---
title: The first run
description: What Heed looks for the first time it opens, and where its configuration lives.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/getting-started/first-run
---

# The first run
The first time it opens, Heed shows what it found. It checks again every few seconds while the screen is open, so
signing in to `gh` or installing an agent in another terminal shows up without a restart.
![The first-run screen: GitHub, tools, repos and agents, each with what Heed found](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/images/shots/getting-started/first-run.png)
- **GitHub**: whether `gh` is signed in. Heed talks to GitHub only through `gh`; it never asks for a token.
- **Tools**: where `git` and `gh` are, found through your login shell's PATH and the usual install locations. See
  [Finding git and gh](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/configuration/tools).
- **Repos**: the repositories under `~/Projects` and `~/code` (change them with `repo_roots`).
- **Agents**: which of claude, codex, cursor, pi, opencode and gemini are installed.

Nothing in your own agent configuration changes: Heed passes its hooks to each agent per run. See
[Hooks](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/agents/hooks).

| Key |                                                                                                      |
|-----|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `↩` | Start using Heed                                                                                     |
| `t` | Show me around: the [tutor](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/getting-started/tutor)'s global tour |
| `r` | Check again now                                                                                      |
| `e` | Open `config.toml`                                                                                   |

`:welcome` shows this screen again later.

## Configuration

Everything lives in `~/.config/heed/config.toml`, written with comments the first time Heed opens. Saving it applies
the change right away. Settings (`⌘,`) edits the same file, except key bindings, which live only in the file. See
[Configuration](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/configuration).