Quick start

This is the fastest path from install to seeing your first constellation. About five minutes. You don't need an API key to start — every account gets 5 free AI runs a month.

1. Install + sign in

Download Bridge from the App Store or Google Play. Open the app and sign in with the email you used to purchase or sign up.

2. Watch the welcome carousel

After sign-in, the welcome carousel walks you through Bridge's core idea — notes, constellations, plans — in a few swipes. You can skip it if you want to dive straight in; the same content is in What Bridge is.

3. Add your BYOAPI key (optional to start)

You can skip this and still use Bridge. Every account gets 5 free AI runs a month — enough to classify and expand your first notes with nothing set up. Verify your email when prompted; free runs need a verified address.

Onboarding also prompts you to paste an API key from Anthropic, Gemini, or OpenAI. You can:

Add the key now during onboarding (recommended if you're on a paid plan — it unlocks unlimited classification and expansion immediately).
Skip and add it later in Settings → AI & Models. Your remaining free runs are shown right there and at the capture screen.

A key is honored on a paid plan: on Free you stay at 5 runs a month with or without one. You can change the key, switch providers, or remove it anytime in Settings.

4. Load the starter pack

Bridge is most fun with notes already on the graph. Rather than make you sit and type a couple dozen notes to get a feel for it, we ship a starter pack you can import. Download the pack from bridgedev.io/quickstart and import it into the app from Settings → Import notes.

The starter notes cover a realistic mix — some ideas, some references, some half-thoughts a developer might capture across a week. Once imported, Bridge's initial scan runs immediately. If you're on Discover or higher, the AI grouping kicks in too.

One thing to know before you import: each note classified costs one AI run. The starter pack is larger than the 5 free monthly runs, so on a free account without a key the first few notes classify and the rest wait — they'll say they couldn't classify. Add an API key on a paid plan and pull down to refresh, and the waiting notes process on your key. Otherwise they pick back up when your free runs reset on the 1st.

5. See your first constellation

Constellations form once Bridge sees three or more semantically-related notes. The starter pack is sized so several constellations form right away.

On Discover or higher: tap the graph icon in the bottom nav. Wait a few seconds for the grouping to finish (you can watch the spinner on the graph). Once it settles, you'll see your notes connected by edges and grouped into colored clusters with AI-generated names. Tap a node to focus its constellation. Tap outside to release.

On Free: you won't see constellations (those need the Discover tier semantic engine), but you'll see the structural graph — notes connected by shared hashtags, URLs, and co-capture timing.

6. Start capturing your own

Tap the + floating action button. Type a thought. Hit save. Bridge's initial scan runs in under a minute. If you imported the starter pack, your new note will start showing edges to related notes from the pack within about thirty seconds.

See Your first venture for an end-to-end worked example from idea to plan.
See Capture habits for opinionated patterns once you're past the first session.
See Tier comparison when you're ready to look at the paid tiers.