Start here: from download to your first booking task, step by step

First, the two names, because they confuse almost everyone. Otto is the app you install on your computer. Booked Solid is the brain inside it. You can reach that same brain two ways: through the Otto app, or by typing to Claude in a terminal. Same brain, two front doors. If you bought Booked Solid and are looking for what to download, you are looking for the Otto app, and step 1 below is your starting point.

New to Booked Solid and want the whole path in one place? This is the A-to-Z. No prior setup assumed. Take it one step at a time - most people are up and running in well under an hour, and you do not have to finish it all in one sitting.

1. Download the app

Go to booked.kivimedia.co/download. The page picks the right build for your computer automatically (Windows, Mac, or Linux). If you already bought Booked Solid, the same download link is also waiting in your purchase email.

2. Install it

• Windows: run the downloaded file and, on the blue "Windows protected your PC" screen, click More info then Run anyway. Full detail (including what to do if the download itself is blocked) is in Install Booked Solid on Windows.
• Mac: drag the app into your Applications folder, then open it from there (not from the disk image). See Install Booked Solid on a Mac.

3. Activate your license and make your account

The first time the app opens you will see the account screen. Click Enter your license code, paste the code from your license email (it looks like BS-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX), enter your email, and pick a username and password. Next time you will just sign in. If any screen asks you to pay again and you already bought before July 6th, stop - you do not pay again; search your inbox for your access email or open a ticket and we will sort it the same day.

4. Sign in to Claude (the engine that powers Otto)

Booked Solid runs on your own Claude subscription. If Otto is not responding, it usually just needs you to sign in to Claude - the app shows a one-tap sign-in when that is the case. A Claude Pro plan, about $20 a month, is enough to start; if you run Autopilot hard every day, you may need Claude Max, about $100 a month.

5. Pick your BookingHQ folder and take your first win

The app asks you to choose a BookingHQ folder - this is where all your leads, notes, and drafts live on your own computer. Pick or create one, and the app walks you into a first small, safe task so you can see it work. Nothing is ever sent without you approving it.

6. Set the dial to how hands-on you want Otto

Use the autonomy dial - Show me, Check with me, or Run it - to decide how much Otto does on its own. Start on Check with me: Otto drafts and plans, and waits for your approval before anything leaves your computer.

7. Tell Otto about your business (this is what makes it good)

The more Otto knows, the better every draft. Give it your bio, your rates, your website, sample emails in your voice, and the kinds of gigs you want. You can do this in plain words in the chat. This is the single highest-value thing you can spend twenty minutes on.

8. A note on your Claude usage

Everything Otto does spends a little of your Claude plan's usage - reading files, drafting, checking its work. If you burn through it fast, the biggest lever is the Thoroughness setting (top bar > Advanced): keep it on Balanced for everyday work and save Most thorough for pricing and outreach. See Your Claude usage limit for the full picture.

Where to get help

• Click Get Help inside the app to open a ticket - our system checks new tickets every few minutes.
• This help center has 100+ plain-language guides.
• Live group coaching calls with Ziv, three times every week - Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, starting Thursday July 30. Thursdays at 3pm New York / noon Los Angeles / 8pm London / 10pm Israel, at kivimedia.co/ahod. Tuesdays at 8am New York / 5am Los Angeles / 1pm London / 3pm Israel, and Wednesdays at 2pm New York / 11am Los Angeles / 7pm London / 9pm Israel, both at kivimedia.co/zoom. Same hours every week, three different times of day so one lands inside your working hours. Bring your setup questions - no AI in the room, just us.

Stuck on any single step? Submit a ticket from this help center and we will walk you through it.

If this is you, you are in the right place

People arrive at this page asking it in a lot of different ways. All of these mean the same thing, and this page is the answer to all of them:

• Where do I start, and how do I begin?
• I bought it and I cannot get it to work.
• I installed it and nothing happens.
• How do I just get it to work from zero?
• What do I download, and where do I go first?
• Is Otto the app, or is Booked Solid the app?

Work through the steps in order. If you get stuck on one of them, open a ticket at support.booked.kivimedia.co and say which step number stopped you. That one detail is usually enough to fix it on the first reply.