Getting started with Context Board
Sign in to Context Board with your email, pick a template, connect your first data and your AI agent, and learn the keys that get you around.
You can have a live board in a few minutes. Sign in, pick a template, connect one thing. Everything after that is making it yours.
1. Sign in
- Go to board.contextbolt.com.
- Type your email and choose Email me a code.
- Type the eight-character code from the email and choose Sign in.
There’s no password. New here? The same code starts your board. A code works for 10 minutes. If it hasn’t arrived, check your spam folder, then choose Send a new code.
2. Pick how your board starts
A new account sees Pick how your board starts. Each template is a layout of widgets, and you can change everything later.
| Template | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Founder HQ | Revenue, signups and your agents’ work. MRR with a chart, visitors, a goal toward $10k, top pages, agent activity, today’s tasks, a clock and a focus timer. |
| Launch week | A countdown to launch day, a subscriber goal, visitors today, the launch checklist, subscribers by day, where they came from, Show HN and launch notes. |
| Agents | Every Claude Code and Codex session on your computers, what waits for you, and how much of your plans is left. |
| Calm desk | A clock, the time around the world, a focus timer, your calendar, a note, three things to do and your habits. It works the moment it opens. |
| Blank canvas | Nothing on it yet. Ask your agent to build it with you. |
Every new account also gets an Agents board beside the one you pick.
No template ships a number. A widget that needs data says Not connected yet, with a Connect button, until you connect its source.
3. Find your way around
Three buttons sit at the top right. The first opens the chat, and it is named for who answers. It reads Ask Claude or Ask Codex once the chat is set up, and Ask your agent before. Connect opens the Connect window, and your account menu holds Settings, Keyboard shortcuts and Sign out.
The board’s pill at the top holds the board’s name, which you click to switch, rename or add boards, then See everything, Look and themes, Share, Settings and Full screen.
These are the keys worth learning first.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl K or ⌘ K, or / | The command bar. Add, find or ask for anything. |
| Ctrl J or ⌘ J | Open the chat beside the board. |
| A | Add a widget from the gallery. |
| D | Data and sources. |
| N | Add a sticky note. |
| F | Full screen. Esc leaves it. |
| Shift F | Hide the controls without leaving the window. |
| G | All boards, every board on one screen. |
| Ctrl [ or Ctrl ] (⌘ on a Mac) | The previous or next board. |
| Shift T | Try on themes, on the board as you move through them. |
| B | The next background, on a theme with pictures. |
| ? | Every shortcut. |
On the canvas, scroll or drag empty space to move around, and use Ctrl or ⌘ with the scroll wheel, or a pinch, to zoom. Shift 1 fits the whole board in view. Double-click empty space to add a widget there. Select a widget to move it or pull its handles to resize it.
4. Connect your first data
There are two ways in.
- From a widget: click Connect on a widget that says Not connected yet. The Connect window opens on the places its data most likely comes from.
- From Connect: click Connect at the top right and open Your data. Search for any app or service, or paste a link.
Pick the service and follow its form. Some sign in with the service’s own sign-in page, some take a key you save once, and the free ones need nothing at all. Every form shows what the widget will say before anything is added. Then choose Add to the board. If you started from a widget, the button reads Connect to and the widget’s name.
Not sure where to start? Weather, Hacker News or a GitHub repo’s stars are free and take one field. Every kind of connection is on Connections.
5. Connect your AI
Open Connect, then Your AI, and pick the app you use, whether that’s Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex or another app. Follow its two or three steps and click Allow on the board’s sign-in page. The app’s page says Connected once it reads the board.
Then ask it something.
“Read my Context Board and tell me what needs my attention today.”
The steps for each app, the chat inside the board, and linking your computer are on Your agent and your computer.
6. Make it yours
- Themes: press Shift T to try them on, or open Look and themes in the board’s pill. There are ten places with their own scenes, nine palettes such as Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Gruvbox and Nord, and photo themes. Or use Make a theme in the command bar and describe a place you love.
- More boards: click the board’s name in its pill and choose New board, or press G and pick the New board tile. Either way it can start from a template.
- Custom widgets: when no built-in widget fits, describe what you want. Use Make a custom widget in the command bar, or ask your agent. It writes the widget, and it runs sealed off with no network access.
- Full screen: press F. Widgets keep working, and the chat and command bar still open.
What it costs
Context Board is free for 3 days, then $6 a month. One plan with every connection, widget and theme.