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

# Setting up your account

> What onboarding asks you, step by step, and why each answer matters later.

Onboarding runs once, immediately after you create your account. It owns the
whole screen, with no navigation and no sidebar, because it takes about two
minutes and there is nothing else worth doing first.

It asks two questions.

## Step 1: What should we call you?

Your name, and optionally a business name.

This is the name that appears on your entries and in the audit trail. It is
never shown to anyone you have not invited, and it is not your username or your
sign-in email. Those stay with your account.

The business name is optional and only used where a document or an export needs
a trading name on it. You can leave it blank and add it later.

<Tip>
  Both fields are editable at any time from
  [Settings → Profile](https://myclerkbook.com/app/settings/profile). Nothing
  you enter here is permanent.
</Tip>

## Step 2: Name your first book

A **book** is one set of accounts kept in one currency. Most people start with
one and add a second when a set of figures should not mix with the first, say a
client, a project, a household.

You give it a name and pick the currency it is kept in.

<Steps>
  <Step title="The name becomes the address">
    `Freelance` becomes `/app/freelance`. The address is shown under the field
    as you type, so there is no second thing to keep in sync.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The currency is the book's own">
    Entries recorded in other currencies convert into this one. It can be
    changed later, and it does not limit what you can enter.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  The currency list at this step is the common set rather than all 166. The
  full list is available on the book once it exists. A 166-item dropdown is a
  worse control than a short one during setup.
</Note>

## What happens when you finish

You land on your first book, an empty dashboard with its name on it, ready for
its first entry.

From then on, signing in takes you to your most recently used book rather than
back through this flow. If you return to `/onboarding` after finishing, you are
redirected to your book: onboarding does not run twice and cannot create a
second book by accident.

<Tip>
  If you close the browser midway, you resume where you stopped. Each step
  saves as you complete it, so nothing entered is lost.
</Tip>

<Card title="Next: your first transaction" icon="arrow-right" href="/getting-started/your-first-transaction">
  Recording an entry, and what each field on the form is for.
</Card>