The onboarding checklist explained

Right after registration you land on the Initial setup page. It runs nine checks against your account and shows each one as a row: green when the underlying condition is true, amber with a counter (for example "0 of 2 agents can dial: active, outbound, with a registered number assigned") when it isn't. Every row links to the page where you fix it and to the guide that explains it. You never mark anything by hand — the rows flip on their own.

The same checklist sits at the top of your Dashboard while anything is missing. Once all nine are green it shrinks to a single Operational status line — nine dots and "everything wired" — that stays there permanently. If something regresses later (a number deactivated, a client deactivated, GoHighLevel disconnected) the full checklist comes back on its own, so a broken wire never goes unnoticed.

There is no Initial setup entry in the menu: the Operational status line on the dashboard is the way back to it — click it any time to see the nine rows in full.

Earlier versions checked only that things existed (a number, an agent, a client). These checks verify that they are wired: that is the difference between "the account has all the pieces" and "a lead will actually be called".

The nine checks

• Connect Retell. Green once a validated Retell API key is saved for your agency. Retell is the engine that runs the AI voice on every call; without it nothing can dial. Guide: Connect Retell.
• Connect Twilio. Green once validated Twilio credentials are saved. Twilio is the carrier: it owns your numbers and carries the calls. Guide: Connect Twilio.
• Connect GoHighLevel. Green once the CRM OAuth flow has completed at agency level. It brings contacts, calendars and the workflows that send leads. Guide: Connect your CRM.
• Number registered on Retell. Green when at least one active number is registered on Retell. The counter reads "N registered out of M active": a number you own but never registered cannot be used by the AI, so the agent has nothing to call from.
• Agent ready to call. Green when at least one active outbound agent has a registered number assigned to it. Agents only dial from the numbers explicitly assigned to them — an agent with zero assigned numbers never calls. The counter compares agents that can really dial (active, outbound, with an active and registered number) against all the agents you have — an inbound or deactivated agent is counted in the total but can never make this check green. See Assign phone numbers to an agent.
• Active client with a calendar. Green when at least one client is active and has somewhere to book: a calendar of its own, or an active outbound agent with a default calendar (agent editor → Identity & routing), which is matched by name in each client's sub-account at call time. Imported clients arrive active with no calendar of their own, so one default on the agent covers all of them; a calendar picked on a client always wins over it.
• GHL workflow wired. Green when at least one lead reached GodSetter in the last 30 days. Zero means no workflow is posting leads to any agent — nothing ever asks GodSetter to place a call. The fastest way to turn it green is "Send test lead" in the agent's Data & GHL tab.
• Create an AI agent. Green when at least one agent exists. The agent is the prompt, voice and behavior a lead will hear. Guide: Create your first AI agent.
• Add a client. Green when at least one client exists. Usually you don't create clients by hand: after connecting the CRM, import your sub-accounts from GoHighLevel and they appear as clients.

Order that works

The checklist doesn't force an order, but this one avoids dead ends:

1. Connections first — Retell, Twilio, GoHighLevel. Retell is required to create agents, Twilio to buy numbers, the CRM to import clients.
2. Buy a number in Numbers, then register it on Retell from the same page.
3. Create an agent and assign the number to it.
4. Import your clients from GoHighLevel: they arrive active. Give the agent a default calendar (Identity & routing) so every client books into the calendar with that name in its own sub-account — or open a client to pick its own.
5. Wire a workflow — or skip ahead and send a test lead, which counts as a received lead and turns the last check green.

After 9/9: send a test lead

When every row is green, prove it end to end. Open the agent, go to Data & GHL and use "Send test lead": it enters through the same door your CRM workflows use, so you see exactly what a real lead would trigger — the call goes out to your own number (it is a real call, at the usual cost). It stays in Calls and Leads like any other call, books on the client's real calendar but simulates every CRM write, and — if you do not answer — it is redialed according to that client's retry plan: real, repeated calls to your number. Two constraints: a number that is already a lead of that client is refused (use another one), and sending a test lead needs editor on Agents plus the Can spend permission. Then wire your first workflow: Wire your CRM workflow to an agent. If the test lead is skipped, the reason is shown right there and on the lead itself; if nothing dials at all, run through Calls are not firing — full checklist.