> For the complete user guide index, see [llms.txt](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/llms.txt).

# Getting started

[Canonical page](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/getting-started/welcome/)

## Applicability

- **Task:** Choose a supported workflow, confirm access, and verify its result
- **Access:** Portrait account; some capabilities are beta or account-gated
- **Audience:** New and returning Portrait users
- **Surfaces:** web; ios; slack; teams; email; cli; mcp
- **Workflow status:** current
- **Availability:** Production with account-dependent capabilities
- **Content type:** explanation
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-09-08

Portrait helps you research companies, answer questions, and follow developments over time. Use this guide to prepare your account and complete one useful task. You do not need to work through every tutorial or create a Project first.

## Before you begin

1. Open [Portrait](https://app.portraitresearch.com/) and sign in with your Portrait account. If you cannot sign in, follow [Troubleshoot access](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/more/troubleshoot-access/).
2. Check that your account includes the tool and data sources you need. [Availability and access](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/reference/availability-and-access/) explains why an option may be absent.
3. Open **Settings → Usage** before starting research. [Usage and limits](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/more/usage/) explains your credit balances, reservations for Monitors, and what happens at a limit.

These tutorials use the web app. For mobile and connected tools, check [Capabilities by surface](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/reference/capabilities-by-surface/).

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## What to prepare

Have a company or research question in mind. Specify the period and the evidence you want the answer to use. If you need your own files, add them to [My Library](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/documents/my-library/).

Use [Compare research tools](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/reference/compare-research-tools/) if you are deciding between tools. Use [Workspace navigation](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/documents/workspace-navigation/) to locate a control in the web app.

## Review generated work

At the end of the task, check the company, period, instructions, and sources. Open the supporting evidence and verify material figures and conclusions. Generated research can be incomplete or incorrect; each tutorial explains how to check its particular result and recover from a problem.

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## Choose your first task

Choose the result you need. Each tutorial explains what to prepare, what to do, and how to check the result.

- [Ask Easel a research question](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/easel/start-a-session.md): Ask a scoped research question, follow Easel's progress, verify the response, and return to the saved conversation.
- [Read a Company Primer](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/company-research/company-primer.md): Open a Company Primer, choose the abridged or full version, request missing analysis where available, and verify material claims against its sources.
- [Create a Deep Research report](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/research/create-a-deep-research-report.md): Define a Deep Research scope, run the report, and verify its companies, sources, period, citations, and output sections.
- [Build a screen with the AI Assistant](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/screening/build-with-ai-assistant.md): Describe the companies you want to find in plain language and the AI Assistant suggests the screening filters for you.
- [Build a chart](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/charts/building-a-chart.md): Step through the Chart Editor — choose a data type, add and transform series, set axes and chart type, and save to a project.
- [Create a Monitor](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/monitors/create-a-monitor.md): Create a Monitor with companies, signals, sources, and delivery settings, then verify the saved configuration.