---
title: "Getting Started"
area: getting-started
order: 1
lastUpdated: 2026-05-24
updatedBy: Codex
---

## Welcome to the Digital Product Factory

The Digital Product Factory (DPF) is an integrated platform for running and improving your business with AI coworkers under human governance. It starts by asking what kind of business you run, then shapes the customer portal, internal workspace, vocabulary, and coworker help around that archetype.

If you are new, start with the business story before the internal platform map: [Market Archetypes And Coworkers](../market-archetypes.md).

## What You Can Do

- **Choose a market archetype** — Start from HVAC, clinic, retail, nonprofit, HOA, professional services, software platform, and other business shapes rather than a blank admin console.
- **Launch a customer portal** — Set up a public-facing storefront or service portal with the right sections, forms, booking/enquiry flow, and vocabulary.
- **Work from an archetype-native workspace** — Daily boards should speak in jobs, patients, orders, volunteers, residents, or whatever the selected business actually uses.
- **Use AI coworkers** — Each area has a purposed coworker with bounded tools, approvals, and audit logging.
- **Run operations** — Manage customers, finance, compliance, HR, portfolio, backlog, wiki, and platform health from one governed surface.
- **Improve the install** — Use Build Studio and, in customizable installs, VS Code to make governed changes from the shared workspace.

If you installed in customizable mode, Build Studio and VS Code are intended to complement each other from the same shared workspace. Build Studio is actively hardening and remains the governed evidence/promotion surface; VS Code is still the right companion for complex source edits today. See the [Development Workspace](../development-workspace) guide for details.

## Navigation

The top navigation bar shows the areas you have access to based on your role:

| Nav Item | Area | What It's For |
|----------|------|---------------|
| My Workspace | Daily work | Your daily view, tailored by archetype where a vertical workspace home exists |
| Portfolio | Portfolio Management | View product portfolios, health metrics, investments |
| Backlog | Operations | Manage work items, epics, delivery priorities |
| Inventory | Product Inventory | Browse products, lifecycle stages, stage-gate readiness |
| EA Modeler | Enterprise Architecture | Architecture diagrams, reference models, value streams |
| AI Workforce | Platform & AI | Provider configuration, model routing, agent management |
| Build | Build Studio | Governed feature development and evidence capture |

Additional areas accessible via navigation within pages: Compliance, Finance, HR, Customers, Storefront, Admin.

## Your AI Coworker

Every page has an AI coworker available via the floating action button in the bottom-right corner. The coworker understands what page you are on, what kind of business the install is configured for, and which actions are allowed on that surface. Some installs also enable voice input; narrated output is opt-in and governed by profile/consent rules. See the [AI Coworker Guide](ai-coworker) for details.

## Next Steps

- [Roles & Access](roles-and-access) — Understand platform roles and what each one can do
- [Market Archetypes And Coworkers](../market-archetypes) — Understand how archetypes, coworkers, and voice fit together
- [AI Coworker](ai-coworker) — Learn how to work with the AI assistant
- [Development Workspace](../development-workspace) — Learn how Build Studio, VS Code, policy states, and validation environments fit together
