Getting started
Quickstart
This starts where the installer leaves you: the app, open for the first time. By the end one node and one document are in, and you can find both again.
1. Sign in
The first launch fills the window with Sign in to Vinc. Choose Sign in with email or Continue with Google, finish signing in in the browser that opens, and you land back in the app. There is no close button, because nothing works before you sign in.
If this computer already holds a graph, a screen tells you so and that graph stays in use.
The desktop app does not read VINC_API_KEY. That environment variable is for the CLI; setting it does not sign you in to the app.
2. Write one node
An empty graph shows an invitation. Press New node.
The New node sheet opens. Fill in Title and Kind, and add One line and Topic if you like. The kind is one of four: Concept if you are writing what something means, Record for what you observed, Decision for what was chosen, Episode for something that happened on a day.
3. Bring in one document
Press Choose a file on the empty-graph invitation, or drop a file onto it. You can also open the Tools icon at the right of the top bar and take the Import tab. Documents can be .md, .txt, .rst or .pdf.
A document keeps its full text and is split into chunks for search, which is why search lands on a passage rather than on a whole file.
Bringing a document in does not create concepts by itself. When the import finishes, a N concept candidates found · Apply button appears. Review the candidates and only the ones you pick become nodes. You can also open the document later and pull them out there.
4. Find it again
Type a word into the search field in the top bar. Search uses meaning and keywords together, so a near miss on the word still lands if the meaning is close. The list shows nodes, and Enter moves the View to the first result.
To find passages inside documents, open the Search screen (shortcut 2). Pressing a result raises the document column on the right with that passage in it. The column does not take width beside the View. It floats over it, pinned to the right edge.
When nothing matches, the app offers Open View: spread it out and look rather than ask.
5. Meet the default agents
A new graph is not empty. When you create an account or a team, the Default Agents pack comes in by itself: four roles chosen to fit a graph about anything.
| Role | What it does | Tier |
|---|---|---|
agent-stewardGraph steward | Watches conventions, duplicates and topics, and proposes merges and retopics with evidence. Never applies them. | Knowledge |
agent-researcherResearch analyst | Turns research into a document, its concepts and an episode. Never takes the decision. | Knowledge |
agent-curatorDocument curator | Takes documents in: stores the source, previews extraction, links mentions and proposes one topic per document. | Execute |
agent-reviewerClaim reviewer | Checks every claim against the graph and labels it cited, assumed or unsourced. Never edits. | Verify |
The roles are concept nodes under the agent topic, listed under Agent roles on the left of the app. There is deliberately no orchestrator role handing out work.
In a host connected over MCP, each role shows up as a prompt (for example agent-reviewer). Using roles inside the app is covered in Using AI.
A role is a node in your graph, so change it to suit you. The documents it reads first, its checks and its paths start empty; fill them in for your own work. What a role is lives on the Agent page, and how to write a new one is in Writing a role.