Can my VA or assistant run Booked Solid for me?

You have someone who could be working your leads for you - a VA, an assistant, a spouse, an office manager - and you want to get them into Booked Solid. It usually arrives here in almost exactly these words: "If I wanted my VA to help with this can you send a link for him to download the newest app?" and then "I'll have him watch the tutorials, too!" The links are below. But two of the three things that decide whether a second person actually works out do not show up until weeks later, so please read past the download link.

Performers ask this in a few different ways - can my assistant use it, can two people use one license, can someone else run it for me - and the answer to all of them is the same: yes, on your one account, with nothing extra to buy from us. There is no second-user account or team plan to add. What there is instead are three facts about how the app is built, and each one changes what you should do.

Send them these two links

1. The app. https://booked.kivimedia.co/download always serves the newest build and picks the right one for their machine. If you would rather hand them the exact file, https://booked.kivimedia.co/download/win, https://booked.kivimedia.co/download/mac and https://booked.kivimedia.co/download/linux go straight to the Windows, Mac and Linux builds.
2. The tutorials. The help center is at https://support.booked.kivimedia.co/support/home. Point them at Start here: from download to your first booking task, step by step and let them work through it before they touch a real lead.

How they sign in (do not send them your license code)

Almost everyone forwards the VA their license code first, and it is a dead end. Your code activates exactly once, and it was bound to your username the day you set up your own computer. If your VA pastes it in, the app answers "That license code was not found or is already in use." Nothing is broken and your license is fine, but they will never get in that way. Skip that step.

1. They install Booked Solid on their computer and open it.
2. On the account screen, they click Already set up on another computer? Sign in.
3. They enter your Booked Solid username and password. Not the license code.

Sign-in works on any number of computers, there is no device limit, and each machine runs its own session. The longer versions are in Using Booked Solid OS on a second computer and "That license code was not found or is already in use": the three causes.

1. Your license is shared

This is the easy one, and it is the part people worry about needlessly. Your VA signs in as you, on your one account and your one license. There is nothing extra to buy for them, no second subscription, and no seat to add. While you are paying, you are both working. If the subscription stops, you both stop at the same moment. That is the whole of it.

2. The Claude sign-in is not shared

This is the one that costs money, so it is worth reading twice. Otto does its thinking on Claude, and that Claude sign-in belongs to the computer, not to your Booked Solid account. So: does my assistant need their own Claude account? If they are working on their own machine, yes. Their first launch shows the Get Otto ready screen, and that machine needs its own paid Claude plan signed in. Claude Pro, about $20 a month, covers most performers. Budget for it, because it is a real extra cost and it is the one piece your Booked Solid license does not cover. The setup itself is two buttons and no terminal commands: Get Otto ready: the one-tap assistant setup screen.

If they are working on your computer instead, there is nothing to do here at all. Your Claude sign-in is already on that machine. The trade is that they are then spending your Claude usage window, so a VA running big research jobs all morning can leave you hitting the limit in the afternoon. Your Claude usage limit explains what actually burns it and the settings that make it last.

An Anthropic API key is the other way to power the assistant, but it bills per use on top of any plan you already pay for, and when a key is active on a machine the assistant runs on the key instead of the Claude sign-in. For someone doing research and outreach all day, a plan is the predictable choice. The trade-offs are laid out in Which AI runs Booked Solid? Your own Claude account (API keys are the exception).

One thing to warn them about before they start, because it has cost real customers an afternoon: on the Claude sign-in page, do not click Upgrade to Max or Pro if a plan already exists. That page quietly uses whichever Claude account the browser is already signed into. If it shows an upgrade offer rather than an Authorize button, the browser is on the wrong Claude account. Go to claude.ai, check which email is signed in, sign out and back in on the right one, then run the sign-in again.

3. Your Booking HQ is not shared

This is the one that bites people weeks later, so here it is plainly. Your Booking HQ - every lead, note, draft and setting - is a folder that lives on one computer. It is not held on our servers. If your VA installs on their own machine, that machine builds its own separate Booking HQ, and the two do not sync on their own. You will both be busy and productive, and a month later you will have two lead databases that disagree with each other and no obvious moment where it went wrong.

The first instinct is always to fix this by putting the Booking HQ inside Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or a network drive so both machines see the same folder. Do not do that. Those locations silently block gig saves, so work looks done in the app and quietly never lands on disk. That is worse than having two copies, because nothing tells you it is happening. Your Booking HQ folder: change it, find it, restore a backup, tune it up shows where yours lives and how to move it, and Bring your work over from another computer covers copying one properly if you ever need to.

The setup that actually works

Have your VA work on your computer, or remote into it. Then there is one Booking HQ, one Claude sign-in, one set of leads, and you are both looking at the same history. Chrome Remote Desktop is free and takes about five minutes to set up.

If the machine has to stay awake so they can reach it while you are out at a gig, that is a solved problem too: Keeping Booked Solid awake: a spare computer, or your own VPS walks through turning an old laptop or a small rented server into the always-on home for your booking department. Once a second person is involved, that is often the right answer anyway.

If your VA genuinely has to run their own machine, open a ticket before you set it up rather than after. Keeping two Booking HQs in step is possible, but the app does not do it by itself, and it is far easier to plan than to untangle.

Before you hand over your sign-in

Sharing your username and password shares everything the app can reach: your connected inboxes and calendars, your Stripe deposit links, your client history, your rates. For a trusted assistant that may be exactly what you want. If it is not, narrow it before they start rather than after. In Settings > Permissions: how far each connected tool can reach you can set each connected tool to Read-only, and switch on Drafts need your OK so anything outgoing through that tool waits for your approval even when the autonomy dial is set to Run it. It is a five-minute job, and it means you can hand over the sign-in without handing over your send button. Worth reading alongside it: The autonomy dial: Show me, Check with me, or Run it.

If it still does not work

• If they see "That license code was not found or is already in use." they are on the license screen. Send them back to Already set up on another computer? Sign in and have them use your username and password.
• If they see Wrong username or password. use Forgot your password on the sign-in screen, which opens the Reset your password step. Enter the username, not the email. A 6-digit code goes to the email saved on your account, so you will be the one who receives it and passes it along.
• On Windows, the first install may show a Windows protected your PC prompt. Click More info then Run anyway. Full walkthrough: Install Booked Solid on Windows.
• If the Claude page shows an upgrade offer instead of Authorize, the browser is signed into the wrong Claude account. Nothing has been charged by opening that page.

Still stuck? Submit a ticket from this help center and we'll take it from there.