Quickstart

This guide walks you through setting up Roundtable and having your first AI-powered conversation. You'll be up and running in under five minutes.

Prerequisites

• A Google account (Gmail or Google Workspace). Roundtable uses Google Sign-In for authentication.
• A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge).

That's it — no API keys, no installations, no credit card.

Step 1: Sign In

Go to roundtable.foxtrotcommunications.net and click Sign in with Google. Roundtable uses Firebase Authentication, so you'll see a standard Google sign-in prompt.

Once signed in, you'll land on your dashboard.

:::info 14-day free trial Every new account gets a 14-day free trial with full access to Team-tier features. No credit card required. :::

Step 2: Create Your Organization

If this is your first time, you'll be prompted to create an organization. Your organization is the top-level container for all of your workspaces, members, and billing.

1. Enter an organization name (e.g., your company or team name).
2. Click Create Organization.

You're automatically assigned the Owner role, which gives you full control over billing, members, and workspaces.

Step 3: Create Your First Workspace

Click New Workspace from the dashboard. You'll need to configure a few things:

1. Name — Give your workspace a descriptive name (e.g., "Engineering Sandbox" or "Data Analysis").
2. AI Provider — Choose one of the five supported providers:
   • Vertex AI — Google's enterprise AI platform
   • Google AI Studio — Google's developer-focused AI API
   • OpenAI — GPT models
   • Anthropic — Claude models
   • Ollama — Self-hosted open-source models
3. Model — Select the specific model to use (e.g., gemini-2.5-pro, gpt-4o, claude-sonnet-4).
4. System Prompt (optional) — Provide instructions that shape how the AI behaves in this workspace.

Click Create and Roundtable will provision an isolated pod for your workspace. This takes a few seconds.

Step 4: Start Chatting with AI

Once your workspace is running, you'll see the chat interface. To talk to the AI, type a message starting with @ai:

@ai Summarize the key differences between REST and GraphQL APIs.

The AI will respond in the chat, visible to everyone in the workspace. Messages without the @ai prefix are treated as regular team chat — useful for side conversations with your colleagues.

tip

You can also mention @ai anywhere in your message, not just at the beginning. For example: "Hey team, let's ask @ai to draft the API spec."

Step 5: Try a Tool

Roundtable's AI comes with 16 built-in tools that let it interact with the real world. You don't need to configure anything — they work out of the box.

Try asking the AI to search the web:

@ai Search the web for the latest Node.js LTS release and summarize what's new.

Or ask it to write and run code:

@ai Write a Python script that generates 10 random passwords of length 16 and run it.

The AI will select the appropriate tool automatically. You'll see tool usage indicators in the chat so you know exactly what's happening.

Here are a few of the built-in tools:

Tool	What it does
web_search	Searches the web and returns results
run_code	Executes Python, JavaScript, or shell code
read_url	Fetches and reads the content of a URL
shell_exec	Runs shell commands in the workspace
query_bigquery	Runs SQL queries against BigQuery
write_file	Creates or updates files in the workspace

See Tools for the full list.

Step 6: Invite Your Team

Roundtable is built for collaboration. Invite your teammates so they can join the conversation:

1. Open Workspace Settings → Members.
2. Click Invite Member.
3. Enter their email address and assign a role:
   • Admin — Can manage workspace settings and members.
   • Member — Can chat and use tools, but can't change settings.
4. Click Send Invite.

Your teammates will receive an invitation and can join with their Google account. Everyone in the workspace sees the same chat history and AI responses in real time.

:::info Included seats Every workspace includes 10 seats at no extra cost. Additional seats are $8/seat/month. :::

Next Steps

You've got a workspace running and your team connected. Here's where to go next:

• AI Providers — Learn how to configure different providers and bring your own API keys.
• Connections — Connect BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, or external APIs to your workspace.
• Bridges — Link workspaces together so AI can delegate tasks across projects.
• Tools — Explore all 16 built-in tools and what they can do.
• Collaboration — Learn about real-time chat, file sharing, and workspace roles.