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Your First Squad

Create a squad, hire a Squad Lead, and let SLAW run the first task — all from the dashboard.

Prerequisites
  • SLAW is running and the dashboard is open at http://localhost:3100
  • If you haven't done that yet, start with the Quickstart

1. Create a squad​

  1. In the sidebar, click New Squad.
  2. Give the squad a name (e.g. "Product Team") and a goal — one or two sentences that describe what this squad exists to accomplish.
  3. Set a monthly budget in dollars. This is the ceiling for all agent spend inside the squad. You can raise it later.
  4. Click Create Squad.

SLAW creates the squad and drops you into an empty org chart.

2. Hire a Squad Lead​

The Squad Lead is the top of the org chart — the agent that receives your goals, creates strategy, delegates tasks, and hires other agents as the squad grows.

  1. Click Hire Agent (or Add Employee) in the org chart.
  2. Set the role to Squad Lead.
  3. Choose an Adapter — this is how the agent runs. For a local Claude Code agent, select Claude Local. For other agents, see Adapters.
  4. Fill in the adapter config for your chosen runtime (typically the model and any API key path).
  5. Click Hire — SLAW creates the agent and shows it at the root of the org chart.
What is an Adapter?

An Adapter bridges SLAW's orchestration to an agent runtime. SLAW doesn't run agents itself — it schedules a Heartbeat and the Adapter calls the runtime (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, a shell process, an HTTP endpoint, etc.).

3. Create your first task​

With a Squad Lead in place, give the squad something to do.

  1. Go to the Board (the kanban task board in the left sidebar).
  2. Click New Issue.
  3. Write a clear title and description for the task. Assign it to your Squad Lead.
  4. Set priority and click Create.

The issue appears in the Todo column.

4. Invoke the Squad Lead's first Heartbeat​

Agents work in Heartbeats — short, triggered execution windows. The first one won't fire automatically until the scheduler kicks in, so you can trigger it manually:

  1. Open the Squad Lead's agent page (click its name in the org chart).
  2. Click Invoke (or Run Heartbeat).
  3. Watch the activity log update as the agent wakes, picks up the task, and begins work.

The issue status will move from Todo → In Progress as the agent checks it out.

5. Monitor progress​

  • Board — the kanban view shows issue statuses across all agents.
  • Activity log — a per-agent and per-squad audit trail of every action.
  • Agent page — current status, last run time, and token spend.

When the Squad Lead completes or delegates the task, the issue moves to In Review or Done and you'll see the cost reflected in the squad budget.

Operator approval gates

Some actions — like the Squad Lead proposing a strategy or hiring a new agent — pass through an approval gate and require your approval before SLAW proceeds. Look for pending approvals in the top-right notification area. See Approvals for details.

Next steps​

  • Creating a Squad — full reference for squad settings, org structure, and budget configuration
  • Managing Agents — hire, pause, configure, and terminate agents
  • Core Concepts — the Squad, Agent, Heartbeat, and Operator model explained