First Setup

New to Thalovant? This is the page to start on, and the only one you need.

By the end of it you’ll ask your hub a question out loud and hear it answer. That’s the finish line. Everything before it is setup.

Plan about fifteen minutes. Most of it is waiting.

An Account And A Device

You need two things: an account, and something that can listen and speak.

• An account. Create one if you haven’t. Email, a password, and a verification link.
• A device. A phone with the Thalovant app, a computer or speaker running Thalovant Voice, or just a browser tab. It needs to reach the internet.

Tip

Not sure yet? Open a public hub in your browser and ask it something first. No account, no install, about thirty seconds.

The showroom answers from live weather, keeps nothing, and needs no account.

The Free plan allows one connection and one API token. If a create button is locked, you’ve met a plan limit, not a bug. The message names which allowance is full. See what the Free plan allows, or free the connection you already have — the app can move an existing connection onto this device in a tap, which doesn’t change the count.

1. Choose the Hub

Use a public hub. It’s already running, already has skills, and costs nothing. You can create your own later, once you know what you want it to do.

Public hubs are listed under Public hubs in the console. Pick one whose description matches what you would actually ask it — Daily Desk answers everyday questions and is the usual first choice.

If you already know you need a private hub — your own skills, your own data, your own address — create one instead, and give it a name that says what it’s for. kitchen-assistant and support-frontdesk both beat test.

2. Create One Connection

Create one connection for the app, device, browser flow, or Thalovant Voice client that will connect to the hub.

1. Open Connections. Choose Add connection.

2. Choose the connection type. Voice is best for Thalovant Voice, rooms, kiosks, and assistants.

3. Attach it to the chosen hub. Avoid creating extra connections until this one works.

4. Name the connection by purpose. Use a name like frontdesk-voice or demo-chat.

   Result: the connection appears in the list, and a setup link or QR code is shown once.

5. Claim it from the device. Scan the QR code in the Thalovant app, or open the setup link on the device. Each one can be claimed once.

   Result: the device says it’s paired and shows the hub’s name.

6. Keep setup material private. A setup link or connection file is a credential. Don’t paste either into chat, email, or an issue.

Caution

Now wait about ninety seconds. A new connection has to reach the hub before the hub will admit it, and that takes a minute and a half. During that window the device is paired and the hub still refuses it, which looks exactly like a broken setup and isn’t one. Wait it out before changing anything.

Read Connect a Client for the full pairing flow.

3. Set Access Rules

An access rule says what this client may do on the hub. Name it after the job, the way you named the connection: frontdesk-questions-only tells the next person what it’s for; rule1 tells them nothing.

Allow only what the client needs today. A front-desk client that answers questions doesn’t need to install skills, and a demo doesn’t need to write anything. If you find yourself allowing “everything” to get past a problem, stop and read Access rules first: a broad rule is the mistake that’s hardest to notice later, because nothing fails.

4. Check Dashboard

Open Dashboard. The Fleet overview should show one more client than before, attached to the hub you chose, and no attention item naming this setup. If the counts haven’t moved, the connection wasn’t claimed; go back to step 2. If there’s an attention item, it names the page to open.

5. Check Topology

Open Topology. You’re looking for one line: your client, joined to your hub, marked connected. Stale means the client hasn’t been heard from recently; missing means it never arrived (check Connections); a warning usually points at access rules or the runtime, and says which.

6. Talk to It

This is the step the other five were for.

1. Say the wake word. The default is “Hey Jarvis” on every client.

   Result: the device shows it’s listening — a light, a chime, or a bar on screen.

2. Ask it something simple. Pick a question that needs nothing configured:

   • “Hey Jarvis, what time is it?”
   • “Hey Jarvis, what is the date?”
   • “Hey Jarvis, tell me a joke.”

   Result: you hear an answer out loud.

3. Ask it a second thing. One answer can be luck; two is a working setup.

If it heard you and said nothing, or said nothing at all, go to Nothing happens when I speak. Don’t start changing access rules — the symptom tells you which page to open.

Done When

The first setup is done when:

• you asked a question out loud and heard the answer — this one isn’t optional;
• the connection name explains what connects;
• the setup link or QR code was claimed by the intended device, and by nothing else;
• access rules are narrow and readable;
• Dashboard shows the expected counts;
• Topology shows the client connected.

Tip

Stop here. A second hub or connection is far easier once the first one is trusted, and much harder to debug if it isn’t.

Next

See everything you can ask Connect another client