Getting Started

Starting a program in BenchOS takes two things: an account and a short conversation about how you coach. There's no sales call and no card. You create the account yourself, talk your program through with Coach Prime, and your first practice plan is already generating by the time you've finished looking around.

Create your account

From the marketing site, click Start free — in the nav, in the hero, or at the bottom of any page. It lands you on /login?mode=signup with the Create account tab already selected.

1. Enter your email and choose a password (8 characters minimum), then click Create account.
2. BenchOS emails you a confirmation link. Click it — that activates the account and signs you in.
3. You arrive in the setup wizard with a program of your own already created.

If you open the confirmation link on a different device than the one you signed up on, it still confirms your email — just come back to the device you started on and sign in normally. Signing in finishes the signup either way, so you'll land in the setup wizard rather than being stuck.

Nothing is charged and no card is requested. New programs start on the Free plan: 20 AI generations for the life of the program, plus unlimited roster, schedule, playbook, and diagrams. See Billing & Plans for the full breakdown.

Prefer not to keep a password? Use Email me a sign-in link instead on the sign-in form — magic links work for every sign-in after the first.

Joining a program that already exists? Don't sign up. Ask the head coach to invite you from Settings → Staff & Permissions and use the link in the invitation email — signing up on your own creates a second, empty program instead of putting you on theirs. See User Management.

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When you sign in for the first time, BenchOS routes you into a four-step setup wizard. The information you provide here is the foundation your AI staff uses for everything else — the more accurate and specific you are, the more your generated plans will sound like your program rather than a generic template.

Two ways to set up

Talk it out with Coach Prime (voice) — Coach Prime interviews you in a short conversation, pulls out your program info, philosophy, goals, and roster, then pre-fills the four steps for you to review and confirm before anything gets saved. Good if you'd rather talk than type.

Fill it in yourself (form) — Work through the four steps at your own pace. Every field is editable before you submit.

Either way you end up at the same four-step review before anything is saved. The voice path is an option on the welcome screen — select Talk it out with Coach Prime or Fill it in yourself to choose.

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You'll see a step indicator at the top (1–4) and a Coach Prime guide on the side with contextual hints for each step.

Step 1 — Program

Basic team identity:

• Team Name (required)
• Level — HS, D1, D2, D3, pro, etc.
• Conference (optional)
• Season Label — defaults to the current season (e.g. "2026–27 Season")
• Season Type — Regular, Offseason, or Tournament
• Game Format — Quarters or Halves
• Period Length — defaults based on the level you selected; adjust if your league differs

You can also add a program logo from the Program page (/program) once setup is complete — click Upload logo (or Change logo to replace it). The logo appears in the app sidebar and on printed plans.

Step 2 — Philosophy

Your coaching approach. The text fields here matter — they're injected into every specialist prompt, so be specific.

• Offensive System — pick from common systems (motion, ball-screen continuity, etc.) or describe your own
• Offensive Philosophy — free text: spacing, ball movement, shot diet, decision rules
• Defensive Scheme — pick a base and/or describe it
• Defensive Philosophy — coverages, ball-screen rules, what you're willing to give up
• Pace — fast, moderate, or slow
• Cultural Emphasis — how you want the team to play and behave

Step 3 — Season Goals

What success looks like, broken into three buckets:

• Competitive Goals — wins, conference standing, postseason
• Development Goals — what individual or positional growth you're targeting
• Cultural Goals — habits and standards you want to build

Each is a list — add as many as you want, edit or remove inline.

Step 4 — Roster

Add your players. This step is technically optional but skipping it limits how useful generation will be — most artifacts pull on roster context.

For each player:

• First / Last Name, Position, Year, Role
• Offensive Strengths / Weaknesses — tag selections
• Defensive Strengths / Weaknesses — tag selections

Players can be added one at a time inline. You can revisit and expand player profiles later from the Roster page.

After setup

Once you finish step 4, BenchOS automatically generates your first practice plan in the background — it'll be waiting on the Practice page by the time you're ready to use it. From the Dashboard you can generate additional practice plans, game briefs, or player development plans — each grounded in the program you just defined.

If you need to update anything later, every section of the wizard is editable from the Program page (/program) and the Roster page (/roster).

Upgrading from Free

Free generations are lifetime, not monthly — they don't reset. The usage meter in the sidebar shows what's left and breaks it down by kind.

When you want unlimited generation, go to Settings → Billing (/settings/billing) and click Upgrade to Full Court. Choose Monthly or Season, and BenchOS hands you to Stripe Checkout — your card and billing address are entered on Stripe's page, never in BenchOS. Pay, and you land back on the billing page with the new plan in force moments later.

Only admins can purchase. A coach who opens the billing page sees where the program stands, not a button they can't use.

Upgrading changes nothing about what you've already generated, and neither does staying on Free. Plans, seats, and what happens if a payment fails are covered in Billing & Plans.