send invite.
   • If email is not configured, copy the invite link shown after sending and share it directly.
   • Confirm acceptance before your kickoff: check Admin, then Settings, then Users and Roles and confirm each user's status shows as active.
   • To revoke a pending invite and free the reserved seat, find it in the Team Invitations list and click Revoke.

   Example

   A team of four joins a Dave workspace during the 30-day free trial. The Admin invites three teammates: a workflow designer (Curate role), an AI agent builder (Create role), and an operations lead (Use role). Each invite is sent with the role pre-selected. Transactional email is not yet configured, so the Admin copies each invite link and sends it via the team's Slack channel. All three accept within the hour. The Admin checks the user list and confirms all three statuses show as active. The fourth trial seat is held for a reviewer joining the following week.

   Best practice

   • Send invites one to two days before your team kickoff. Give people time to accept and set their passwords before the first session.
   • Pre-assign roles at invitation time where you know the person's function. It saves a second edit step and ensures the invitee sees the right sidebar the first time they log in.
   • Set the Username field to the person's real name when editing their account after they accept. Task assignments and audit log entries display the username, so real names make the audit trail readable.
3. 3

   Assign the right role to each team member

   Dave by voolama has six default roles, confirmed at DEV v0.11.0, 2026-08-30. Roles are editable database rows, so a tenant Admin can adjust permissions. A user can hold multiple roles simultaneously.

   Roles are assigned at Admin, then Settings, then Users and Roles. Click Edit on any user row. In edit mode, the Roles column shows clickable badge buttons: a highlighted badge means the role is assigned, a muted badge means it is not. Click Save after making changes.

   Known limitation (DEV v0.11.0): role changes take effect on the user's next login, not immediately. After saving a role change, ask the affected user to log out and back in. If they report that a sidebar section is still missing after the change, this is the cause.

   The six default roles:

   • Admin: full tenant administration. Access to all Admin screens: providers, settings, users and roles, feature flags, billing, and audit logs. Carries the admin:* wildcard permission. Assign to the workspace owner or IT lead.
   • Create: build and manage AI agents. Navigate to Agents, create definitions, add versions with system prompt and model config, retire old versions. Assign to the AI engineer or prompt designer.
   • Curate: design workflows using the visual editor. Create workflow definitions, arrange nodes on the canvas, configure edges with routing rules, save versions. Also has read access to agents. Assign to the workflow designer or process owner.
   • Use: run workflow instances and complete tasks. Launch executions, monitor progress, open assigned tasks, provide input or review decisions, submit. Assign to operations team members who run and work the queue daily.
   • Reporting: view reports and audit logs. Read-only access to analytics: run volume, failure rates, latency, SLA metrics. Assign to team leads and compliance reviewers who need visibility without configuration access.
   • Financial: manage billing and plan details. Subscription, seat purchases, payment method. This is the sixth default role, confirmed in the shipped product at DEV v0.11.0. Assign to the finance manager or budget owner.

   Dave by voolama enforces 20 permission types at both API and frontend level. A user without a permission receives a 403 Forbidden response on a direct URL or API call, not just a hidden button.

   Do this

   • Navigate to Admin, then Settings, then Users and Roles.
   • For each team member, click Edit on their row. Toggle the role badges to match their function. Click Save.
   • Inform each user they need to log out and back in for role changes to take effect.
   • After each user logs back in, ask them to confirm they can see the sidebar sections they expect. A missing section means the role assignment did not save or the session has not refreshed.
   • To deactivate a user who has left the team: click Edit, change Status to inactive, click Save. Deactivation preserves the audit trail and frees the seat. Inactive users cannot log in, and existing sessions are invalidated on their next API call.

   Example

   A four-person team is set up as follows: the Admin holds Admin only. The workflow designer holds Curate and Create (they both design workflows and configure agents). The operations lead holds Use. The finance manager holds Financial. Two weeks later, the operations lead is asked to review reports each morning: the Admin adds Reporting to their account and saves. The operations lead logs out and back in. The Reports sidebar item appears. The role change took effect on the next login, as expected at DEV v0.11.0.

   Best practice

   • Assign the minimum necessary roles. An operations user who only runs instances and completes tasks needs Use, not Curate or Create.
   • Deactivate instead of deleting when someone leaves the team. Deactivation preserves the audit trail and allows reactivation later.
   • Review role assignments every quarter. As team responsibilities shift, permissions that made sense at onboarding may no longer match job functions.
4. 4

   Run one end-to-end workflow together before the kickoff

   Running a real workflow end-to-end with your team before the formal kickoff is the single most effective onboarding step. It confirms providers are working, roles are correctly assigned, and every team member can see and complete the tasks their role generates. It takes about 20 minutes and surfaces every configuration problem before they become day-one blockers.

   The recommended first workflow uses five node types: Start, User Interaction, Agent Interaction, Human Review, End. This covers the full human-in-the-loop cycle and exercises the Use role's two most important actions: completing a User Interaction task and completing a Human Review task.

   Steps:

   1. Create an agent (Create role): navigate to Agents, click Create Agent, name it "Test Agent". Add a version with a simple system prompt (for example, "Summarize the input text in two sentences"), a model from your configured provider, and a temperature of 0.7.
   2. Create a workflow (Curate role): navigate to Workflows, click Create Workflow, name it "Onboarding Test". Open the Workflow Editor. Drag Start, User Interaction, Agent Interaction (assign "Test Agent"), Human Review, and End nodes onto the canvas. Connect them in sequence. Save.
   3. Launch an instance (Use role): navigate to Instances, click Create Instance, select "Onboarding Test" and its latest version. Click Start.
   4. Complete the User Interaction task (Use role): navigate to Tasks. Open the pending task, enter a short text sample, and submit.
   5. Complete the Human Review task (Use role): after the agent runs, a review task appears in Tasks. Open it, read the agent's output, and click Approve.
   6. Verify completion: navigate to Instances and confirm the instance status is completed. Check the Dashboard to see the updated counts.

   If the instance fails, the three most common causes are: an invalid provider API key (fix at Admin, then API Management, then Providers), an agent with no active version (fix at Agents), or a team member without the Use role trying to launch an instance (fix at Admin, then Settings, then Users and Roles).

   Do this

   • Create one agent and one simple five-node workflow using the steps above before the kickoff.
   • Run the instance and complete both tasks. Confirm the instance reaches completed status.
   • If the instance fails, open the instance detail page, expand the Context viewer, and read the error. The Node column in the tasks table identifies which node caused the failure.
   • Once the test run completes successfully, share the workflow name and instance ID with your team at the kickoff as the first concrete proof that the platform is working end-to-end in your tenant.

   Example

   An Admin runs the onboarding test workflow the evening before the team kickoff. The instance fails at the Agent Interaction node. The Admin opens the instance detail page, expands the Context viewer, and reads an authentication error from the provider. The Admin navigates to Admin, then API Management, then Providers, edits the OpenAI provider, and pastes a fresh API key. A new instance is created, the tasks are completed, and the instance reaches completed status. At the kickoff the next morning, the Admin opens the Dashboard and shows the team the completed instance. The team's first question is not "does this work?" but "what do we build next?"

   Best practice

   • Run the test workflow as the Admin, not as a team member. If the test fails, you need Admin access to diagnose and fix it. A Use-role user cannot access provider settings or the audit log.
   • Do not skip the Human Review node in the test workflow. The Human Review task is the most common point of confusion for new Use-role users. Running it in the test surfaces any role or task-access issues before the real work starts.
   • Save the test workflow but do not delete it. It is useful for onboarding future team members and for testing provider changes without affecting production workflows.

Six default roles: which one does each team member need?

How does the team invitation flow work in Dave by voolama?

What should the team's first workflow run look like?

Frequently asked questions