> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cognee.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quick Start

> Upload data, build a knowledge graph, and search — in under five minutes

After [creating your account](/cognee-cloud/sign-up), brand-new users land on a **Welcome to Cognee Cloud** splash — *Your AI memory layer.* Click **Let's go →** to begin onboarding. You can also reach onboarding at any time from the sidebar under **Onboarding**.

<Note>
  On your first sign-in a **Personal Workspace** is created for you automatically — there is no naming step. The welcome screen appears right away while the workspace finishes provisioning in the background. You can create additional workspaces later and give them a name. Uploaded data lands in your **`default_dataset`**.
</Note>

## Choose how to start

Onboarding opens with **How do you want to start?** and offers three paths:

<CardGroup cols={1}>
  <Card title="Claude Code" icon="terminal">
    Connect your Claude Code agent to Cognee Cloud as a memory layer.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Codex" icon="terminal">
    Connect your Codex agent to Cognee Cloud as a memory layer.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Company Brain" icon="building">
    Upload your own data and build a searchable knowledge graph.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Company Brain flow

If you choose **Company Brain**, onboarding guides you through three steps.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect your data">
    Drag files into the drop zone, click to browse, or paste text content directly. Supported formats: PDF, CSV, TXT, Markdown, and JSON.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Building your memory">
    Cognee processes your data automatically: **Setting up workspace** → **Uploading files** → **Building knowledge graph**. This runs the same pipeline as the [`cognify`](/core-concepts/main-operations/legacy-operations/cognify) operation. Processing time depends on the volume of data.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ask cognee anything">
    Once your knowledge graph is ready, enter a natural language query and Cognee searches the graph and returns contextual results — the same mechanism as [`recall`](/core-concepts/main-operations/recall) and [`search`](/core-concepts/main-operations/legacy-operations/search). When you're ready, click **Connect my agent now →**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Agent flow (Claude Code / Codex)

If you choose **Claude Code** or **Codex**, onboarding helps you wire your agent into Cognee Cloud.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Copy your credentials">
    Copy the `COGNEE_BASE_URL` and `COGNEE_API_KEY` values shown on screen and set them in your environment.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install the plugin">
    Install the Cognee plugin (Claude Code) or skill (Codex) so your agent can upload and recall memory.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload and recall a sample">
    Have your agent upload or recall a sample to confirm the connection is working.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Watch for live detection">
    When activity reaches Cognee Cloud you'll see **Connected — activity detected in Cognee Cloud**. Then click **Go to Dashboard →**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  You can skip the onboarding at any point and return to it later. All progress is preserved.
</Note>

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Overview" href="/cognee-cloud/ui/dashboard" icon="layout-dashboard">
    Overview of your workspace, stats, and quick actions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Open Brains" href="/cognee-cloud/ui/datasets" icon="brain">
    Manage your data and knowledge graphs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Connect an agent" href="/cognee-cloud/ui/integrations" icon="plug">
    Use Cognee as memory for your agent.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cloud functionality" href="/cognee-cloud/functionality/data-ingestion" icon="cloud">
    Explore the full API surface available in Cognee Cloud.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>